(440) Flowering and Fruiting in Olives in the Absence of Chilling Temperatures

Abstract

Cultivation of olives was not developed in southern and coastal Texas because it was assumed that the winters in this area do not provide enough chilling for flowering. Our initial experiments have demonstrated that olive trees of `Arbequina' could flower and fruit under mild winter conditions; i.e., without the typical chilling conditions (below 7.2 °C are chilling temperatures, but 2–4 °C during the night was considered optimal chilling) that have previously been considered necessary for flowering and fruiting in olives. We propose that lack of flowering in southern Texas is due more to high temperatures during the day (many days reaching 26 °C) than lack of chilling temperatures in the night. Thus, `Arbequina', and perhaps other cultivars of olives, should be able to grow and flower and fruit normally in coastal Texas, where daytime temperature do not rise as high as in southern Texas. A survey of coastal Texas revealed that this is indeed a possibility, because a few trees planted in areas of coastal Texas do flower and fruit. Experiments have now been started at different sites to evaluate the performance of olives in coastal Texas.