Using olive tree leaves and twigs as mulch?

It's olive harvesting season here in the Mediterranean. The olive mills are on full blast, and are producing huge piles of olive leaves that they consider "waste". They basically told us to come load them up in our truck whenever we wanted.

I was wondering if it would be safe to use them as mulch in a forest garden. The leaves are slightly coated with olive oil, and I heard that the oil is antibacterial? Could it inhibit the growth of trees and other plants?

But would it be wise to let the pile sit and decompose for a while before applying it as mulch? Or would it have no effect on plants if used fresh?

What a windfall!

You can use the leaves as is if you choose, you can turn them into leaf mold just by piling them up and keeping them moist or you can compost them.

Using leaves as is only means you need to keep them moist until they matt enough to not be blown away by the wind. The slight amount of oil won't really be a problem.
If you are worried about the antimicrobial properties of olive oil, then these next two methods would relieve those concerns.
Turning them into leaf mold is pretty fast and easy and they will stay put much better than fresh leaves plus there will be bacteria and fungi growing in the material which will seep to the soil and populate the soil which will make it better and better.
Turning them into compost takes more time and needs additions of other materials but increases the bacteria and fungi to the point that an entire micro biome can be introduced where you use the end product.

All are good choices but are dependent upon what you want the leaves to do for your garden/ orchard spaces.

Redhawk

does anyone know what the carbon:nitrogen ratio is for shredded olive branch prunings? I want to compost with them. All the other people in my area burn them in great piles. We have just aquired an olive tree orchard and see this free biomass as a fantastic addition to our composting  and possibly also as mulch.

Branches with leaves will be cllose to 3:1 carbon to N. If you chip them you could also use them for mulching directly.

Redhawk

fantastic, thanks so much for your response. Yes, we will be chipping them first.

Hi, I am wondering the same thing, can we somehow use the olive tree branches that we pruned for enriching that same soil, not burning the branches?
Any advices? Thank you!!

Marija Mary wrote:Hi, I am wondering the same thing, can we somehow use the olive tree branches that we pruned for enriching that same soil, not burning the branches?

Yes, I see no reason why a person would not want to use them.  Using olive branches will add a lot of nutrients to the soil.

As mentioned here:

Bryant RedHawk wrote:Branches with leaves will be cllose to 3:1 carbon to N. If you chip them you could also use them for mulching directly.

Thanks for the great advice. Has anyone has lots of new olive trees  come up from their mulch. We have just mulched some large trees that still had some immature fruit on. We are worried a that we will have new saplings pop up everywhere. Or will the heat and destructive mulching process stop this? Thoughts?

I m doing the chipping of olive branches now for 4 years and got some experiences to share.
I chip branches where I remove all wood >2cm with a machete with a old Scheppach Biostar 3000 3phase machine. Off-grid 😎 It's a wonderful cheap machine and far more quieter then gasoline driven. In addition kickbacks which happens sometimes when inexperienced kicks the stuff by design upwards and not in a 45°  angle in your face. Definitely a recommendation for safety. Btw. Never wear gloves when chipping, thats probably the biggest danger of using the machines.
I chip the branches of healthy olive trees beginning with harvest within 2 days. Deceased branches would need to get burned, or the mushrooms spread. Until January it's possible to apply it directly to the olive trees. This way you avoid the nitrogen sink to affect the flowering stage. Seeding leguminoses in December January on top of fresh clippings around the olive trees works far better then expected. They have no issues to germinate and should balance the nitrogen sink even more.
After January the chips get used as bedding in the chicken coop or are composted on a big pile together with grass clippings, and some biochar. The compost takes approximately 4years to be good enough for any veggies. After 3 years  the soil looks great but cabbages for example don't thrive yet in it.
In spring is a good time to clean out the half composted chips and spread it under the olive trees. This manure mulch is a really effective fertiliser.
Chipping is a great Ressource, builds up soil far quicker then expected and is free. I don't buy any fertilizer or chemical sprays, don't till and the trees shows no lack of nutrients at all!
It also keeps the soil moist for an additional 1.5 months in summer without the need of watering.
As a beautiful side effect in autumn you gonna walk through a mushroom paradise.
It just need some extra effort 😉

I wouldn't recommend to use any leaves from the mills, as they contain everything farmers spray in high concentration. That's a mulch for the I don't care quality farmer, not for the I eat my own product farmer.