Indoor Olive tree

Hi,

I've had al olive tree indoors for about 10 years, it has never grown much or produced any olives, but it was alive. This winter it lost all the leaves (they became yellow, dry and eventually fall off) and now it's growing new ones.

It's in a loft room with plenty of sunlight, but I'm thinking of taking it outside for the summer, would this be a good idea or would the tree hate the change..?

Also, is there any fertilizer I could apply? I re-potted it about 3-4 years ago.

Any suggestions are welcome, I don't really know much about plants!

Many thanks

 

Hi SM,

It'll like being outside, but to get him used to it, just put him out during the day for the first 2 weeks, bring him in at night.

Mine is about 25 years old now & I only bring it in during the worse of the winter. Mine did produce a few small olives about 10 years ago but hasn't bothered since.

 

The problem with trees indoors is that they will last a longish time but for much of that time they will be near death until they finally give up. What the tree is yelling is, "Give me some fresh air and let me complete my full life cycle!"

You'll need to acclimatise it by moving it outside during the day and bringing it in at night and gradually leaving it outside for longer until you can leave it out all the time.

Also tip it out of its container to see if it's rootbound. If the roots are encircling the pot/container, tease out the roots and prune about one third and then back into its container with fresh soil. Or it might be feasible to just pot it into a bigger container.

 

Are you living in the north or south? I live in Bedford and many Italian around here have olives trees in the ground and producing olives as well , olive tree should be hardy to -15 plus an healthy plant should produce olives even when they are small, seen olives on a 4 feet tree.

 

I live in Surrey. There's nowhere to put it on the garden that would get sun, so I need to leave it in the pot for now.. will start taking it outside during the day as suggested, and will also take a look at the roots.

Many thanks