particularly when grown as container plants, in order to ensure a healthy, aesthetically pleasing tree or optimize fruit production. Here’s a brief overview of the key points covered:
- Pruning for Aesthetic Growth:
- Olive trees, particularly those in containers, need pruning mainly to create a dense, balanced crown.
- The best time to prune is in spring after the tree has been moved out of winter storage.
- Any dry branches should be removed, and if you want the tree to become denser, you can cut back stronger branches to stimulate further growth.
- If you’re growing the tree in a specific shape (like a topiary), you can shape it in spring using hedge trimmers, with another shaping in mid-summer.
- Pruning for Fruit Production:
- If your goal is to harvest olives, the pruning method is more involved. Olive trees are typically trained to have a « plate » crown with five main evenly spaced branches and no central leader.
- The main branches should be pruned back by about half to encourage the growth of new side shoots, which will bear fruit in the following season.
- Vertical shoots or branches growing inward should be removed to allow sunlight into the crown, promoting better flowering and fruit production.
- Rejuvenating Older Trees:
- For older olive trees that have reduced fruit production, a more aggressive pruning is sometimes needed. This involves cutting back the main branches to about 50–100 cm above the trunk, encouraging new growth that will produce better quality fruit after a few years.
- General Care:
- Olive trees in containers are quite resilient to pruning, and even heavily pruned trees will regenerate from old wood.
- Regular light pruning every two years is usually sufficient once the tree is mature, with a focus on thinning out old fruiting branches and encouraging fresh growth to support the next crop.