How fast do olive trees grow

Learn how to plant an olive tree with this Olive Tree Planting Guide; it will lead you in the right direction for a healthy and thriving fruit tree! Growing Olives Olive plants do best where the summers are long, hot and dry, and the winters are cool and not so dry. They are native to Mediterranean climates. They like a sharply drained calcareous or limey soil, and can tolerate salty , coastal locations. Many varieties of olive trees require cross-pollination ; that is, you need at least two different varieties to reliably get olive tree fruit.

Perfect Plants offers the Arbequina olive variety Olea europaea which is self-fertile and a semi evergreen tree. Where do Olives Grow? Where not cold hardy, you can grow Arbequina olives trees in a pot to be brought indoors in the winter months.

The Arbequina olive is semi-deciduous, usually dropping some of its attractive gray-green leaves in the winter. Arbequina tends to bear heaviest in alternate years, and fruiting may be increased when another variety is nearby for cross pollination. It is also pest and disease resistant, especially to fungal diseases.

Once established, arbequina olive tree care requires little maintenance! Under good growing conditions, you should expect to harvest some olives by the time the trees are years old. How to Grow Olives Outdoors For olive tree care outdoors, plant your olive tree where it will get a minimum of hours of sun per day, and preferably full sun all day with plenty of light.

You may be wondering how fast do olive trees grow? Arbequinas can get up to 20 feet tall and 15 feet wide, so plan ahead. Multiple trees should be spaced about feet apart. They prefer dry air. Dig a hole about twice as wide as the pot and at about the same depth. Producing anywhere between 30 through pounds of fruit per year, a well-tended mature olive tree will keep your martinis garnished for hundreds of years. All olives are green and turn to black or copper as they mature.

There are different varieties, but the color transformation is true for all olives. If you are looking for edible olives, be sure your tree is a European olive tree. The taste is bitter until the olives are processed. Originating in Asia Minor, most particularly, Iran and Palestine, the storied history of olives reports they were growing in Crete over 3, years ago.

The Phoenicians transported them throughout southern Europe, Africa and into the tombs of Egyptian pharaohs. The Romans continued the olive expansion as they conquered most of southern Europe.

Olive trees were growing in Southern California by the early s, after they were introduced to the region by the Franciscan missionaries. Groves were discovered still standing in the ruins of the Franciscan Mission San Fernando in , but the plantings were pushed farther north as development moved into the southern part of the state. This Spanish native produces large crops of small fruit with a high oil content that are very flavorful. Most cultivars are self-pollinating, though some are not.

As we mentioned above, O. These trees are tolerant of a wide variety of soils , including those with somewhat high clay content, as long as there is good drainage. Planting a young tree in the fall gives it a chance to become well-established. This is because container-grown trees are susceptible to frost damage during their first winter outdoors.

If waiting until spring seems more prudent, hold off until all danger of frost is past. Planting in the heat of summer is not recommended. Dig a hole about the same size as the container, and about an inch shallower. Water the tree thoroughly, remove it from its container, and untwist or cut any circling roots.

Set the root ball in the hole. Use soil you removed from the hole to build up about an inch of soil on top of the root ball, and grade down from the trunk to the surrounding soil. But do top the planting area with mulch. Water young trees two or three times a week during their first summer. Give them a good four inches of water at each watering, and hydrate again when the soil dries out.

Keep weeds removed from within at least a three-foot diameter of the young tree. Fertilize newly planted trees in the spring, after new growth begins. They only need a small amount of nitrogen, which can be delivered via compost , as well as conventional or organic fertilizers.

In its first four years, prune the tree only as needed to maintain its shape. Some gardeners do this only to areas of a tree that overhang a paved area, in an attempt to reduce the mess from falling fruit. You can prune off infected stems, or treat these greedy critters with neem oil, such as this one from Bonide, available from Arbico Organics. Bonide Neem Oil. For twenty years or so, California olive growers have been plagued by the olive fruit fly, which lays its eggs inside the developing fruit, destroying it.

Management of fruit flies is difficult, and best achieved via clean gardening practices. Some home gardeners have had luck with fly traps, such as these from Terro, available via Amazon. Trees can also be affected by olive anthracnose, a fungal disease. Treat this problem with a fungicide, such as this one from Garden Safe, available through Amazon.

Garden Safe Fungicide3 Concentrate. This ounce container connects to your hose end for easy distribution of the concentrated product. When you harvest your olives depends on what you intend to do with them, and what flavor you seek. All olives start out green before turning a purplish color, and then deepening to black. The younger the olive, the more bitter it will be. Typically, olives are harvested at their green stage if their intended use is for the table, although some varieties are best when black.

Olives must be processed — more on this in just a minute — within three days of harvest. You can either handpick the fruit from your tree, which is quite time-consuming, or you can place a tarp under the tree, and shake the limbs with a rake or other garden implement to dislodge the fruit onto to the tarp for easy pickup.

Raw olives are not tasty. Inventive humans have developed a number of ways to banish the bitterness from these otherwise tasty little ovals, curing them in oil, water, brine, lye, or simply salt.

It can take anywhere from pounds of drupes to make one gallon of oil. Begin your meal with a classic Greek salad like this one, from our sister site, Foodal. Made with homegrown cucumber , bell pepper , tomato , red onion , basil , oregano , and parsley , this is truly a garden-fresh delight!

From Vintage Kitty comes this delightful recipe for an asparagus salad, which features a lemon and light olive oil vinaigrette. This rustic delight evokes the Italian countryside. And for dessert, how about a citrus olive oil cake, also from Sugar Love Spices?

This confection utilizes a full cup of extra virgin oil, as well as a variety of citrus juices. So, what are you thinking? Is it time to add an olive tree to fill that blank spot in the backyard? Do you have an olive tree? Which variety? Tell us about your adventures with O. And if you decide a different fruit tree of the pitted variety is in your landscape plans, read these guides next:.

Uncredited photos: Shutterstock. First published July 9th, Last updated May 3rd, To Gretchen, nothing is more rewarding than a quick dash to the garden to pluck herbs to season the evening meal. My grandparents had an olive orchard that now passed to my mother and father. It stands beautifully up on a hill in the Italian countryside. That is why olives for me are very important.