This was such a helpful video and you did a beautiful job. We purchased a property in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada in California with some badly-neglected olive trees and I've been spending a lot of time trying to learn how to care and prune them. I swing between wondering whether I am pruning too much or too little!
Hi John. Many thanks for taking the time to watch the video and to message me, much appreciated. So glad you are managing to get your trees back to their best, hopefully they will fruit for you too. All the best with your gardening adventures 🌸🌼
I have watched quite a few videos on how to prune an olive tree and always seem to come away none the wiser .. I watched yours and instantly went out and pruned our too tall and a bit gangly olive tree and it looks fairly decent .. regrowth with tell how i did, but thanks for giving me the confidence to do it.
Tanya, many thanks for watching and thanks so much for your message. It’s so good to hear that you found the video helpful and that it gave you confidence to get out and prune your own tree. I’m sure your plant will soon be thanking you by putting on loads of fresh growth. Have a good weekend 🌸🫒
Hi. Gardening dunderhead here. Thankx for the video. We seem to have massacred our trees a little. They were too high so just chopped down the height. Now we have some bare thick branches just growing up. Should we taje these brances back to the trunk as they look really ugly.
Hi Karen. Many thanks for watching and for the message. If you are based in the uk then don’t do anything now to the tree. Pruning this late on any evergreen won’t allow it to heal and make it susceptible to the cold and fungal disease. You are best to wait until mid summer to undertake any pruning but by then there should be new growth that makes those bare branches look better. If you want to do anything for the tree then I would suggest you still have time to apply an application of seaweed extract. It is not a fertiliser but more a tonic that will help boost the vigour and health, which is what will drive the better growth for next year. If you are Instagram you can always send pictures of the tree to look at. I’m under the same name. Hope this helps 🌳🌼
Thank you so much for your reply. Sadly we'd pruned the day before so hope it will be ok. They've been really healthy but were just too tall. I'd be really interested to see how you reduce the height in future though if you do any more videos? I suppose just don't cut too many at once so there's more coverage to hide the bare branches? If the aim is to reduce height should we have taken the chosen branches right back to the trunk instead so they're less noticeable ? I guess I'm just more useful in the kitchen than the garden!
@@KarenYu-k4s Hi Karen. Just cut the branches back to the height you are happy with. Whilst the branches will be bare for a while they will quickly begin to sprout fresh shoots, if pruned in summer. All the best 🫒🪴
Nigel, thanks a lot for watching and taking the time to message. Really pleased that you have found the video of use in pruning your own tree. Have a great weekend 🫒🌼
You did an amazing job on that olive. my Mum gave me her 15yr old olive in a pot I bought my parents when they moved but now she’s moving on I have it for my home. Hoping I can reshape it and plant in into a larger space.
Penny. Sorry for the delayed reply. Many thanks for taking the time to watch the video and to message. A 15 year old Olive, I bet that looks pretty impressive, although probably also needs a bit of tlc in the shaping and spindly growth. It will look great in your garden I’m sure. All the best and enjoy the summer Mediterranean feel 🫒🫒
Really helpful video. Thank you ! Just going to start on mine now. I was worried it might be a little late but it's 4.9.2022 and the time you did your pruning confirms that it isn't ....... so off I go to tidy up the olive :)
Hi Deborah. Thanks for watching the video, your message, and for confirming the date here in the U.K. 😂 I would say it is a bit late for doing serious pruning to your Olive but you could get away with some light tidying up to remove dead, damaged or diseased material as well as the odd bit of small wayward growth. All the best and enjoy the remainder of your weekend.
@@diyhomeandgardening Thanks for your response. I'm laughing re your date confirmation comment. Yes, not quite sure why I needed to mention it actually ! Thanks for the tips re doing some light pruning only. Will do. I've got it in a 'wine glass' shape and have noticed a few crossing branches that I wanted to cut out before it gets too cold and the odd bit of dead wood to snip off too. Going to lightly reduce the height too with a quick snip off the tips of the tallest stems. I'll try not to get too carried away! Enjoy the rest of your weekend too.
