Western Irrigation

Our olive oil farm is located at Moshav Beth Shearim, on the west side of the Jezreel Valley. Planting trees is about 20 dunams, the trees are 10 years and we get good harvests, which are used for the manufacture of quality olive oil.

The aim of this paper is to describe a single irrigation method used in our plantations and conclusions regarding its effectiveness in saving water and crops given.

The Mediterranean climate allows for trees to live without irrigation. In modern agriculture of olive trees are irrigated from spring to late fall, about once a week, to accelerate tree growth and better harvests. On the other hand, the olive trees are sensitive to excess water, it is important to irrigate the appropriate dose that corresponds to the size of the tree and soil type.

We use the micro-drip irrigation "which was developed by our late father, Peretz Rosenberg, for field and greenhouse, and was adapted to the olive grove. The dripper discharge approximately 0.5L / H and 3-4 are placed around each tree. For such a small discharge of water flow is operated continuously during all the days of the week from March to October. The continuous flow of water prevents the formation of sediments in the points of emitters and therefore the clogging of emitters is avoided. Obviously this is a superior method of saving water. Further details of our method of irrigation are provided in our website, link: http://www.olive-oil-farm.co.il/moreng.html

The phenomena of bi-annual alternation of olive crop is known throughout the Mediterranean. However, during several years of operation of this irrigation method, we found that our cultures are higher each year. We tend to bring that moderation of alternation in our orchard at the single irrigation method that we apply.