Olive Tree

I have an olive tree in a pot. I bought several years ago as apparently they don't need much water.
Every year I replace the top compost, that's all I do. Just water along with my other pots.
I'm no gardener so everything has to thrive on neglect x

I have just been sent one which is v small snd dried up. The soil was so dry there was a big gap round the rim of the pot.
No instructions either so I have watered it and it’s outside in its pot which I think is too small.
I shall have a google snd see what it/they think.

Have you moved yours into a larger pot dolly?

Mine outgrew the pot and is flourishing in the garden.
The only thing to be mindful of if the tree is in a pot is to ensure that the roots don't freeze in very cold weather.

My two are about 8 ft now, they were around 6ft when I bought them. They are in their second pots now, zinc replica washing dolly style. IYKWIM.
I feed them and give a top dressing once a year. They’re full of little flowers now.
The ones we buy here are usually from Sicily and come in the mud they’re dug up in, so definitely need repotting with compost mixed with grit, don’t go too large with the pot, otherwise the roots sit in moisture.

Mine is about 10 years down the line now. I moved it out of a pot into the soil. I hardly ever water it. You have to chop the sprouting top branches that reach for the sun or you don't get that nice rounded tree shape.
Only another 30+ years until it produces olives so I'm told.
The silver colour looks pretty too.

Thank you all! I think I will take the plunge.
My DH rolled his eyes when I told him. Muttering something about "remember the poor orange tree"

We had an olive tree in a pot for about ten years. It didn’t grow much. When we moved here ten years ago, as we had a large garden, we planted the olive straight into the ground. It is now nearly seven foot tall andd this year, for the first time, covered in blossom. Perhaps we may get olives

Hi silver lining48. I've only repotted once in about t 5 years.I'm no gardener and do v little.

I must have bought my olive about 18 years ago, It was a little plant from Aldi and I put it in a pot in the garden, In the really cold winters of 2009 and 2010 it lost all its leaves and I thought I had killed it. However I repotted it in a larger pot and moved it close to the house for a bit of protection. Four or five years ago I moved it into a much larger pot. It looks quite impressive now and flowers every summer. It produces a few olives but they are very small and shrivel up.

The olive plant/tree will survive but the tiny olives do on my at least, drop off eventually, as we don’t have the length of summer to allow them to ripen. We had ours in a small pot but moved it last year into a huge one. It’s now six ft tall!

My neighbours have a large productive olive tree. It was bought as a not very small tree and lived in large pot. It did not do well so was moved to the garden where it is now a good sized tree, producing olives. My neighbour prunes it well, making sure that it is airy and open .It is a lovely tree, now about 10 foot .

JamesandJon33

We had an olive tree in a pot for about ten years. It didn’t grow much. When we moved here ten years ago, as we had a large garden, we planted the olive straight into the ground. It is now nearly seven foot tall andd this year, for the first time, covered in blossom. Perhaps we may get olives

Think I am going to move mine into the ground, mine has done nothing in ten years, even though I use a good feed meant for olives.
Yours is seven feet 😳

We had tiny black olives second year after a hard frost. None to be seen since.

MT62 Thing seem to take off in our garden. When we moved in about ten years ago we found a stick, half buried in the shrubbery. It was a fig. We moved it down the garden and put all the recommended things in place to restrict its root. It is now at least 14 foot high….with figs

JamesandJon33

*MT62 * Thing seem to take off in our garden. When we moved in about ten years ago we found a stick, half buried in the shrubbery. It was a fig. We moved it down the garden and put all the recommended things in place to restrict its root. It is now at least 14 foot high….with figs

Oh lovely. I love a nice, well established fig tree.

JamesandJon33

*MT62 * Thing seem to take off in our garden. When we moved in about ten years ago we found a stick, half buried in the shrubbery. It was a fig. We moved it down the garden and put all the recommended things in place to restrict its root. It is now at least 14 foot high….with figs

Did you feed your olive tree? If so, what with?

Dylis

I can't work out why the sudden craze. They aren't overly attractive and if one wants to to use the olives it's quite a long and laborious process. And because of 'the craze for them' they are so so expensive.

There are so many other evergreen shrubs that are so much more attractive, cheaper and still able to be easily maintained.
.

Barbadosbelle

Dylis

I can't work out why the sudden craze. They aren't overly attractive and if one wants to to use the olives it's quite a long and laborious process. And because of 'the craze for them' they are so so expensive.

There are so many other evergreen shrubs that are so much more attractive, cheaper and still able to be easily maintained.
.

I would love one of those really old, huge twisted olive trees. I think they are lovely in a beautiful old enormous ceramic pot.
You are right, they cost a fortune
Some friends of ours have made a huge round table out of concrete & the middle section they have potted the most beautiful olive tree which is all lit up.

I think they like a fair bit of sun. We used to have one at a holiday house and it just thrived in bright sun and I never did any watering or feeding at all. I have had one in our garden here for years and it has never flowered, just stays the same but it is in a shady part with big overhanging gum trees. It is about 7 foot tall but a bit stringy looking.

MT62. No we have never fed our olive tree. Just bunged it in the ground. Not in a particular sunny spot either as we have a lot of large trees all around. No idea why it has grown so large, thought it must be happy where it is.

Incredibly easy. It looks after itself and is thriving.

I bought one in a pot about five years ago, and moved it into a bigger pot soon after. I've had very few problems with it, although I do cover it with fleece in really cold weather.
I just like the movement of the leaves, and the little flowers .
It's only had a very few small olives. but I didn't buy it for that.
Reading the messages, am I meant to prune it regularly?
What time of year is best for pruning?

I’ve read you are meant to prune into a champagne glass shape. If I did that I’d have nowt left.
I’ll give it go in the ground like J&J have done. Maybe they don’t like fuss.