Figure 2.

Olive cultivars suitable for high and super high density orchards have higher branching and thinner woody structures (left picture) than unsuitable cultivars (right picture). This increases the leaf area (and thus radiation capture and resource availability) and the number of fruiting sites per unit of woody biomass and per unit of canopy volume. This saves resource investments in non-productive sinks (roots, trunk and branches), thus liberating resources for fruit set and growth, possibly explaining, at least in part, the greater flowering and fruit set ability of such cultivars. Therefore, high branching reduces canopy volume directly, but also indirectly by increasing resources for fruiting, which, in turn, reduces vegetative growth, reducing canopy volume further. This reduces the pruning intensity needed to maintain the canopy within the allowed volume. Reduced pruning, in turn, allows greater fruiting, triggering a virtuous circle.