How to Grow Olive Trees Indoors Easily

Olives are a good choice to make your garden beautiful. This is a Mediterranean evergreen tree. Growing olives is not difficult, if you are prepared to put in some time and are also willing to put in the effort.

There are some important facts about olive growing that you should know so as to make your plants thrive successfully. If you are thinking how olives can grow in your room? Here are some tips for growing olives that are suitable for planting in your room. Once you are successful, the tree can grow without even requiring much attention.

Olive trees can cope with extreme climatic conditions. You can grow olives in the garden or in pots. Since the plant grows slowly, there is usually no need for pruning. Plants grown in containers can grow faster than those grown in soil.

Grow Olive Trees Indoors

Soil

Olive trees like well-draining soil, such as cactus mix. Placing an inch or two of Styrofoam, gravel, or other type of filler at the bottom of the pot will allow the soil to drain properly. (And of course, make sure your container has plenty of drainage holes.) Even though olive trees grow fairly slowly, you want to make sure the container is at least a few inches larger than the root ball on each side to allow the root space to expand. You can grow olives either directly in the pot. Prepare the soil, allowing for proper drainage and adding nitrogen-rich manure. Adjust the soil pH above 6.5 by adding lime. Plant in a larger container so you don’t need to repot them too soon.

Light

Unfortunately for those of us who live in low light spaces, olive trees, like most fruit trees, prefer full sun (a minimum of six hours a day). Keep plants in direct sunlight. So a sunny, south-facing window is ideal.

Temperature

Olives can grow even in cold winters and warm summers. While mild cold temperatures are harmless, frost can affect the growth of olives. And make sure that the blooming season is in the summer as it pollinates the plants mainly through the wind. Wet climates can affect pollination.

Olives needs temperatures around 80 F in the long summer,  along with cool night temperatures of 35-50 F. (2-10 C.) to set flower buds. This process is known as vernalization. While olive trees need to be vernalized to set fruit, they freeze from freezing temperatures.

Some sources claim that some olive varieties can withstand temps up to 5 F. (-15 C.). The caveat here is that the tree may reappear from the root crown, or it may not. Even if it did come back, it would take a few years to become a producing tree again if it wasn’t too damaged by the cold.

Olive trees can be damaged if the soil is too moist or wet. Always make sure that you plant olives in an area with good soil. If you are growing in a pot, make sure that you use soil that supports good watering. This is one of the olive planting tips. Leave the top of the soil in the pot to test between waterings. Olive trees are perfect for drier air like the kind found in most homes, where they native from the Mediterranean.

Fertilize

Use fertilizer while preparing the soil for growing olives. The container used must be wide, so that it can help good root growth. Growing plants or adding compost can provide the nitrogen needed for plant growth.

Pruning

Since trees grow very slowly, pruning is not always necessary. However, potted plants can grow a little faster and in that case, you can do some pruning. Prune unwanted branches to support tree growth.

Pest control

Olive trees can suffer from pests such as black scale and Verticillium wilt. Therefore, it is advisable to use the right insecticide, once you detect a pest attack. And, take action to cut the affected branches. Because pest can affect the normal growth of the olive trees.

Although olive trees can reach up to ten feet in containers, unless you have very high ceilings, you may want to choose the dwarf variety. You are able to make them shorter by pruning although dwarf olive trees variety will grow to 6 feet tall.

Make sure the variety you buy is fruitful and not purely ornamental if you want your olive tree to give you real olives, as well as look beautiful. The folks at Foods52 recommend the Arbequena or Picholine Varieties. The olive trees need to be placed outside to produce fruit (it has to do with temperature changes) for several months, according to HGTV, so your mileage may vary.

How long do olive trees live indoors?

From various sources I have found that olive trees can only live indoors for eight to nine years. What happens after eight to nine years is undetermined. However, eight to nine years is a pretty good journey and you might even get the fruits of it in the meantime.

Olive trees are difficult to grow indoors?

Due to olive trees don’t grow thrive indoors long term, the solution you need to do is to move potted olives outside as the weather warms. You can choose dwarf varieties if you are to plan to grow olives as houseplants indoors because this kind of olive can grow up to 6 feet but to make the shorter, you can prune them.