transplanting olive tree

Hello, I wonder if anyone has any advice on transplanting an olive tree. I've just acquired one, about 35 years old , in a pot,its about 6 feet tall excluding the plot with quite a thick trunk and I'm going to put it in the plot in front of the house. Is there anything in particular that I should do to prepare the ground and once its in does it need to be fed anything in particular . Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks

 

barneyb, are there many olive trees growing in your area?
The reason I ask is that Scotland is not know for olive growing, as far as I know, and unless your in a paticually sheltered part, I think it would gradually die.
It would be a shame to lose a 35yr old tree.

 

I go along with Pete, Barneyb - it would have to be Plockton before I'd plant an olive in the garden - but maybe DaveW knows better? He certainly grows them, and he has a fairly sheltered garden, I think.

I think it's unlikely to cope with most Scottish conditions, sorry. :(

 

Our olive tree is just a youngster but has survived regular frosts down to at least minus 8, and last Christmas was frost-bound for over a week - and it doesn't seem to have come to any harm. It has also survived the heatwave a couple of years ago with serious drought and temperatures at 40 degrees or so for three weeks!
I'd agree that Scotland's an unlikely place for an olive tree - but maybe they're tougher than we think.

This was our tree after a week of sub-zero temperatures:



I agree with Dendy & Pete, though. It's quite a risk. Could you leave it in its pot and move it if it starts to look distressed???

 

I know they are pretty hardy, I have a small one myself.
The thing that bothers me is if the new wood ripens properly during the summer.
Well ripened wood, that has had a good hot summer to form, would presumably be quite hardy, but soft growth going into a cold winter wouldn't stand a chance. Over a period of a few years the plant could slowly die.
As I said it would be a shame for a 35 yr old plant.

 

I've got a couple but they are both in pots and get moved under cover during the winter months. The blossom buds look just about ready to burst any day now.
You MIGHT get away with keeping your olive outside all year, partticularly if you fleece it during any very cold spells - much depends on your local climate. Olives can stand a fair amount of cold as Hyla arborea has pointed out. I know that the island from where our olives originated had far more snow than we did during winter 2005/06.
The main problem with growing olives in a cool climate is that they need a long warm spell in order to fully develop and ripen the fruit and with an outdoor olive in Scotland you'll be rather pushing your luck.
As far as regards planting I would think that good drainage would be an important factor so go for a good gritty mix. As far as regards feeding ours get a general purpose liquid feed and then tomorite when the fruit set.

 

Thanks everyone.I was actually looking for a butia odorata but was too late to get one the right size this year.I really wanted something a bit unusual for a sort of mediterranean look . As I already have a few cordylines and a lot of the other palms aren't suitable for the fairly windy seaside climate here on the west coast the olive suddenly occurred to me. I got it from a nursery down south and did check bfore buying if it would suit the conditions here. I was assured that it would so I'm taking a deep breath and going ahead with the planting. Will post a picture one its in.
Dave, I'll be following your advice on drainage and feeding, thanks again

 

Gosh, I've just discovered this.

The thing here at the moment is transplanting olive trees ... from the Alentejo to Algarve.

Algarve is hot with little / minimal frost.

Alentejo is the biggest region in Portugal, bordering Algarve entirely across the northern border from Spain to the Atlantic. It is the the hottest and coldest region in Portugal in any one season. It is the most renowned region for olive trees.

Currently there is a massive "programme" for lack of a better word at the moment going on here where an horrendous area of the Alentejo has been dug up for a "resevoir". It's a bit of some like / some don't / most don't, all a bit nasty actually.

But, all the old (hundreds of years old) olive trees are being dug up and brought down to Algarve for sale. It is amazing how small the root structure is.

So, I say, you can easily move an olive tree.

 

I think they will be more and more popular in England,as the climate is warmer and warmer

 

They're sending 'em to other places too, I reckon LoL! Our garden centres are full of them, all merrily sprouting new shoots from the stumps of the big branches that have been hacked off. They're stuffed into 36" pots (oh, alright - 90cms or something) and seem to survive the experience.

And at several hundred euros a throw, someone's making Loadsa Monneeeee!!

(and BTW, I can justify my reverting to inches for the measurements.... plumbers' pipe fittings here have their screw threads sized in "BSP" - British Standard Pipe Thread - and even in France, that's still in inches!!!!)

 

This is interesting as I have one in a pot . It's wintered outdoor last year but it wasn't much of a cold winter. Suppose if it does get a bit siberian as mentioned above, I could fleece mine.
John