Differential scanning calorimetry was used for monitoring the survival conditions of olive in vitro grown shoot-tips under cryopreservation (-196 degrees C), as well as for establishing the storage conditions at temperatures higher than liquid nitrogen. Olive survival is related to the absence of formation and growing of ice crystals during the cooling process. These results are compared with those obtained in hop. The final storage temperature is given as a function of the shoot tip survival to the dehydration step and the absence of ice crystal growth during cooling and warming.