Renee. Thanks for watching and messaging. I’ve only known us have a long hot summer and autumn, where olives actually ripened, and that was about 10 years ago. It’s having the prolonged hot and dry weather that the U.K. doesn’t get, well certainly not for long enough periods. I’m not bothered as I don’t like Olive fruits anyway 🤣 Enjoy your trees 🫒
@@freethoth Ahh okay. I’m never sure where someone has messaged from so can’t tell if you’re a fellow uk grower who has had to contend with a cold wet summer of someone who has enjoyed a hot spell 😄 Get that olive grove started now just in case we get a hot one next year 🌼🫒
@@Blackdove-w5o Hi. Many thanks for watching and for the message. There isn’t actually a dwarfing variety of Olive tree so I’m guessing that when you say you have a patio Olive it is because it is a mini standard type, has a small amount of clear stem before having a ball like shape of branches to the top? An olive tree will generally do better when planted in the ground as they can then grow to their full size, having more available space and soil in which to develop their roots. If you want to keep the Olive in a pot, and are based in the uk, then a good soil to use is John Innes Number 3. If you don’t have access to that blend of soil then you ideally want a blend of soil with compost, with the addition of slow release fertiliser. Make sure that you check or water daily as needed to prevent the roots from drying out. It will take about 3-6 months before the roots start to develop significantly outside of their existing root zone. Hope this helps you 🪴🫒
Very informative video thanks. I have a large old olive tree which we got last year but which has now lost all of its leaves 😢 We have just planted it in the ground from its pot as we have had our garden done and I’m wondering how best to revive it?
Hi and thanks a lot for watching and your message. The winter was such a harsh one that many of the tough evergreen plants took a real battering, and olives were no exception. As the temperatures improve the tree will quickly produce fresh growth so don’t worry. Also, don’t be too tempted to cut off seemingly dead / bare stems before checking that they are actually dead. If you have some then apply some liquid seaweed as that will help to improve overall plant health. Happy gardening 🌼
I want to buy a couple of small standard olive trees and put them in my border in front of the bay window in the front of the house. Do you think I could keep them as small lollipops forever. I planted a couple of hydrangeas and in the heat they looked all floppy so thought olive trees might work, but only if I can keep them contained. Thanks.
Hi Neil. Thanks for the message. Your Hydrangeas are floppy because they need to be pruned harder following flowering. If you know which type they are I’ll help you. As far as Olive trees go. You can buy, what are classed as patio standards, whereby the they have a clear stem of 60cm before the head of foliage starts. You still need to prune to maintain the shape but they will look better than buying larger sized ones and then having to cut hard back every year. Hope this helps 🪴
@diyhomeandgardening Thanks for the feedback! My hydrangeas were from Homebase bought last week. Black stemmed white macrophylla. I get really hot sun where they are and today they went really floppy even though i water them every morning. So I've taken them both out and planted them in part shade under a magnolia tree. Hopefully they'll be a lot happier. I'll buy the Olive but I have one in the back and it's grown over 30 feet! I've heard you can get dwarf varieties but seen these only in the U.S But will def buy the standard olives.
@@Sunnyat189 Hydrangeas can tolerate fun sun when they are acclimatised, planted in autumn, but at this time of year they are less tolerant. Part shade is better with the plants being kept consistently moist. It’s in the name Hydra! After flowering just cut back the stems that have flowers, cutting those stems down to about a foot above ground level. Honestly never heard of or seen a dwarf Olive and I’ve been a commercial plant buyer for a long time. Just go for a tighter clipped mini standard. Your large one can also be cut back at this time of year if it’s too big. Enjoy the planting 🍈🌴
Hi. Thanks for your question. Easy answer is that the Olive will do so much better if it is planted in the ground or planted into a large container. Whilst Olive trees don’t have a massive root system, and are fairly shallow rooting, the plants do need access to a decent amount of water and nutrients. If they lack either than you will quickly get yellowing leaves and the tree won’t produce much flower. Hope this helps you 🌼🫒
@@Sasha-lg. They are shallow rooting and not invasive so they are perfectly fine near footings or paving, so long as the paving has been laid on a proper mortar mix.
