Olive Harvest Nets: A Pre-Season Checklist

Mediterranean harvest runs October through December. Six weeks out is exactly when grove managers make the mistakes that cost them fruit: nets still folded in a damp corner of the barn, ground unprepared under the trees, a co-op that orders its container in November. This is the pre-season checklist we send buyers every September — run it now and harvest week is labor, not logistics.

The Ordering Deadline Comes First

If your nets are not already in the barn, the calendar is already tight. Production takes 30 days per 40HQ container (14–15 tons of olive netting per container), plus sea freight to Greece, Italy, Spain, Tunisia or France. An order placed in September lands comfortably for an October start; an order placed when the first trees are ready is air-freight money or a missed window. Co-ops should be pooling member lists this week — one mixed container with each member’s sheet sizes is the cheapest net anyone in the group will buy all year.

Inspect What You Stored Last Year

An olive net works six weeks a year and waits forty-six in storage — and how it spent those forty-six decides whether it opens the season or ends it. Before the first tree: unfold a sample of sheets and check for crease cracks along the folds (the classic failure of damp-stored netting), UV-embrittled corners on sheets that sat in sunlight, torn eyelets and holes that grew over the year. UV-stabilized HDPE rated 3–10 years fails early only when it was stored wet or in direct sun. Order replacements now, not mid-harvest.

Prepare the Ground Before You Lay

Nets perform on prepared ground. Mow or clear the understory so sheets lie flat and olives don’t hide in vegetation; pull out stones that will bruise fruit and tear fabric; level the worst hollows where olives would pool. On sloped groves, plan for roll — olives that miss the net keep rolling downhill, so bias your overlap toward the downhill side of every tree.

Lay Past the Drip Line, Every Time

The most expensive mistake in the book: nets that stop at the trunk circle. Olives fall at an angle when the branches are shaken — a sheet that doesn’t extend 0.5–1 m past the drip line donates fruit to the soil, and every olive on the ground is a quality downgrade. Overlap adjoining sheets at least half a meter so nothing slips into the gap, and pin the edges against the October wind with the knitted eyelets. The full laying and collection technique — fold, don’t scoop — is in our olive netting laying guide.

Count Your Sheets Before the Crew Arrives

The co-op math: one sheet per tree at a time means total trees divided by the number of simultaneous working crews, times 2 (the second set being laid while the first is being collected). For mechanical harvest with trunk shakers, plan larger continuous covers — 8×8 m and up, overlapped — and see our guide to olive net sizes for mechanical vs hand harvest for the sheet-size logic by harvest method.

The Weather Variable

Every experienced grove manager plans the calendar around the fruit, not the date. Ripening moves with the season — an early autumn pulls the start forward two weeks, and rain mid-harvest stops everything. Nets give you flexibility the calendar doesn’t: laid early they wait patiently, and a delayed crew doesn’t cost you fruit on the ground. The growers who suffer worst in a wet harvest are the ones whose nets never arrived. Order for the earliest plausible start, not the average one.

If Your Nets Arrive Late: The Bridge Plan

It happens every year to someone. If the container misses your start date, don’t harvest onto bare ground and promise to catch up later — the fruit you collect from soil is the fruit you sell at the bottom grade. Better bridges: buy a small emergency stock of sheets from a regional supplier at retail price to cover the first block, prioritize laying on the earliest-ripening rows, and split crews so collection never waits on available netting. A week’s delay at the start costs far more than the premium on a hundred emergency sheets.

OMB Olive Harvest Net Specifications

Harvest is coming either way. Send your tree count, row spacing and harvest method via the contact page or WhatsApp — we will recommend a size mix and confirm whether your September container still makes your start date. Reply within 24 hours.

Olive Net Pre-Season FAQ

When should I order olive nets for the season?

Six to eight weeks before your first harvest tree. Production is 30 days per 40HQ container plus sea freight — September orders land comfortably for an October start; November orders are late for most of the Mediterranean belt.

How far past the tree should the net extend?

Half a meter to a meter past the drip line on every side — olives fall at an angle when shaken. On slopes, bias the extra coverage toward the downhill side and overlap adjoining sheets at least 0.5 m.

Can I reuse last year’s nets?

Yes — UV-stabilized HDPE is rated 3–10 years, but only if stored dry and out of sunlight. Unfold and inspect for crease cracks, embrittled corners and torn eyelets before the season starts.

How many nets do I need for my grove?

Trees ÷ crews working simultaneously × 2 (one set being collected while the next is laid). Send us your tree count and crew size and we’ll confirm the sheet count and container share.