Olive Tree Growing Out Of Control

You will want to begin shaping your olive tree when it s young or about 2 years old and then check it each year in the late spring or early summer for some maintenance pruning.

Olive tree growing out of control. Avoid sites where water stands during rainy periods or where ground water seeps into a hole two feet deep. The tree also grows in mexico. Olive trees of all varieties gain more cold hardiness as they age and as the trunk size increases so you may need to baby your tree for the first three or five years. Do not however confuse the olive for a desert plant.

When a landscape tree or large shrub begins to send out strange out of character growth shoots from the trunk or from older established limbs you are likely dealing with a growth phenomenon known as watersprouts they tend to grow with uncanny speed sometimes in clusters from a single point. Those stems are called suckers because they zap water and nutrients from the main tree. It needs regular watering to thrive. Prune the growing tips of your tree if it threatens to outgrow its space as a houseplant and to keep it bushy.

How to prevent tree sucker regrowth. Sometimes a tree starts looking more like a shrub with a bushy clump of young stems sprouting from the base or from a spot on the trunk. Basal shoots commonly referred to as tree suckers refer to plants that originate from the root system of a tree or shrub and grow outward as far as three. If you live and garden in zone 8 or warmer you can plant your olive tree outside.

If you are expecting an unusual cold snap cover your tree with a floating row cover. The native tree appears close to extinction in the wild according to the university of florida s. As suckers are unhealthy for trees and they are unsightly it s important to know how to eliminate them and when possible how to prevent them in the first place. The mexican olive tree cordia boissieri also known as a wild olive or texas olive tree grows near water sources on the plains of southern texas in the lower rio grande valley.

Most aptly suited to areas which are prone to high heat and plenty of sunshine the olive tree should be planted outside and once established is fairly low maintenance. Olive trees have lovely silver leaves which will compliment many other plantings of the garden but are also grown for their fruit. And if you re still nervous about putting an olive tree in the ground you can grow one in a container and move it indoors or onto a covered patio for the winter. Olive trees grow slowly and generally require little pruning each year if they are healthy and well maintained.

If the leader is small in diameter snip it off with pruning shears.