The olive tree is one of the longest-living plants on the planet, and its fruits have properties beneficial to human health. Olives in warm areas are usually grown in open conditions. However, the tree does not withstand cool climates, for example, in northern Russia. Therefore, here it is grown indoors. Let's figure out how to grow an olive tree at home, providing it with proper care.
Description of the plant
Olive, or European olive, is found in the form of trees and shrubs. There are more than sixty plant varieties in the world.
An olive tree can live for more than half a century, and in Jerusalem there are trees that are two thousand years old. The plant can be kept at home for about ten years, after which it needs to be transplanted to an open area..
Young domestic olive trees are characterized by light-colored bark that darkens with age. The leaves of the trees last even in winter and are renewed every two years. The flowers are small and white. The fruits grow up to three centimeters long and weigh about five grams, and can be green or dark purple in color.
Olive fruits contain many substances beneficial to the human body. Eating fruits is useful for the prevention of diseases of the cardiovascular system, gastrointestinal tract and oncology.
How to get a potted olive
A homemade olive can be planted by rooting a cutting. You can also purchase a finished tree, but this will cost from 20 thousand rubles for a two-year-old olive. You can grow a plant from a seed, but such a tree will begin to bear fruit only after 12 years, while a tree grown from a cutting will take three years to do so.
Types and varieties suitable for home cultivation
Homemade olive is often used to decorate rooms. Miniature varieties, up to two meters tall, are suitable for indoor conditions. A homemade olive tree can be made in the style of a bonsai, with a curved trunk and suppressed roots. This variety combines with any room interior thanks to the silver shade of the crown.
Planting a tree in a pot
Fresh olive seeds sold in specialized stores are suitable for planting. Pickled olive pits are not suitable; nothing will sprout from them. Before planting, the seeds should be placed in an alkali solution for two-thirds of a day to get rid of the hard shell. After processing, the seeds should be dried.
A suitable substrate for planting is one half consisting of river soil, and the other half equal parts turf and garden soil. Add a small amount of peat and lime.
Select an olive pot with a depth and width of 60 centimeters. There should be holes at the bottom of the container to drain excess moisture. Place some charcoal on the bottom of the pot.
Seeds should be planted in the soil to a depth of three centimeters. In order for the plant to take root, at first maintain the room temperature at 20 degrees and air humidity at a high level.
Tips for caring for an olive tree at home
In order for the olive to grow healthy and bear fruit, you need to follow some rules. Growing olives requires a certain temperature, light regime and regular watering.
Location and lighting
To ensure the tree grows, maintain bright lighting. In the summer season, it is preferable to take the olive tree out into the garden or onto the balcony to give access to the sun's rays. In the shade, the tree's growth will slow down and it will not bloom. During the winter season, provide the olive tree with maximum sunlight indoors.
Temperature
Homemade olive can withstand heat, and in winter the plant needs to be provided with a temperature of +5 degrees. In cold temperatures, the tree's growth will slow down, and in severe frost it may even die.During the growing season, maintain the temperature at +20 degrees so as not to ruin the crop.
Watering
The home olive can cope with short dry periods, but the plant has difficulty withstanding long-term drought. Young trees need regular watering. Adult plants need to be watered less frequently, the soil should dry between waterings, and excess moisture should be removed from the pallets. During the cold season, the plant should be watered rarely.
Air humidity
In terms of air humidity, olives do not require special conditions. Natural humidity in summer - outdoors and in winter - indoors is sufficient for the plant. In hot weather, the tree should be sprayed with water at room temperature two to three times a day.
Feeding
In the spring, once every couple of weeks, feed the plant with organic preparations that combine nitrogen. In summer, olive trees require complex mineral fertilizers. In addition, spraying with succinic acid supplements fertilizing and helps plant development.
Trimming
Olive needs regular pruning for sanitary purposes. At the beginning of spring, areas damaged by insects are cut off for a tree growing in open conditions. Olives are pruned in the spring, also for decorative purposes. The crown in the form of a neat ball can be successfully formed using hand pruners. When pruning, remove weak branches and leave strong ones.
When carrying out the procedure, keep in mind that olive fruits grow only on last year's shoots, so trim them carefully so as not to destroy the crop.
Transfer
Replant the plant every few years. An olive tree at a young age tolerates soil changes well, but in an adult tree the roots may be damaged when transplanted.Provide a suitable location for transplantation. Rotten soil can cause the plant to wilt. When replanting, it is useful to add charcoal to the soil.
Diseases and pests
Olive has good immunity against pests. However, in the absence of proper care, excess moisture, improper light and temperature conditions, the plant is susceptible to attack by harmful bacteria and fungi.
The greatest danger is tuberculosis. As a result of infection, the plant becomes covered with large blisters. In the vast majority of cases, an infected tree cannot be completely cured, but small foci of infection can be cut off and treated with copper sulfate to minimize the damage.
Due to excess moisture, the olive tree may become rotten or rusty. Biological fungicides, for example, Fundazol, help well against rot. To combat parasitic insects like olive moths, Actellik, Karbofos and other insecticides are widely used.
Black scale insects cause great harm to olive trees. Their appearance indicates that the plant is affected by harmful insects. Scale insects lay a huge number of eggs in the bark. Scale insects affect both diseased and completely healthy trees.
To prevent infections, it is enough to properly care for the olive tree. Fortunately, olive is an unpretentious tree, so it will be enough to provide it with the minimum required amount of moisture, as well as the correct temperature and light conditions. The tree should be protected from pests using natural biological preparations, since chemicals negatively affect the yield, killing the beneficial properties of the fruit.
Olive propagation methods
An olive tree can be grown at home using seeds or cuttings.Each of these methods has its own advantages and disadvantages.
Seeds
Growing olives from seeds is a rather time-consuming and labor-intensive method. It can take as much as 15 years for the first fruits to appear after planting. For planting, fresh seeds with a shell dissolved in alkali are used. Germination occurs after three months. For the first five years, the seedling needs to be replanted annually, after which replanting is carried out every couple of years.
Cuttings
Vegetative propagation is the fastest way to grow a plant. With this method, the seedling inherits the characteristics of the variety and blooms much faster.
First you need to prepare annual cuttings, treating the cut sites for rooting. The cuttings should be planted in wet sand in a transparent container. It is necessary to maintain a temperature regime of about 20 degrees Celsius. It is necessary to moisten the plant in a timely manner. The cuttings should be transplanted to a permanent place in late summer, early autumn.
Thanks for the info!