Along with the vine and fig tree, the oil fruit or olive was one of the promises of the Old Testament - the Jews already found it as a cultivated plant in the Promised Land. As a rule, olive trees are between 300 and 600 years old.

Olives are cultivated plants that are thousands of years old

An olive tree can live for hundreds of years, in some cases even 2000 to 3000 years. The crop, which originates from the Near East, was cultivated in the eastern Mediterranean area more than 5000 years ago. The wild form found in Mediterranean maquis is a tree similar in appearance but with thorny branches, smaller leaves and small, bitter, unusable drupes.

The oldest olive trees in the world

  • Olive tree "Ano Vouves" on Crete is considered to be the oldest olive tree in the world with an estimated age of around 3000 years
  • Olive tree in Luras, Italy: between 2000 and 3000 years old
  • Olive trees on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem: Age at least 1000 years

The gnarled olive trees, mostly consisting of several trunks, have a trunk circumference of around 10 to 12 meters and still bear fruit every year. Since trees age differently than humans or animals, such age records are by no means unusual. Trees, especially olive trees, have the ability to regenerate, i. H. they can replace dead parts. Trees usually die because they get too big and can no longer take care of parts of the plant that are further away.

Olives grow very slowly

Olives are among the extremely slow-growing plants, they only increase in size by about one centimeter per year. They tend to grow taller, especially when they are young, and only later in width. Older olive trees in particular have a bizarre appearance, as their trunks are full of holes and indentations and are also very twisted. Olive growers believe that the gnarled such a tree looks, the more yield it will produce. Olives only bear fruit very late, at the earliest from the age of five to seven years an olive tree blossoms for the first time. The plant only blossoms between the ages of 40 and 150 - which is why a Greek proverb says that a farmer does not plant olive trees for himself but for his children and grandchildren.

tips and tricks

Basically, olive trees are quite boring plants: year in, year out not much happens. On the other hand, they are extremely undemanding and don't take offense to neglect. Ergo, olives are the perfect trees for beginners.

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Trees