Hi sorry to bother you. I’ve recently had to dig up an old 40,50 year old olive tree unfortunately it has no leaves left on it but the roots are ok. How can I help this tree survive another 50 years. Do I place in full sun ? Do I feed ? I can graft on a branch if that would help. Please help sorry
Hi. Sorry but I thought I had replied to your message. Re plant the tree into a position where it will get full sun. Plant using a mixture of fresh compost to a 50:50 ratio with your existing soil. If the ground needs additional drainage then incorporate some horticultural grit, roughly 10% by way of volume. Keep the plant on the moist side. You can give it a liquid feed if seaweed extract which will help improve plant health, but at this stage don’t apply any proper fertilisers. So long as the roots are good then the tree will survive. I’ve imported plenty from Italy where they are just rootballed and they recover pretty quickly. If you have any obvious dead stems on the tree then cut them out. Good luck and I hope this helps you.
This was such a helpful video and you did a beautiful job. We purchased a property in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada in California with some badly-neglected olive trees and I've been spending a lot of time trying to learn how to care and prune them. I swing between wondering whether I am pruning too much or too little!
Hi John.
Many thanks for taking the time to watch the video and to message me, much appreciated.
So glad you are managing to get your trees back to their best, hopefully they will fruit for you too.
All the best with your gardening adventures 🌸🌼
I have watched quite a few videos on how to prune an olive tree and always seem to come away none the wiser .. I watched yours and instantly went out and pruned our too tall and a bit gangly olive tree and it looks fairly decent .. regrowth with tell how i did, but thanks for giving me the confidence to do it.
Tanya, many thanks for watching and thanks so much for your message.
It’s so good to hear that you found the video helpful and that it gave you confidence to get out and prune your own tree.
I’m sure your plant will soon be thanking you by putting on loads of fresh growth.
Have a good weekend 🌸🫒
Hi. Gardening dunderhead here. Thankx for the video. We seem to have massacred our trees a little. They were too high so just chopped down the height. Now we have some bare thick branches just growing up. Should we taje these brances back to the trunk as they look really ugly.
Hi Karen. Many thanks for watching and for the message.
If you are based in the uk then don’t do anything now to the tree. Pruning this late on any evergreen won’t allow it to heal and make it susceptible to the cold and fungal disease.
You are best to wait until mid summer to undertake any pruning but by then there should be new growth that makes those bare branches look better.
If you want to do anything for the tree then I would suggest you still have time to apply an application of seaweed extract. It is not a fertiliser but more a tonic that will help boost the vigour and health, which is what will drive the better growth for next year.
If you are Instagram you can always send pictures of the tree to look at. I’m under the same name.
Hope this helps 🌳🌼
Thank you so much for your reply. Sadly we'd pruned the day before so hope it will be ok. They've been really healthy but were just too tall. I'd be really interested to see how you reduce the height in future though if you do any more videos? I suppose just don't cut too many at once so there's more coverage to hide the bare branches? If the aim is to reduce height should we have taken the chosen branches right back to the trunk instead so they're less noticeable ? I guess I'm just more useful in the kitchen than the garden!
@@KarenYu-k4s Hi Karen. Just cut the branches back to the height you are happy with. Whilst the branches will be bare for a while they will quickly begin to sprout fresh shoots, if pruned in summer.
All the best 🫒🪴
@@diyhomeandgardening ok makes sense. Thanks so much!
Cracking job going to do mine so helpful thank you
Nigel, thanks a lot for watching and taking the time to message. Really pleased that you have found the video of use in pruning your own tree.
Have a great weekend 🫒🌼
You did an amazing job on that olive. my Mum gave me her 15yr old olive in a pot I bought my parents when they moved but now she’s moving on I have it for my home. Hoping I can reshape it and plant in into a larger space.
Penny.
Sorry for the delayed reply. Many thanks for taking the time to watch the video and to message.
A 15 year old Olive, I bet that looks pretty impressive, although probably also needs a bit of tlc in the shaping and spindly growth.
