Basically, olives are real beginner plants: they are amazingly robust and don't blame their owner for major mistakes. They are also wonderful for practicing not only as a beginner, but also as a garden professional in the cultivation of Mediterranean plants. We have a few tried and tested tips ready for you.
Grow olive tree from seed
Of course, you need the right seed for this first breeding variant. You can either order dried seeds from specialist retailers or online, or you can take these fresh (i.e. not processed!) and fully ripened fruits. Put the seed about a centimeter deep in special potting soil, keep it evenly moist and place the pot in a warm and bright location. The seedling will raise its little green head out of the ground within four to twelve weeks.
Grow olive tree from cuttings
The second variant promises faster success, because olive trees grown from cuttings not only grow faster but also bear fruit a few years earlier - a tree grown from a seed needs at least 10 years until the first fruit, one grown from a cutting takes an average of six to seven years . As a cutting, you can simply use a thin olive branch that falls off, for example, when pruning an existing tree. Either place this branch in a glass of water (change the water daily!) or plant it straight away in a pot with potting soil. Depending on the brightness and temperature, it can take several months for the olive branch to form roots.
The right substrate
Olives don't have many requirements, they just need the right soil, lots of sun and a little water. Perfect olive soil has the following properties:
- It consists of about one third to half sand or gravel
- also from two thirds or half of conventional potting soil
- the bottom layer is shards of pottery or pebbles in the pot (drainage)
- alternatively, you can use lemon zest
You can tell when it's finally time to repot by looking at the roots: If the delicate root tips are already sticking out of the drainage hole, you should treat your olive to a larger pot. This should be about a third larger than the tree crown.
The right cut
In fact, pruning is only necessary if you ever want to harvest fruit from your own tree. For this purpose you should train your tree so that it has a trunk about 1.50 meters high and only has three to four main shoots. The main shoots, in turn, eventually develop secondary shoots over the years, on which the olives will one day ripen. If possible, do not cut the tree into a round/spherical crown, as this is not conducive to flowering and thus fruit formation. Instead, the crown should remain open. Upright growing shoots should always be removed.
tips and tricks
Don't repot your olive tree too often or in pots that are too large, as this will hinder optimal root growth. It is sufficient to place the tree in a new pot about every two to three years.