2 Ways To Set Up an Olive Harvesting Net Catcher – THE GUIDE
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Olive harvesting nets are one of the most important pieces of equipment when you’re picking olives. To increase their effectiveness, you should install them properly. In today’s article, I’ll show you two ways how you can set up olive harvesting nets under the trees.
Key Takeaways:
- Olive nets can be set up by laying them on the ground or tying them to trees.
- Ground nets allow easy walking without damage and facilitate manual olive collection.
- The tying method is slower and needs nets with corner holes for easy attachment.
- On sloped terrains, combine methods to prevent olives from rolling off nets.
Laying The Nets Directly On The Ground
The first and most straightforward way of installing olive harvesting nets is by putting them directly on the ground under olive trees. Spread out the harvesting net and place it around the tree.
When placing the net around the tree, make sure to cover all areas, especially around the tree trunk. That way, you’ll ensure that all olive fruits will end up inside the net, not on the ground.
Also, depending on the size of the olive tree nets and the size of your olive trees, you may need to install more harvesting nets to cover everything. In that case, make sure to overlap nets so there’s no empty space between them.
If you live in a windy area, you might want to put some rocks or weights on the corners to prevent wind from lifting the tree nets up and ruining your job. As a matter of fact, you can use just anything that will add some weight to the net, so it’s windproof.
Collecting olives from olive catchers lying on the ground in plastic containers is pretty easy, especially if you decide to invest some more money into an olive net picker machine (check how it works here). However, usually, you’ll do it by hand.
The most significant advantages of this method are:
- It’s extremely quick and easy to install netting.
- You can walk on the net without damaging it.
Tying Nets To Surrounding Trees
The second way of installing harvesting nets is by tying them to surrounding trees or objects. That way, tarpaulins will stay above the ground, and it will naturally push all the olives near the middle, making it easier to transport olives to containers later on.
If you want to install nets by using this method, make sure that all the nets have holes at the corners, which will make it easy for you to tie them up. If they don’t have holes, you’ll have to cut them manually, but be careful not to rip out the net.
Tying nets is a bit slower method, and it requires more time than folding them to the ground, so I avoid using this method when I can. Also, you’ll need some ropes to tie them.
The biggest advantage of this method is the ease of transferring olives from the net to the containers. Since it’s hanging, as the olives fall to the net, they’ll put more pressure on the net, and all the olives will end up near the middle of the net.
For Specific Terrains – Combine Both Methods
Not everyone grows olives on perfectly flat terrains. Mostly, people grow olive trees wherever the soil is fertile, even if it’s on the slopes. If you grow olives on a hill, you might want to use a mix of both methods when installing olive harvesting net catchers.
For instance, if you’re harvesting an olive tree that’s on a slope, and you just lay the net down to the ground, because of the decline, olives may roll out of the net, ending up on the ground, which requires additional effort to pick them again.
In those situations, you should put the net to the ground, lift the declined corners, and tie them to a tree or any object that can handle harvesting nets.
That way, the net won’t decline, and all the olives will stay on the net.
FAQ
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How do you catch olives?
The best way to catch olives is by installing the net (trap) under the tree so that all the olives you pick from the tree fall inside the net.
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Where can I buy olive harvesting nets?
Many bigger markets offer harvesting nets, but mostly, you should go to agricultural shops and look for them there.
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Can I use shade nets as harvesting nets?
Yes, of course, shade nets will also work totally fine. Shade nets may not be as resistant to damage as dedicated harvesting nets, but they’ll surely work well enough.
Conclusion
Whichever of these methods you choose, it should be just fine. However, make sure to adjust the installing strategy to the terrain you work on. You can’t use the laying down method on extremely uneven terrain. It’s more harm than good.
Of course, a 1% or 2% decline doesn’t mean a thing, but if it’s a more substantial slope where gravity will play its role, you should consider that when setting up harvesting nets.
In the end, it’s all pretty straightforward. There’s no need to make a science out of installing harvesting nets, but there are some things you should pay attention to, and that’s the reason why I wrote this article. Even though the post is pretty short, I hope that I was thorough enough so you can understand everything.
If you don’t have harvesting nets, I suggest checking my article on best olive harvesting nets. I’ve thoroughly tested a few of them and made my recommendation.
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