It will look great in your garden I’m sure. All the best and enjoy the summer Mediterranean feel 🫒🫒
Am in a windy but sunny part of the uk. We've always had fruit every year 👏🏻
Thanks for watching.
Does your fruit ripen sufficiently for you to eat or just for bird consumption?
All the best 🫒🌻
Really helpful video. Thank you ! Just going to start on mine now. I was worried it might be a little late but it's 4.9.2022 and the time you did your pruning confirms that it isn't ....... so off I go to tidy up the olive :)
Hi Deborah. Thanks for watching the video, your message, and for confirming the date here in the U.K. 😂
I would say it is a bit late for doing serious pruning to your Olive but you could get away with some light tidying up to remove dead, damaged or diseased material as well as the odd bit of small wayward growth.
All the best and enjoy the remainder of your weekend.
@@diyhomeandgardening Thanks for your response. I'm laughing re your date confirmation comment. Yes, not quite sure why I needed to mention it actually !
Thanks for the tips re doing some light pruning only. Will do. I've got it in a 'wine glass' shape and have noticed a few crossing branches that I wanted to cut out before it gets too cold and the odd bit of dead wood to snip off too. Going to lightly reduce the height too with a quick snip off the tips of the tallest stems. I'll try not to get too carried away! Enjoy the rest of your weekend too.
@@debonweb. Have fun tidying up 🫒
Maybe next year it will be hot enough to ripen olives in the UK.
Renee. Thanks for watching and messaging.
I’ve only known us have a long hot summer and autumn, where olives actually ripened, and that was about 10 years ago.
It’s having the prolonged hot and dry weather that the U.K. doesn’t get, well certainly not for long enough periods.
I’m not bothered as I don’t like Olive fruits anyway 🤣
Enjoy your trees 🫒
Yes, I was trying to crack wise about climate change.
@@freethoth Ahh okay.
I’m never sure where someone has messaged from so can’t tell if you’re a fellow uk grower who has had to contend with a cold wet summer of someone who has enjoyed a hot spell 😄
Get that olive grove started now just in case we get a hot one next year 🌼🫒
Hi .hope your well ,I bought a patio olive tree ,needs replanting what is the best type of soil ? Is it better in the ground or a terracotta pot ?
@@Blackdove-w5o
Hi. Many thanks for watching and for the message.
There isn’t actually a dwarfing variety of Olive tree so I’m guessing that when you say you have a patio Olive it is because it is a mini standard type, has a small amount of clear stem before having a ball like shape of branches to the top?
An olive tree will generally do better when planted in the ground as they can then grow to their full size, having more available space and soil in which to develop their roots.
If you want to keep the Olive in a pot, and are based in the uk, then a good soil to use is John Innes Number 3.
If you don’t have access to that blend of soil then you ideally want a blend of soil with compost, with the addition of slow release fertiliser.
Make sure that you check or water daily as needed to prevent the roots from drying out. It will take about 3-6 months before the roots start to develop significantly outside of their existing root zone.
Hope this helps you 🪴🫒
@@diyhomeandgardening thank you for your reply .have a blessed day
Very informative video thanks. I have a large old olive tree which we got last year but which has now lost all of its leaves 😢 We have just planted it in the ground from its pot as we have had our garden done and I’m wondering how best to revive it?
Hi and thanks a lot for watching and your message.
The winter was such a harsh one that many of the tough evergreen plants took a real battering, and olives were no exception.
As the temperatures improve the tree will quickly produce fresh growth so don’t worry.
Also, don’t be too tempted to cut off seemingly dead / bare stems before checking that they are actually dead.
If you have some then apply some liquid seaweed as that will help to improve overall plant health.
Happy gardening 🌼
Great Video, congrats!!!
Many thanks for your message and for watching, much appreciated.
Happy gardening 🌻
I want to buy a couple of small standard olive trees and put them in my border in front of the bay window in the front of the house. Do you think I could keep them as small lollipops forever. I planted a couple of hydrangeas and in the heat they looked all floppy so thought olive trees might work, but only if I can keep them contained. Thanks.
