Olives???

[Ummbilal]

I have some olive stones soaking, inshaallah i intend to plant them, has anyone grown an olive tree in the UK?

[tahir_phoenix]

I've tried growing these from the stones - unsuccessfully - they are still in the compost from last year!

Might try again by cracking the hard shell and trying to germinate the seed in a plastic bag :rolleyes:

[Nife180]

Well I do know that Olive trees love warm climate, they are native to Lebanon and Syria. But they tend to show some hardiness to cold. If you are trying to germinate the stone from the salty solution or syrup. Then your germination rate will be low as the salinity tends to kill the stone.

[~Obsidian~]

I did have a plant, but that was bought as a seedling/sapling. The stones in brine/vinegar aren't viable, but maybe if you can find a fresh olive you could give it a shot? I'd like to as well.

[Ummbilal]

my stones are from olive bread! and i think the olives had been in saline so i guess i'll give up on that one!

[tahir_phoenix]

I did have a plant, but that was bought as a seedling/sapling. The stones in brine/vinegar aren't viable, but maybe if you can find a fresh olive you could give it a shot? I'd like to as well.

Go to any garden centre selling olive plants, such as Homebase, B&Q etc. the plants usually have olives which have fallen off, I asked one of the staff if I could have the stones - they didn't mind and this is as fresh an olive as u will get ;)

[~Obsidian~]

my stones are from olive bread! and i think the olives had been in saline so i guess i'll give up on that one!
Stones in bread?? That doesn't sound good! :p
Go to any garden centre selling olive plants, such as Homebase, B&Q etc. the plants usually have olives which have fallen off, I asked one of the staff if I could have the stones - they didn't mind and this is as fresh an olive as u will get ;)

Thanks Tahir I might try that, I'd feel like a bit of a weirdo doing that :o but if I'm down there and I remember I'll give it a try inshaAllah

[~Obsidian~]

I'm stuck at work with no work to do :rolleyes: so I did a quick search, and this is the clearest description of the procedure for growing an olive tree from seed that I could find:

How are seedlings grown from olive seeds?

Growing olives from seeds is promoted by assisting nature to break the
hard shell. This can be done by pinching carefully with ordinary wire
pliers until the shell cracks without injury to the kernel, or the shell
may be cut into with a file, making a very small aperture to admit
moisture. The French have specially contrived pliers with a stop which
admits cracking and prevents crushing. Olive seeds in their natural
condition germinate slowly and irregularly. They must be kept moist and
planted about an inch deep in sandy loam, covering with chaff or litter
to prevent drying of the surface. Before experimenting with olive pits,
crack a few to see if they have good plump kernels. Seedling olives must
be grafted, of course, to be sure of getting the variety you want. For
this reason growth from cuttings is almost universal.

Source (http://www.sustainablefarming.ca/Agriculture/Growing-Olives-From-Seed.html)

[tahir_phoenix]

Stones in bread?? That doesn't sound good! :p


Thanks Tahir I might try that, I'd feel like a bit of a weirdo doing that :o but if I'm down there and I remember I'll give it a try inshaAllah

There's an old saying "If you don't ask you don't get", a perfect example is pomegranate in the pomegranate post who had the courage to ask for some seedlings and I happily obliged :cool:

You shouldn't feel weird just for asking - I mean the worst they can say is NO so u've lost nothing and when it comes to getting FREE seeds I'm first in the queue :p

[~Obsidian~]

:D Alright

[Ummbilal]

the bread is yummy even with the stones!!

i will go looking for a dropped olive and ask the staff! inshaallah

[tahir_phoenix]

Salaam Obisdian - how's ur olive plant coming along?? Mine is outside now that the frost is more or less gone but i'm not sure to put it in the ground or keep it in the pot, will it grow a lot faster in the ground :confused:

I had one olive last year :p

[~Obsidian~]

WaAlaikum AsSalaam

Masha Allah, it looks great (and at the solitary olive :D)! My one died :( it didn't like it indoors. You're probably thinking 'how on Earth did you manage that?!' I honestly don't know :o

I don't know whether it'll grow faster in the ground, what kind of soil do you have? I know of a couple that are planted in the ground and they do give quite a few olives (ooh maybe I can get some fresh stones from there!! :eek:) but I don't know how fast they grew before they were planted there. They're surviving winters here though.

[tahir_phoenix]

Wooohhoooo we have olives, we have olives, we have olives :cheerleader:

I saw what looked like little berries so I had a closer look, I'm well pleased coz I only saw one olive last year and this year there looks like hundreds all over the tree!!

I don't know whether to plant this in the ground or leave it in the pot as I have plans to make an exotic plant bed before ramadhan and the olive was going to be in the centre, I may leave it in the pot for this year :)

[~Obsidian~]

WOooooooOO!! Masha Allah, well done T!

[rubmanhayat]

Salaam-O-Alaikum,

Any updates on the olives Tahir. It's been about a year now. How did it turn out last year? Did you plant it outside or is still in the pot. Looks amazing. My wife is gonna kill me if she finds out that I am on a hunt for a fresh olive so I can also give it a try : ) shhhhhhhh

[farah]

walaikam asalaam,

I was listening to a Islamic lecture the other night, where it mentioned that due to the climate they're used to the olive trees roots go very deep and it may take twenty to twenty-five years before they produce any fruit, pretty awesome plant though subhan'Allah.

[ummahmed]

I have a great little patio olive tree for 2 years now but still......no fruit

Mind you, last year i had the same clusters of flowers that tahir_phoenix has in his pics but still no olives. It was kept inside so maybe i'm thinking my variety is not self pollinating? I overwintered it outside last year and its come up a treat with the same clusters of flowers so i'd be happy with even one olive.

I've read that Seaweed blends can increase production? Has anyone else in the UK had any success in getting fruit?