How many years does it take for olives to bear fruit?

Olive planting results after several years

Olives take 7 years to bloom and bear fruit. The fruit matures around October each year and is then available on the market. There are very few fruits at first, but the number will slowly increase after 25 years. Each time it bears fruit, the yield will generally decrease the following year.

Grafted olives bloom and bear fruit

Timely grafting of olives can promote early fruiting and high yield. Grafting should generally be carried out during the Spring Equinox and Qingming Festival. Generally, it takes 3-4 years of care after grafting before it will bear fruit.

Olive trees with fruits

The olive tree grows quickly. In the wild, it can provide shade for people and grow to towering heights without any problems. So if it is planted in a pot as a houseplant, its roots may fill the pot in no time. Therefore, it is necessary to repot it every 1-2 years, and it is best to do so in spring and autumn when the temperature is relatively stable.

Why don't olives bear fruit?

When the branches and leaves of the olive tree grow particularly lush, it needs to transport all the nutrients from the roots to its branches and trunks. Especially when it has not yet borne fruit, its branches and leaves may grow particularly lush and consume some nutrients prematurely.

At this time, it is necessary to prune it, remove some other messy branches, or branches and leaves that cannot grow olive fruits, and let it retain the nutrients on the olive fruits. In this way, we can ensure that the fruit has sufficient nutrients.

Olive Planting Technology and Key Points

1. Grafting

When grafting olives, 2-3 year old seedlings are generally used as rootstocks, and branches with leaf scars and buds are selected as scion. After grafting, the soil is kept moist, and attention is paid to preventing and controlling diseases and pests. The seedlings can be planted after germination.

2. Planting

First, dig a hole, remove the plastic bag from the grafted seedlings and place them into the hole, cover them with fertile fine soil next to the roots, water them to help them take root, and prevent the roots from coming into contact with fresh animal manure to avoid rotting of the new roots. In order to achieve dwarfing and high yields, the main branches should be pruned to increase the yield of olives.

3. Fertilizer and water management

During the growth period of olives, thin fertilizers should be applied frequently, once every 60 days. During the growth period of olives, attention should be paid to the combination of decomposed organic fertilizers and compound fertilizers, and the method of circular shallow ditch irrigation should be adopted. Fruit trees should be fertilized three times a year, namely, pre-flowering fertilizer, fruit-enhancing fertilizer, and fruit-picking fertilizer, to promote flower bud differentiation and fruit ripening. The amount of fertilizer applied should be based on the strength of the tree.

4. Plastic dwarfing pruning

During the growth period of olives, the main trunk needs to be cut off to increase the yield. The pruning time is summer and winter. The overgrown branches are shortened, the inner branches, overlapping branches and diseased and insect-infested branches are thinned out, and the crown height is controlled to ensure fruiting on the outer edge of the crown. This allows nutrients to be evenly distributed and the fruit yield is high.