‘Can olive trees be moved?’ We learn the answer to this question from Prof. Dr. Mücahit Taha Özkaya, the “Olive Father” Prof. Dr. Mücahit Taha Özkaya, a faculty member of Ankara University Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Horticulture, who continues to work for Turkey, the homeland of olives, to reach the point it should be in the world in olive and olive oil production.’
‘Is it technically possible to transport olive trees?
We can say that the aging of the tree can be transported in any case, under any condition. Whether it is a thousand years old or three thousand years old, the olive tree can be transported under any condition after it has entered rest.
Under what conditions and by what methods should olive trees be transported?
It can be moved with leaves. It has leaves when it is small, as it grows older, you need to reduce the number of leaves. Because it has a tuber under the soil. That tuber is of great benefit for the continuation of its life. Sometimes, even if it is very old, it does not make a tuber when it is irrigated or when there is a bottom land. If it does not make a tuber, it can be moved more easily only if it has a root system. The point is that if you need to uproot the olive tree, you can dig a ditch around it where you uproot it, hold it with a crane and lift the tree by cutting the roots around the ditch while lifting the tree. If the number of roots is low, if you cut too many roots, you need to reduce the number of leaves and branches. Because you have to establish a balance. We generally prune the tree very severely without taking any risks. If the main trunks are three or four, we leave an air branch over them, leave a few branches, cut off the rest and move them. As the weather gets colder in winter, the olive tree also goes into dormancy.
It is much easier to transport in that period. If there is a tuber under the soil, you need to make the appropriate preparation in the land where it will be transported. Because you need to find a ground in the width and depth of that place. When you take a tree from a place where dry farming is done, where no irrigation has been done, when you take it to an irrigated area, the tree gets into trouble there. You will take it to a non-irrigated irrigated place, you will take it to a dry place. But you need to take care of a tree that has been moved for at least two years or five years. You need to grow it as a baby and a toddler. Because it will need leaves, it must get nutrients to make leaves. First, it will form new roots under the soil, it needs to form capillary roots. The capillary roots will take water, nutrients and bring them up. If the number of leaves does not increase, the tree cannot photosynthesise, and if it cannot photosynthesise, it cannot be fed. Therefore, it must be under regular maintenance conditions. The more severe pruning you do on the olive tree, the less the tree will produce next year. For this reason, trees that have been moved can only start to bear fruit again between three and five years, although there are exceptions.
Does this process have an effect on the life of the tree? Does it rejuvenate after pruning and transport or does it continue its life as before?
When you prune the tree, it means that there are too many dry branches in it and that they need to be rejuvenated. The process we will do with transport is to reduce the leaf area of the tree, to limit the water requirement, rather than rejuvenation. So these processes are different from each other. For transplanting, new connections have to be made after cutting the roots, because the capillary roots take the water. During the establishment of new connections, you need to evaluate the tree as if it were in intensive care. You can take an old tree or a young tree; does this affect the tree? No, it doesn't.
Is the age of the trees to be transported important?
We do not have an upper limit, even a 3,000-year-old olive tree can be moved under appropriate conditions if it needs to be moved. However, there are trees that grow slowly depending on the nutritional status of the tree. For example, one of the trees of the same age may remain stunted because its root system was planted with its bag by mistake. It is necessary to pay attention to this. You can put a maximum of four old trees on a lorry, no more. It is important when the tree is transported and its protection rather than the age of the tree and the place where it is transported. You can move the trees wherever you want during the winter.’
Are there tools that have a positive effect on the successful transport of trees?
Yes, absolutely. There are tests we know about olive tree transport. We can say that many companies also use them. For example, there is a saw that is attached to the back of tractors, which is also used by foresters. With such a saw, they make round holes on all four sides of the tree, tie a rope and slowly pull the tree up. While pulling the tree up, they cut the root with hydraulic shears from below so that part of the root remains in the soil and part in the tree. In this way, they can easily carry it. No other technological tools are needed. It can be done with any digger.
How important is the consideration of environmental factors and ecosystem balance for the sustainability of the olive tree relocation process?
You move the tree because the ecosystem where you uprooted it cannot continue. In other words, it is possible to relocate an olive tree if the conditions require it, at the right time and using the right method.
Do we have any record of when this issue of olive transport started in the world or in Turkey?
There is no obstacle to transporting olive trees, it has been done in every period. But you need a crane to transport big trees. Without it, the transport process becomes very difficult. When cranes, dozers and diggers appeared, the transport process became easier. This became widespread after the 1980s.
We were always saying in the tender laws, ‘Do not cut down the olive trees while building or widening the road, they can continue to live where they are moved, they can live for 3,000 years.’ Afterwards, tenders were made accordingly. Most recently, during the construction of the Izmir-Istanbul road, it was seen in more detail that olive trees were moved.
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