When do i prune olive trees

Take part in our research. Meet the team. Shop plants rhsplants. Shopping with the RHS. RHS Christmas gifts. Help us achieve our goals Make a donation. Join the RHS today and support our charity Join now. Save to My scrapbook. Olive tree. Quick facts. Cultivation notes If you have a protected city garden or live in a mild area, olives can be grown outdoors as long as you give them a sunny position and plant them in well-drained soil - for example, against a warm wall would be ideal.

Olives naturally shed their older leaves in spring April in the UK as new growth begins. Prolonged cold weather below 7. Propagation Named cultivars are best-propagated by grafting , which is the preferred method in olive-growing regions.

It will take at least four years for young plants to bear fruit. Cultivar selection Garden centres and nurseries should stock Olea europea , but if you are looking for a specific cultivar, try a specialist grower. Problems Plants are not entirely hardy in the UK and a long spell of cold weather can cause leaf drop, splitting bark and dieback. Leaf loss or yellowing may be due to: Natural shedding of older leaves in April as new growth begins Dry conditions, particularly when grown in containers.

Frost damage Attack by pests Waterlogging. Poorly-drained soil conditions can lead to root disease such as Verticillium wilt or Phytopthora root rot. Cuts that are slightly slanted will help deter water from soaking into the cut and having your branch get infected.

Make a clean, slanted cut right up against the larger branch. Part 2. Begin shaping when your tree is 1 metre 3. When your tree is about 2 years old and 1 metre 3. Prune once a year in the late spring or early summer. Pruning once per year is plenty. Avoid cutting too much on young trees. Aim for a martini glass shape. The healthiest olive tree shape is that of a wide martini glass, with the trunk being the glass stem.

Most branches should grow laterally and slightly up. Choose 3 or 4 strong lateral branches to form your main shape. To begin achieving a martini glass shape, choose 3 or 4 strong branches that are growing mostly out and slightly up from the trunk to keep as the main structure for your tree.

Leave smaller branches coming off these branches, even if they are growing down. Eventually you want your tree to have 4 strong lateral branches for its main structure. Part 3. Observe your tree at picking time. Once your tree is bearing fruit, you will notice that its main lateral branches get weighed down by fruit.

You will see other branches that are growing vertically, or some that look old or weak. Make notes of these vertical, old or weak branches that you should prune the following year. Light annual pruning is still a best practice for encouraging new growth. Remove vertical branches. Branches growing straight up, especially those near the top that are thin and weak, should be removed. You also want the inside of your martini-glass shape to not be dense with vertical branches, so remove those as well.

If your tree is too dense with vertical branches in the middle, a bird would not be able to do that, and you should remove more vertical branches. Fruit only grows on lateral branches, so another reason to prune these vertical branches is to give your tree more energy to put toward fruit-bearing branches. Cut lateral branches that have become exhausted and weak.

As your tree ages, some of the lateral branches growing off your main branches may become old. When you observed your tree at picking time, these are the old branches that maybe bore fruit at one time, but they have stopped. Cut these branches to encourage your tree to grow more fruitful branches. Any growth below the main fork of the tree, going down the trunk to its base, should be removed. Did you know you can get expert answers for this article? Unlock expert answers by supporting wikiHow.

Maggie Moran. Support wikiHow by unlocking this expert answer. Not Helpful 6 Helpful This tree has a lifespan that extends over a thousand years. It is typical of Mediterranean regions, but it can be found already in more temperate climates such as along the Atlantic coast. Its edible fruits are olives and are most often seen to be black or in shades of green.

They can be eaten raw, or spiced with garlic, basil or any from a number of other spices. They also are the source of olive oil, famous for its many health benefits!

In cooler climates and in case it freezes hard, cover your olive trees with horticultural fleece to protect them from the cold, and wrap the pot itself with a cover to protect the roots. Your email address will not be published. Now I've already pruned these ones off when I did the tidy up on my front garden. But, you can see, they're already coming back. Next, remove any dead, damaged or crossing branches. Now I'm going to take back these main leaders by about a quarter.

At the moment they're just reaching for the sky. If need be, you can completely remove some branches to allow in more air and light. The aim is to have a nice, even, balanced canopy. Finally, I'm going to feed the olive with an organic manure and mineral based fertiliser.

But before I do that, I'm just scuffing up the mulch around the root zone to make sure the fertiliser has contact with the soil. Now, as you can see, I've clearly given this more than just a light annual prune, but that's because the tree's been neglected for at least 3 or 4 years, so I've brought it back into shape.

What's the result? But in Adelaide, Sophie's met a younger gardener with wisdom beyond his years.