Olive Tree Growing Methods
Prune the growing tips of your tree if it threatens to outgrow its space as a houseplant and to keep it bushy.
Olive tree growing methods. Creating your olive s basic shape 1. The olives are continually rinsed in fresh water. If you live and garden in zone 8 or warmer you can plant your olive tree outside. Although the olive tree may be propagated from seed many olives grown today are hybrid plants.
It needs regular watering to thrive. There are other plants which bear the name olive so make sure to look for a european olive tree when you are growing olive trees. Do not however confuse the olive for a desert plant. When your tree does start bearing fruit it will be in the.
Well irrigated trees tend to produce higher yields while the annoying phenomenon of alternate bearing can be mitigated through a rational and well designed irrigation system. When your tree is about 2 years old and 1 metre 3 3 ft tall. If growing in a container or raised bed prepare a soil based mix of compost and grit with added organic matter and nutrients. Brine curing is used for fully ripe olives.
Begin shaping when your tree is 1 metre 3 3 ft tall. Prune once a year in the late spring or early summer. How to irrigate olive trees olive farm irrigation methods the olive tree is resistant to drought but responds greatly to the supply of water by any method. Rooting from cuttings of a parent olive tree is the most popular method for olive tree propagation.
The care and feeding of olive trees. How to plant olive trees. If needed prune out some branches to keep the tree open in the center so the foliage gets plenty of light and air. Water curing is not often done because it takes so long.
They are soaked in salt water for up to one year which sweetens them. Olive trees require a well drained soil and a sunny position. For instructions on planting container trees larger than 1 gallon as landscaping for instance see the university of california uc publication on planting landscape trees. The tree will grow in usda hardiness zones 9 or warmer.
Avoid cutting too. Avoid sites where water stands during rainy periods or where ground water seeps into a hole two feet deep. If you re growing your olive tree in a border dig a hole and add mycorrhizal fungi to help the tree establish quickly. Some cultivars that flourish here are self fertilizing ones such as arbequina and mission grown for oil.
Instead many olive growers choose to grow olives by rooting cuttings. More commonly they are started in a water bath and finished off by salt curing. Olive trees are evergreen and are sold as orchard stock in 4 inch pots 10cm to 1 gallon 3 8l containers generally not as bare root. And manzanilla which is the typical california black olive suitable for canning.
According to texas a m university climate is the most important limiting factor in olive tree propagation and production.