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How much water does an olive tree need.??

Posted: Thu May 04, 2017 6:42 pm
by Cheshire Lad
Hello.
Having murdered an olive tree in the past by overwatering and generally not being a good parent, we've decided to put another into the garden.

It's about 6 feet tall, and in good condition, and in the ground

I'm setting up an irrigation feed to make sure that it gets the right amount of water- BUT- how much IS that?

I've read somewhere that we should be looking at 2.5 gallons, twice weekly. Is that the right ballpark, or are we way off the mark?

Is it too much? Is it to little? Also, T'Internet says there's no need to feed ???

Any advice welcome as we don't want to lose another

Thanks

Ian
CL

Re: How much water does an olive tree need.??

Posted: Thu May 04, 2017 6:48 pm
by PhotoLady
We're considering getting one for the garden when we get around to it...

The website I was looking at (UK based) indicates watering once every 2 weeks for those trees that are kept in a container.

They don't like to be overwatered and must have sufficient drainage and suggests gravel or something similar around the root base. They like full sun and are perfectly happy in the breeze so they don't have to be in a sheltered position. And yes, no need to feed as they're fine to be in scrappy soil halfway up a mountain and still manage to survive.

We had similar experiences to yours with fruit trees in Cyprus that we purchased. They always died on us but the one in the back part of the garden where we never really went so did no tree tending there always came up trumps!

Re: How much water does an olive tree need.??

Posted: Fri May 05, 2017 10:00 am
by trevnhil
There are many many olive trees in this area, and I never see them being watered at all..

Trev..

Re: How much water does an olive tree need.??

Posted: Fri May 05, 2017 10:04 am
by cyprusmax47
Cheshire Lad

Very difficult to find out how much water is best. It depends of the type of soil the tree is planted. There are very view plants that like waterlogging and olives are not one of them. I personally would try with 10l once a week in order the tree roots grow more deep down and don't need watering in future years like in the wild. Important is also to watch out for spidermites after flowering and to spray in this case.
Max

Re: How much water does an olive tree need.??

Posted: Fri May 05, 2017 10:28 am
by Cheshire Lad
Thanks everyone.

This is really helpful - and certainly the amounts quoted are far less that I was giving to my first tree- which I lost.

Good Lesson Learned here.

Much appreciated
CL - Anarita

Re: How much water does an olive tree need.??

Posted: Fri May 05, 2017 11:53 am
by PW in Polemi
I suspect that care of olive trees is similar to that of fig trees - treat 'em mean and keep 'em keen! :D

Re: How much water does an olive tree need.??

Posted: Mon May 08, 2017 3:27 pm
by die6
We have a lot of olive trees which are more than 20 years old, never watered them.

Re: How much water does an olive tree need.??

Posted: Mon May 08, 2017 5:24 pm
by surreyboy
I don't remember seeing any olive groves or vineyards in Cyprus that have irrigation systems. Once established, both of them are fairly drought resistant and over-watering is more likely to kill them than under-watering. However, young plants do need some assistance, but this is usually via a 2" plastic pipe sunk into the ground beside the plant and filled with water once a week. Whatever you do, don't water the plant itself or the ground around it.

Re: How much water does an olive tree need.??

Posted: Mon May 08, 2017 10:45 pm
by cyprusmax47
surreyboy wrote: Mon May 08, 2017 5:24 pm I don't remember seeing any olive groves or vineyards in Cyprus that have irrigation systems. Once established, both of them are fairly drought resistant and over-watering is more likely to kill them than under-watering. However, young plants do need some assistance, but this is usually via a 2" plastic pipe sunk into the ground beside the plant and filled with water once a week. Whatever you do, don't water the plant itself or the ground around it.
Olives are loosing quality if repeated watered with irrigation system as well as grape vine does. But saying that I know quite a lot of greedy farmers they do it in order to get more pounds out of their crop. Quality is sometimes not important but quick profit. In one case I can remember the distance from the bore hole to the vineyard was 2 km with 50 mm pipe....
Max