With harvest weeks away across the Mediterranean, the question we hear most from growers and co-ops is not about price or GSM — it is what size olive net to order. Too small and olives land on bare ground past the drip line; too large and the crew spends the day dragging fabric instead of collecting fruit. The right answer depends on your trees, your terrain and above all whether you harvest by hand or machine. This guide matches sheet size to each case, using the eight standard sizes we knit.
Olives fall where the canopy ends. Measure the drip line — the circle the branches reach, not the trunk — and the net should extend 0.5–1 meter beyond it on every side. A mature tree with a 5-meter canopy needs roughly a 6×6 or 7-meter sheet, not a 5-meter one. Wind pushes falling fruit outward, and on sloped groves olives roll downhill; on terraces, bias the extra meter toward the downhill side.
| Sheet size | Best for |
|---|---|
| 3×6 m | Young trees, family groves, tight terraces; easy to carry and fold solo |
| 4×8 m | Medium trees in traditional spacing; the hand-harvest workhorse |
| 5×10 m | Larger canopies or two closely planted trees per sheet |
| 5×12 m | Row coverage for hand or comb harvest in intensive groves |
| 6×6 m | Square coverage for a single mature tree |
| 8×8 m | Big old canopies; pairs of trees; mechanical shaker zones |
| 10×10 m | Mechanical harvest: continuous catchment under trunk shakers |
| 12×12 m | Full mechanized rows — maximum catchment, needs a crew to move |
Hand and comb harvest favors smaller, movable sheets. The crew works tree to tree, laying, stripping and folding as they go — a 3×6 or 4×8 m sheet that one person can fold and carry beats a giant sheet that needs four. Sheets are moved ten or twenty times a day, so handling weight matters as much as coverage.
Mechanical harvest flips the logic. A trunk shaker drops the entire canopy in seconds, and the fruit scatters — you want continuous catchment with no gaps, which means large sheets (8×8 m and up) or overlapped row covers laid before the machine arrives. Gaps between sheets are where the profit lands on the ground; overlap adjoining sheets by at least half a meter.
Whichever method, look for sheets with a reinforced border and knitted eyelets so they can be pinned against wind — an unpinned net on a breezy October slope is a kite. For the laying and collection technique itself, our guide on how to lay olive harvest netting covers the fold-not-scoop method that keeps fruit clean.
Our olive netting runs 85–100 gsm. The lighter end folds smaller and carries easier — the right call for hand crews moving sheets all day on terraces. The heavier 95–100 gsm end resists abrasion from rocky ground and the point loads of mechanical harvest, and simply lasts more seasons. On stony soil or under machines, the heavier sheet pays for itself; for gentle hand harvest on grass, 85–90 gsm is plenty. All weights are knitted mono+mono HDPE with UV stabilization, rated 3–10 years with proper off-season storage.
Mediterranean harvest runs roughly October through December, and every grove orders in the same eight-week window. Production takes 30 days per 40HQ (14–15 tons of netting per container), plus sea freight to Greece, Italy, Spain, Tunisia or France. Ordering in September is comfortable; ordering when the first olives drop is expensive. If your sizes are not final, the safe play is a mixed container: a majority of your core size plus a spread of smaller sheets for awkward trees.
An olive net works for six weeks a year and waits in storage for forty-six. How it spends those forty-six decides its lifespan. Fold nets dry — damp fabric in a heap mildews and the folds become creases that crack by next season. Store them off the ground, out of direct sun, away from rodent nests, and never under anything heavy that creases the folds. A net stored clean and dry in a barn will give most of its 3–10 year rated life; the same net left in a wet heap under a tree is a one-season product. UV-stabilized HDPE ages fastest in sunlight — the irony is that a harvest net's worst enemy is the summer it spends in a sunny corner of the shed.
The same sheets collect anything that is shaken or dropped at harvest: almonds, walnuts, chestnuts, cherries, even seed collection under amenity trees. If you buy for an olive grove but farm other tree crops, size your sheets for the largest canopy and they will serve every harvest on the farm.
Our olive harvest netting is knitted to order and exported across the Mediterranean olive belt:
| Material | 100% HDPE with UV stabilization, knitted mono + mono |
| Weight (GSM) | 85 / 90 / 95 / 100 gsm |
| Standard sizes | 3×6, 4×8, 5×10, 5×12, 6×6, 8×8, 10×10, 12×12 m — custom on request |
| Colors | Dark green, yellow, orange — custom on request |
| Edges | Reinforced border with knitted eyelets |
| Service life | 3–10 years |
| MOQ | 2 tons |
| Loading | 14–15 tons / 40HQ |
| Payment | T/T 30% deposit + 70% balance, or 100% L/C at sight |
Send your tree spacing, row length and harvest method via the contact page or WhatsApp, and we will recommend a size mix and quote the container — usually within 24 hours.
Measure the canopy's drip line and add 0.5–1 m on every side. A tree with a 4 m canopy wants a 5–6 m sheet; a 6 m canopy wants 8×8 m.
Go large and continuous: 8×8 m sheets minimum, or 10×10 / 12×12 m row covers, overlapped at least 0.5 m so shaken fruit cannot land in the gaps.
85–90 gsm for hand crews moving sheets all day; 95–100 gsm for rocky ground and mechanical harvest where abrasion and point loads are higher.
Six to eight weeks before harvest at the latest — production is 30 days per 40HQ plus sea freight. September orders are comfortable for an October start.
Yes — that is how most co-ops order. A 40HQ holds 14–15 tons, and we load it with your core size plus smaller sheets for young or awkward trees. Send the size split and we pack to it.
Size to the drip line plus a meter, small movable sheets for hand crews, large overlapped sheets for machines, and order six to eight weeks before the first tree is ready. Tell us your grove layout and we will spec the right olive net mix for the harvest.