Olive virgin here, advice needed please ?

Ive been ill recently so at a weak moment got talked into buying a couple of mature olive trees by my oh and the chap selling them …
The back story is that they originate in Sicily and have been in the uk for 40 years in a corporate display somewhere. To my eye they looked pretty healthy, there was no delivery cost and, as I say, I was cought at a weak moment
Anyway we have them now, one about 4 feet high and the other 5 feet. Thing is I have no experience of olives hence my request for advice from those more knowledgeable :
1 they are a tad light on compost as it looks like some was spilt getting them in to the garden. Should I top them up, if so with what ?
2 should I be trimming at all or just leave them alone as much as possible ?
3 do they need any feed or fertiliser ?
4 when it comes to November should I fleece them up to protect from frost/cold wind or are they mature enough to survive what the uk can throw at them ? They are too chunky to move into a garage …
5 from what I’ve read it’s rainwater only and only when we have very hot spells ?
Tia mike

 

I seem to remember @Tui34 helping out with queries on olive trees …, hopefully they’ll see this …

 

I've never had any of those imported ones but the olive I do have has been totally hardy for at least 20 yrs, I've hacked it back drastically in the past but it just recovers and moves onwards and upwards.

What do you intend doing with them, keeping containerised or planting out.

 

Well we don’t have much in the way of garden borders so likely to keep in containers on the patio.
There is a border at the bottom of the garden but it’s too far away to really see what’s in it from the patio !

 

As I say, never tried keeping something that old in a pot long term.
Presumably feeding and watering will need to be spot on.

Are you thinking of repotting?

 

Not sure Pete ! Should I ?

 

Were they in pots for the last 40 years?

 

Well, I dont think its going to be a good long term project if you keep them in those pots, they probably need more root space, and TBH, not sure how hardy they will be in containers long term, if the pots freeze it could be the end.

As I say, no experience of growing these big old imported ones, but olives are pretty hardy in the UK these days, if grown in the ground, I'd say freezing easterly winds are the most likely to cause damage.

 

Probably dug up and potted, there was a big surge of this a few years ago, you could buy specimen pomegranates and Carob trees as well.

 

I really don’t know but Pete may well be right. Pete you are starting to worry me now … maybe I should plant them or at least go for bigger pots …

 

Not wanting to worry you mike.
But I have seen lots of those trained olive trees, in pots, standing either side of front doors and restaurants, and I've not seen a really happy one yet.

True its down to how well you look after them, but they are quite large trees in reality.

 

SinL had a couple for about 25 years, each in a massive wooden planter. She had them pruned so the top looked like a doughnut. They were stunning and quite a focal point in her garden. Unfortunately they were hit badly by the winter of 2022/2023 after the parched summer we had. One died, and the other lost it's leaves, and just about survived but it's not a patch on what it was.

If you're not interested in the trees, you could always sell them on, they're worth a fortune.

 

No expert on them in any shape or form, but we lived at above 270m ASL in Italy with olive groves way above that. Hard frost was at times a problem regards produce, but snow caused more damage than anything (apart from disease).

I asked about the pots because they do look small for the size of the trees (trunks), but if they were original pots the trees look great and very happy. A friend and neighbour when there had 4 trees that were over 200 year old re-planted on his plot. They used x2 diggers to dig them out with root ball and all and massively deep new holes at his to plant them. They were very sad for 1-2 years, but still producing olives when we left and looked magnificent. I can’t recall the cost but it ran into 1000s not 100s!

I doubt yours will produce here, but they do look lovely. If they have to stay in pots it might well be worth investing in something bigger if someone can confirm they will survive. Regards the planting medium, I’d not worry or spoil them too much as @Loofah indicated, they are pretty hardy.

 

Thanks @Dovefromabove

It needs a larger pot if you wish to keep it root bound. Otherwise get it into the ground asap. It will be flowering very shortly. Aqua. Aqua. Aqua.