Help Required with Olive Plant

Hi all,

I have three (3) olive plants growing in pots/containers.

All of them have started developing some flower buds which will eventually (hopefully, God-willing) become olives.
This also happened last year, and flowers bloomed too, I guess but then died or fell off the plant. So no olives.

Any tips from experienced growers to keep those flowers from falling off? I prefer organic ways like if needs more potassium then I can use banana peels or egg shells in case of calcium deficiency, etc.

Difficult with outmore info.
Whats the weather like? particularly frost ? Are all these trees the same type of olive ? Are they self compatable ? How big are the pots ? How old are the plants?

David

David Livingston wrote:Difficult with outmore info.
Whats the weather like? particularly frost ? Are all these trees the same type of olive ? Are they self compatable ? How big are the pots ? How old are the plants?

David

Weather is getting warmer. I'm in Islamabad, Pakistan.
The conditions are favorable towards Olive Plantation, so much so that even the government is promoting. In fact, I got these plants through that scheme.
They are of the same variety. And have grown ample foliage since I got them roughly 2 years ago.

One out of three is in a larger pot so has more green than the other two. But overall, they are all doing fine. However, size of new leaves is slightly smaller than the old ones.

Secondly, only the branches that are at least a year old have developed the buds. The new branches are only growing more branches and/or leaves but no buds.
Which is sort of a good sign. I mean, I read somewhere that this is what olives do.

I will try to send some pictures tomorrow.

Thanks.

Here are the pictures.

Plant 1 is the biggest.
Plant 2 and Plant 3 are roughly equal in size.
All three of them have buds developing on what I believe are the oldest twigs/branches.

Maybe the trees are not old enough to produce fruit?

https://www.wikihow.com/Grow-Olives


Olive trees do need a certain amount of cold, however. Proper flower development depends on the climate dipping to 45 °F (7 °C) or below, although this number alternates with olive tree varieties. This is why cultivation is extremely difficult in the tropics or very warm areas.

Make sure that bloom season is fairly dry and moderate. Bloom season (April to June) should be fairly dry and not excessively warm. Olives are wind-pollinated, so wet conditions can hamper a tree's fruit set.

Check the pH of your soil and adjust it if necessary. The soil should be moderately acidic or moderately basic, with a pH greater than 5 and less than 8.5. Many farmers believe 6.5 to be ideal. Get your soil tested at the Department of Agriculture or use a home testing kit from a department store. If the pH isn't in the right range, adjust it as necessary

Full sun, without any shade blocking your trees, is ideal. Any area you choose should at least get some direct sunlight for at least six hours a day. Very shady areas are not recommended for growing olives.

Wait several years for your trees to start bearing fruit. Well-watered trees will start bearing fruit two or three times faster than dry-farmed trees. While some cultivars begin bearing fruit as soon as two or three years if properly maintained, many trees won't start bearing until 10 years old. When growing olives, remember this is a long term project. Start watching for fruit after the first two years, but keep in mind it may take much longer for an olive tree to yield fruit.

Anne Miller wrote:Maybe the trees are not old enough to produce fruit?

https://www.wikihow.com/Grow-Olives


Olive trees do need a certain amount of cold, however. Proper flower development depends on the climate dipping to 45 °F (7 °C) or below, although this number alternates with olive tree varieties. This is why cultivation is extremely difficult in the tropics or very warm areas.

Make sure that bloom season is fairly dry and moderate. Bloom season (April to June) should be fairly dry and not excessively warm. Olives are wind-pollinated, so wet conditions can hamper a tree's fruit set.

Check the pH of your soil and adjust it if necessary. The soil should be moderately acidic or moderately basic, with a pH greater than 5 and less than 8.5. Many farmers believe 6.5 to be ideal. Get your soil tested at the Department of Agriculture or use a home testing kit from a department store. If the pH isn't in the right range, adjust it as necessary

Full sun, without any shade blocking your trees, is ideal. Any area you choose should at least get some direct sunlight for at least six hours a day. Very shady areas are not recommended for growing olives.

Wait several years for your trees to start bearing fruit. Well-watered trees will start bearing fruit two or three times faster than dry-farmed trees. While some cultivars begin bearing fruit as soon as two or three years if properly maintained, many trees won't start bearing until 10 years old. When growing olives, remember this is a long term project. Start watching for fruit after the first two years, but keep in mind it may take much longer for an olive tree to yield fruit.

Hmmm. I guess then the temperature seems to be the problem then. It does get too hot here in the summers. But not in the April, or earlier May though. Rains are frequent as well, but can keep it dry for a while.
But then again Italy is too warm as well and humid too, I believe. How come they grow so many olives. Same goes for Spain.

As for the sun, last year, I kept them in shade. However, they grew several extra leaves and seemed healthy. Are you certain about full sun?

Let's see how it goes. I have my fingers crossed, the buds look promising to me.

Just to add a little info from Spain, Olives do well in very hot dry weather here, all are planted in full sun, they can take the 30-40C weather in full sun no problems especially once established though probably will need watering during the first few years. Although we do get hot summers we also get cool winters where night temps can easily be around 5-7C for a couple of months, which is the chil that the olives need to bare fruit.

Good luck with your trees.

Disclaimer: I'm not massively experienced in growing olives and only have young trees from nursery and planted out fairly recently.

What I have found in my limited experience is that olive trees smaller than those in your photos already have root systems that would be suited to pots bigger than the ones you have. Can you get bigger pots? or maybe trim some of the foliage and buds. It might be a choice between 100 flowers that don't result in olives, or removing 80 of them so that the remaining 20 do.

Steve Farmer wrote:Disclaimer: I'm not massively experienced in growing olives and only have young trees from nursery and planted out fairly recently.

What I have found in my limited experience is that olive trees smaller than those in your photos already have root systems that would be suited to pots bigger than the ones you have. Can you get bigger pots? or maybe trim some of the foliage and buds. It might be a choice between 100 flowers that don't result in olives, or removing 80 of them so that the remaining 20 do.

Hmm. This makes sense. Unfortunately though, almost all of the flowers are dead already. While they do need pruning, I intend to purchase some land as soon as possible (God-willing).
Thanks.

Olive trees produce fruit in the branches of the last season's growth.Keep this in mind when pruning.So the new branches that you see developing now ,are those that are going to produce fruit next season.
Some varieties of olive trees may need another pollinator variety.You say that you have 3 trees of the same variety.Which variety are you talking about?
I've seen big olives trees very close to the canopy of very big pines,and even then they will shoot some branches towards the sun and produce many many olives.I don;t know if the shade thing applies for southern mediterranean climates like where i live,because there is so much sun.Northern cultures are not the standard of all.