An olive net is judged by two numbers — its GSM, the weight per square metre, and its mesh aperture, the size of the holes. Get the mesh wrong and the olives fall through or the leaves pile up on top; get the GSM wrong and the net tears under the harvest. Here is how to match both.
Olive harvest netting looks simple — a net laid under the tree to catch the fruit — but the spec decides whether your harvest comes up clean and fast or tangled in leaves and torn underfoot. The two numbers that matter are the mesh aperture and the GSM, and they are easier to get wrong than most growers expect.
The mesh aperture is the size of the hole, and it is a balancing act. Too large and small olives slip through; too fine and leaves, twigs and dirt sit on top instead of falling through, so you scoop up as much rubbish as fruit. A 4–6 mm aperture is the standard for olive harvest — large enough for a ripe olive to rest on the net, fine enough that the worst of the leaves and dirt fall through. Fine nets (3–4 mm) catch more but hold more debris; open nets (6–8 mm) stay cleaner but let small fruit through.
GSM is grammes per square metre, and for an olive net it is mostly about how much walking, dragging and shaking the net will take. 40–60 gsm is a light net for a few small trees and careful handling. 60–90 gsm is the standard orchard range — strong enough to be laid, walked on and folded season after season without tearing. 90–120 gsm is heavy-duty for large commercial harvests and long reuse. Because olive nets are dragged and shaken, a heavier net pays for itself in fewer tears and a longer service life.
| Use | GSM | Mesh aperture | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Light / a few small trees | 40–60 | 5–8 mm | Easy to handle, occasional use |
| Standard harvest | 60–90 | 4–6 mm | Most orchards |
| Heavy / long reuse | 90–120 | 3–5 mm | Commercial, multi-season |
Beyond the numbers, demand UV-stabilized HDPE and a knitted, fray-resistant construction — an olive net lives on the ground in the sun and gets cut and folded, so a net that frays at the edges or degrades in the light will not last. A stabilized knitted net is a multi-season tool, not a one-harvest consumable.
Size the net to extend past the drip line of the tree, so every falling olive lands on net rather than bare ground, and lay it a little slack so it can be folded up over the fruit to funnel it. The full method — laying, anchoring against wind, and folding rather than scooping — is in our how to lay olive harvest netting guide. If you are sizing a net for a whole grove, tell us your tree count and row spacing and we will calculate the widths, GSM and mesh to cover it cleanly.
60–90 gsm is the standard for most olive harvests. Go lighter (40–60 gsm) for a few small trees, heavier (90–120 gsm) for commercial groves and long reuse.
4–6 mm is the standard aperture — fine enough to hold ripe olives, open enough to let leaves and dirt fall through. Finer mesh catches more debris; coarser mesh lets small fruit slip through.
Yes. An olive net sits in the sun on the ground between harvests, so UV-stabilized HDPE is what keeps it usable for multiple seasons instead of degrading after one.
A UV-stabilized, knitted HDPE olive net typically serves 5–8 seasons. The stabilizer and the fray-resistant knit are what matter — cheap net frays at the edges and fails early.
60–90 gsm with a 4–6 mm aperture is the standard olive harvest spec — fine enough to hold the fruit, open enough to let leaves and dirt through. Tell us your grove and we will spec and size it for you.