How To Grow An Olive Tree Guide | Gardeners World Management

 Olive Tree is a small evergreen tree that produces olives. Olive trees is scientifically known as Olea  Europaea. Olive tree is a native to the Mediterranean Basin, part of Asia and Africa. 

The olive fruits can be green or black depending on their ripeness. 80% of the fruits are for the production of olive oil while 20% are table used. Olive trees have long life. 

They live for 300 -600 years but some live up to 1000 years. An olive tree symbolizes peace, wisdom, glory, fertility, power and purity .

Where Do Olives Grow

To produce olives, the Arbequina olive tree requires at least 300 chill hours; that is, 300 hours below about 45°F in the wintertime, making it well adapted for in-ground cultivation in United States Department of Agriculture Plant Hardiness Zones 7B-11 (find your USDA zone). Arbequinas cannot withstand below freezing temperatures below 25-30°F.

How To Grow An Olive Tree 

   Olive trees grow in areas that receive full sunlight of at least 6-8 hours daily. The soil must be well drained. Selecting of varieties of olive trees to plant depends on the climate and space.

 There are more than one thousand varieties of olive trees but the best variety to grow is the Arbequina . This variety is considered the best because of itself fertility and adaptability to various conditions.

 It's possible to grow olive trees from seed but it requires a long process and when it grows it will tend to a wild variety than its parent cultivar.

  How To Plant An Olive Tree   

    Olives trees are usually planted when the temperature is moderate. If you are living in colder climates, consider growing olive trees indoors in a pot. 

Growing olive trees in pots, you have to select the variety that is suitable for small space. For example dwarf or patio olive trees.choose a sturdy pot that has a good drainage system.

 Fill the bottom of the pot with gravel to enhance drainage. A mixture of potting soil with sand can improve drainage. When planting, put the olive tree in the same depth that it was in its nursery paper.

   The potted olive trees can be moved to a sheltered spot for winter. To plant a potted olive trees,dig a hole about twice big as the roots ball with the same depth. 

Mix manure in the soil to help the olive trees to establish quickly. When the soil is mixed, put the tree in the hole making sure that it doesn't go deeper than how it was in the pot. Fill the holes with the mix soil and water deeply to stop air pockets.

How To Care For An Olive Tree 

Wyour newly planted trees for two to three times weekly for six months. An olive tree is fairly drought tolerant but it needs to receive an inch of water every week. 

One effective way to water olive tree is through drip irrigation. This method send water directly to the roots, minimizing water loss through evaporation.

 Potted olive trees need to be feed regularly with a liquid feed every three weeks during the growing season. Avoid overwatering as it causes root rot and other diseases 

Fertilize the trees with a balance fertilizer like 10-10-10 or 14-14-14 every 2-4 weeks. This fertilizer provides a mix of phosphorus, potassium and nitrogen.

 Note that over fertilizer on the olive trees can instead cause damage. This is because excess nitrogen results to excessive vegetation at the expense of fruiting. Also use organic fertilizer which provides nutrients and improve soil moisture which increases olive yield.  

- olive trees grow slowly and do not require much pruning. Start pruning your trees after 2 years. Prune olive trees to have a desirable size and shape, remove drying branches and thin branches to allow more light into the center. 

Maintain a central leader with three scaffold branches for optimal growth and fruits production.

 Diseases Affecting Olive Trees 

1. Olive knot. This is a disease caused by bacterium pseudomonas syringas. It manifests itself as a swollen, tumor-like growth on branches. This disease cause some young trees to die. It also reduces olives yield as well as the size and quality. To combat this disease, prune the affected branches. 

2. Olive leaf spot. This is a common fungal disease. It causes black spots on the foliage. It reduces olives yield and the quality. To fight this disease, remove the infected leaves and spray the trees with fungicide like copper hydroxide.

3. Olive anthracnose . This is a fungal disease that puts black spots on the leaves and fruits of olive trees. The symptoms include, sunken lesions on leaves, fruits and twigs. It reduces fruit quality and yields. To fight this disease,pruning and sanitation of the trees would reduce the spread of the diseases. Spray copper hydroxide and avoid over fertilizer. 

Pruning olive trees

Pruning olive trees is tricky so take your time! Do not prune in the first year. In the second year, you should begin training the tree for its mature tree shape. As a rule of thumb, prune each year to maintain desired shape and size.

Allow for a central leader at the top of the tree with three “scaffold” side branches. After a few years, you can annual prune for a secondary scaffold system on the first three side olive branches. Prune annually to produce heavy crops.

Olive trees bear fruit on the previous year’s growth, and they never bear on the same wood twice.

  Harvesting 

  Olive trees usually takes 3-5 years to start producing fruits. The time to harvest olives is announced by the change of color of the fruits. Harvest green olives when the color changes to purple- black and black olives when they are fully darkened. There are two methods in harvesting olives. The hand harvesting and machine harvesting.

 The most common method is the hand harvesting method. This method is done with hands, rakes and vibrating rakes. The vibrating rakes shake the fruits into nets spread under the trees. Hand harvesting is more intensive and expensive than machine harvesting.

Machine harvesting is a recent method adopted in harvesting olives. The machine grasp the truck of trees and shake them for the fruits to fall into the nets. The vibration of the machine shake down about 80% of fruits on the trees. 

This method is faster than hand harvesting as 500-800kg can be harvested in a day through this method which is not possible with the hand harvesting. With hand harvesting, crew member can harvest only 2-3 trees in a day. 

Conclusion 

 To obtain a successful growth of olive trees, it requires commitment from choosing the right variety, climate and soil soil suitable for its growth. It also requires commitment in caring for the trees like watering, fertilizing and pruning of the trees to have a desired size, quality and yield. It also require you to identify the diseases that are affecting the olive trees and look for solutions to the diseases.