Olive Tree Age Fruit
Some trees produce olives after the age of 3 while others need anywhere between five and 12 years to fully mature.
Olive tree age fruit. The oldest olive tree in portugal. Most olive cultivars will not produce fruit without a pollinator tree of a different cultivar. Fruit only develops on branch growth from the previous year so take care in pruning to not remove older wood. That is a function of cultivar.
If your main interest in growing olives is to harvest the fruit you can speed the growth somewhat by carefully pruning the tree during its first five years to create a strong straight central trunk. Other cultivars do not make fruit until they are five to twelve years old. Arbequina and koroneiki begin fruiting at an early age about 3 years. An olive tree on the island of brijuni brioni istria in croatia has a radiocarbon dating age of about 1 600 years.
6 maslina kastils is an old olive tree in croatia that is 1500 years old. It still gives fruit about 30 kg or 66 lb per year which is made into olive oil. Olives olea europea grow best in regions with mild winters and hot dry summers. Production then begins to lessen progressively for the rest of the life of the tree.
The slow growing trees take 65 to 80 years to reach stable yields. The trees need a. During the first few years of its life an olive tree will grow rather quickly but growth slows thereafter. Department of agriculture plant hardiness zones 9 to 11 they reach 30 to 50 feet in height and have.
There are also non fruiting cultivars of olive. Olive trees are pollinated primarily by the wind but their flowers can be damaged by heavy winds. At about five years of age olive trees will begin to bear fruit. If you planted from seed you most likely won t get any fruit.