Olive propagating

[jackb]

When I decided to grow olives in the greenhouse, one of my objectives was to propagate my own plants. The trees have been growing outdoors on the deck all summer, and today I began to repot and prune the trees. As this is the ideal time to take cuttings, I thought about starting some, the problem is: I have no place to put them. These five trees are trees I have propagated using various methods, so I am going to say my objective has been achieved. The large tree, guarded by Sprout, is a seed that was started in tissue culture media a little over a year ago. I guess it got "supercharged" in the process.
jackb

 

[Jared77]

That just boggles my mind that it's that big in that time from a tissue cultivation!!!

Well done!

 

[ninnymary]

Hard to believe it is only a year old. How often were you fertilizing?

Mary

 

[jackb]

Hi Mary,
Olives do not need a lot of fertilization, so I feed them perhaps once a month. Shhhh, that is the variety that got me in all that trouble.

 

[ninnymary]

If your olives are growing that fast, I'd hate to see your other plants. Does everything grow faster and bigger for you? How often do you fertilize everything else, like your tomatoes and veggies?

Mary

 

[jackb]

I fertilize the greenhouse and garden plants weekly. Indoors, growing hydroponically, the plants are grown in nutrients. I am expecting a few small fig trees to be delivered this coming week, and I am looking forward to try to grow them, as they need the same conditions as olives.

 

[jackb]

This is basically what I am trying to achieve with the olives, sort of a bonsai, but large enough to fruit. The plant is a three year old Picholine, which is about three feet high. As they are easy to care for, and do not drop their leaves, they make great house/container plants. Another benefit is that there are no insects in New York that will bother them.
jackb

 

[so lucky]

Do you expect them to bear fruit eventually? The olives and the figs?

 

[jackb]

Do you expect them to bear fruit eventually? The olives and the figs?

Absolutely, I have had a few olives from the Arbequina, but not enough to get excited about, the figs should produce twice a year when they get going. I saw a small plant in Vermont last week that had several good sized figs on it. That is what gave me the idea, as they have just about the same requirements as olives. That, and it was a nice looking plant. The variety I bought is supposed to withstand temps to minus ten, and they say it can be grown in our zone. That said, I intend for it to be a greenhouse plant.

 

[jackb]

Three small fig trees have arrived and are in the greenhouse: Brown Turkey, White Marseilles and Black Mission. There is another variety, Violet De Bordeaux, on order, and that will be it. I never knew, that like olives, there any number of varieties of figs.
jackb