How to Take Care of a Baby Olive
Since 2,500 B.C. people have been growing and harvesting olives (Olea europaea), originally in Crete and Syria before spreading through the Mediterranean and finally to Mexico and then North America. Olive trees thrive in hot dry summers and cool damp winters in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 8 through 10. After planting, a baby olive tree requires careful care for the first few years until it develops a deep root system. Olive trees grow 20 to 30 feet tall with silver to grey-green leaves. Grow this ancient crop as a landscape tree or as part of a fruit orchard.
Water once a week, applying a total of 2 1/2 gallons per week. Water slowly -- a drip line or soaker hose works well -- so the soil can absorb the water completely without it running off.
Fertilize monthly from spring, when the first buds emerge, through October, then discontinue until the following spring. Apply a balanced fertilizer at a rate of 1/2 cup per 1/4 inch of the olive trunk diameter. Scatter the fertilizer starting 2 to 3 inches away from the trunk and extend it out in a circle to the edge of the dripline. Water the soil around the base of the young olive tree immediately after you apply the fertilizer.
Cut off shoots that grow out of the root zone. These upright shoots are called suckers. If left to grow, your baby olive tree will turn into a multi-stem shrub. Use a pair of sharp pruning shears to cut the shoots at the soil line.
Remove any water sprouts, shoots that grow straight up from a developing branch. These fast-growing vertical shoots should not be confused with regular branch development. Make a clean cut at the point where the shoot attaches to the trunk.
Sanitize your tools before and after pruning to prevent disease spread. Fill a 1-gallon bucket with one part bleach to three parts water. Submerge each tool blade in the solution and then let it dry open before you put it away.
Remove weeds around the base of baby olive trees by hand to reduce competition during early development.
Check young olive trees for scale insects. These insects appear as hard, immobile lumps 1/8 to 1/4 inches in diameter, on the trunk and branches. Spray areas showing signs of scale using a ready-mixed horticultural oil insecticide.
Watch out for olive knot, a disease that causes round galls to form at leaf nodes. Once infected, trees are difficult to cure and often the best remedy is simply removal of the diseased tree. Ask for resistant trees when planting to prevent olive knot.
- Olive Tree Growers: The Care and Feeding of Olive Trees
- White Flower Farm: Growing Guide Olive Tree
- Missouri Botanical Gardens: Olea europaea
- University of California Cooperative Extension: Planting Olive Trees
- Grow Organic: Olive Trees
- University of Florida IFAS Extension: Disinfecting Pruning Tools
- California Rare Fruit Growers: Olive
- University of California IPM: Scale
- UC IMP: Olive Knot
- Other than the occasional trim to keep baby olive trees growing in the right shape, wait to start a regular pruning schedule until the tree is between four and six years old.
- While 2 1/2 gallons of water is average, all soil drains at different rates. If the soil is staying constantly wet and waterlogged, reduce the amount of water you are applying.
- Olive trees are a non-native invasive plant spread by animals and birds who scatter the numerous seeds far and wide.
Eulalia Palomo has been a professional writer since 2009. Prior to taking up writing full time she has worked as a landscape artist and organic gardener. Palomo holds a Bachelor of Arts in liberal studies from Boston University. She travels widely and has spent over six years living abroad.