The Secret Life of an Olive!

A flower has been fertilized. A new, almost imperceptible stage begins in the story of our future olive.

In spring, the olive tree is covered in flowers. But not all of them will become fruit. After fertilization, one of these flowers begins to transform: its ovary develops and a tiny fruit appears.

This is the beginning of fruit set.

When a flower becomes a fruit

After fertilization, the flower enters a new stage in its story. Its ovary gradually develops, and the future olive begins to take shape.

At this stage, the fruit is still tiny. Yet an essential step has been completed: the fertilized flower is beginning to become an olive.

The birth of the fruit is subtle, but it marks the beginning of a new phase in its development.

The olive tree naturally thins its fruit

However, not every young olive will remain on the tree.

The olive tree naturally drops some of its young fruits. This is normal: the tree adjusts its fruit load according to the resources available to it.

It must take several essential elements into account:

- Water;

- Carbon;

- Minerals;

- Energy.

In a way, the olive tree does the math: how many fruits can it bring to maturity with the resources it has available?

It naturally adjusts the number of fruits it retains.

Did you know?

The olive tree produces far more flowers than olives.

It naturally adjusts its fruit load according to its resources. This is why the thousands of flowers that appear in spring never produce an equal number of olives in autumn.

Nature does not turn every flower into a fruit. The tree gradually adapts its production to what it can sustain.

The cycle in a few steps

A flower, a tiny fruit, then natural thinning: the future harvest takes shape gradually, according to the tree’s available resources.

Our little olive has been born. But its story is only just beginning!

Next week…

Skin, pulp, pit: let’s discover the secret architecture of the olive and the different parts that make up this fruit.