Growing Olives

[~Obsidian~]

I planted an olive 'twig' (bargain from woolworths :D) and it's sprouted lovely leaves in the past couple of months from all the hot weather! Anybody else growing them in the UK (or out) and have you got any tips? How big do the roots get? Because I may have to transplant it to another pot maybe.

I'll upload a pic of it soon inshAllah

[Riz]

zartoun eh ?

never had the priviliage of growing one.. cant wait for the pic !!

[~Obsidian~]

Yup :D

Here it is (I don't have a decent pic of it in all it's sparsity when I first bought it, but I have a lovely one of the after :D (it has even more leaves than this recent pic!)

[Riz]

intresting plant, found some info...


Site in the sunniest position possible, ideally south or west facing with some protection from the north and east winds
Plant in free-draining soil that will not become waterlogged during the wetter parts of the year; olives are tolerant of both acidic and alkaline soils. Poor sandy soils will benefit from the addition of organic compost and clay soils may require additional drainage or if this is not feasible, then consider a raised bed.
Olive trees can successfully grow in containers for many years and while they will grow in most composts, for long-term cultivation we recommend mixing a good quality multipurpose compost 50/50 with John Innes No.3. Never over-pot your olive tree and always re-pot just to a slightly larger pot.
Olive trees can be easily pruned to maintain the size and habit required. We recommend that light, formative pruning is undertaken in mid-spring with heavier trimming in early to mid-summer. Never prune during the winter and be cautious in the autumn: like many Mediterranean trees, olives need some heat and recovery time to heal wounds before the dormant winter period.
Feed your olive tree with seaweed extract fortnightly between May and September to ensure the tree stays healthy, vigorous and happy.

[~Obsidian~]

Thanks for that above ^^ I've noticed some yellow patches on a couple of leaves. Is this a sign of it becoming rootbound?

[Riz]

Its natural for leaves to yellow and fall off, just keep an eye on it, if its only a few leaves i dont think its a probelm, just make sure it doesnt get "rootbound" if it is just replant it in a bigger size container and you should be fine.

[~Obsidian~]

Will keep an eye on it, hope it survives the winter inshAllah! Found a LOVELY garden shop today and they had some bonsai sized olive trees...which had olives growing on them!! :eek:

I was stumped...then the guy told me they were imports :p

[~Obsidian~]

There are a couple of olive trees in Hainault...and they gave fruit! In the UK!! :eek: Global warming

[~Obsidian~]

A recent piccy of le olive twig. Seems to still be growing, despite recent temps.

[Kasim]

Mashallah the first pics were great.

[~Obsidian~]

Whats wrong with the last one? :confused:

[Kasim]

Last one is good too. I never said anything about it lol mashallah at you energetic approach toward gardening

[~Obsidian~]

Haha ok, JazakhAllah Khayr, it's not so energetic more like little bursts of work, funnnn!

[Kasim]

It requires patient too. I want to grow mushrooms. I shall buy one of those kits mentioned in the mushroom thread

[~Obsidian~]

I'm now wondering what to do with this little feller now. I would leave it outside except it's just too wet nowadays. Should I just leave it inside and neglect it over the winter? Not feed/water it etc, just let it sit in a corner. Will it lose leaves?

[~Obsidian~]

I brought the plant in quite a while ago, left it on the side and haven't watered it since.

Today it was disturbed and quite a few leaves fell off :(
Is this normal? :confused:

[Riz]

I brought the plant in quite a while ago, left it on the side and haven't watered it since.

Today it was disturbed and quite a few leaves fell off :(
Is this normal? :confused:

I think its normal for it to shed its leaves over the winter months a bit like the pommie plant.. but make sure you water it though, it still needs it, not too much though you don't want the roots to go all mouldy, so water sparingly and keep it at room temps..

[~Obsidian~]

Ah, thank you!

[Tania]

May be if the tree has not enough light then the leaves fell off.

[~Obsidian~]

The poor little feller never recovered from his leaf loss :( he died a while back now - inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'oon.


I got excited by the reappearance of the sun last Friday that when I randomly spotted some small olive tree cuttings being sold, I had to buy one. It's ALOT sturdier than the last twig that I had, and I'm hoping it'll flourish, insha'Allah.

[memyself_and_i]

The poor little feller never recovered from his leaf loss :( he died a while back now - inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'oon.


I got excited by the reappearance of the sun last Friday that when I randomly spotted some small olive tree cuttings being sold, I had to buy one. It's ALOT sturdier than the last twig that I had, and I'm hoping it'll flourish, insha'Allah.

mashallah u got a new one they are lovely trees i have one its about 4ft and growing it grew fruit in 2009 inside the green house with 100s of olives that tasted really bad :D this year out side no fruit and its haveing a bad time now coping with the winter inshallah i dont lose it but yh i will take some photos for u when it gets abit warmer if u want :)