Hi Neil.
Thanks for the message.
Your Hydrangeas are floppy because they need to be pruned harder following flowering.
If you know which type they are I’ll help you.
As far as Olive trees go. You can buy, what are classed as patio standards, whereby the they have a clear stem of 60cm before the head of foliage starts.
You still need to prune to maintain the shape but they will look better than buying larger sized ones and then having to cut hard back every year.
Hope this helps 🪴
@diyhomeandgardening Thanks for the feedback! My hydrangeas were from Homebase bought last week. Black stemmed white macrophylla. I get really hot sun where they are and today they went really floppy even though i water them every morning. So I've taken them both out and planted them in part shade under a magnolia tree. Hopefully they'll be a lot happier. I'll buy the Olive but I have one in the back and it's grown over 30 feet! I've heard you can get dwarf varieties but seen these only in the U.S
But will def buy the standard olives.
@@Sunnyat189 Hydrangeas can tolerate fun sun when they are acclimatised, planted in autumn, but at this time of year they are less tolerant.
Part shade is better with the plants being kept consistently moist. It’s in the name Hydra!
After flowering just cut back the stems that have flowers, cutting those stems down to about a foot above ground level.
Honestly never heard of or seen a dwarf Olive and I’ve been a commercial plant buyer for a long time.
Just go for a tighter clipped mini standard.
Your large one can also be cut back at this time of year if it’s too big.
Enjoy the planting 🍈🌴
@diyhomeandgardening that's really great advice! Thank you!😊
@@Sunnyat189 👍🪴
I picked up an olive a couple of years ago and have never understood whether it was better for it to be planted or leave in the original container.
Hi. Thanks for your question.
Easy answer is that the Olive will do so much better if it is planted in the ground or planted into a large container. Whilst Olive trees don’t have a massive root system, and are fairly shallow rooting, the plants do need access to a decent amount of water and nutrients. If they lack either than you will quickly get yellowing leaves and the tree won’t produce much flower.
Hope this helps you 🌼🫒
Thanks
@@MogamadPatel
Hi Mogamad. Many thanks for watching, glad to be of help to you.
All the best with your Olive tree 🪴🫒
Great video. Quick and to the point. Very helpful.
Many thanks for your message and for watching the video. Glad you liked it 👍
Very informative thank you
No problem, thanks for watching 👍🪴
Great video! Tell me do the olive trees attracts pests.
Thanks for watching and your message.
Olives only really suffer from woolly Aphid as a pest in the U.K so not too much trouble.
@@diyhomeandgardening Thank so much. Does it have a bad root system, wanr to plant it near my paving?
@@Sasha-lg. They are shallow rooting and not invasive so they are perfectly fine near footings or paving, so long as the paving has been laid on a proper mortar mix.
Hi Ian, my name is Masoud and I am wondering if we worked together at a London based gardening company many years ago?
Hi and thanks for your message but I have never worked in London so we can’t have met. Good to know you are in the horticultural industry though.
Hi sorry to bother you.
I’ve recently had to dig up an old 40,50 year old olive tree unfortunately it has no leaves left on it but the roots are ok. How can I help this tree survive another 50 years.
Do I place in full sun ?
Do I feed ?
I can graft on a branch if that would help.
Please help sorry
Hi. Sorry but I thought I had replied to your message.
Re plant the tree into a position where it will get full sun.
Plant using a mixture of fresh compost to a 50:50 ratio with your existing soil. If the ground needs additional drainage then incorporate some horticultural grit, roughly 10% by way of volume.
Keep the plant on the moist side.
You can give it a liquid feed if seaweed extract which will help improve plant health, but at this stage don’t apply any proper fertilisers.
So long as the roots are good then the tree will survive. I’ve imported plenty from Italy where they are just rootballed and they recover pretty quickly.
If you have any obvious dead stems on the tree then cut them out.
Good luck and I hope this helps you.
@@diyhomeandgardening thanks loads that’s great info thank you
@@Bonsaicrazy76. No problem at all. Enjoy your tree.