Olive trees are beautiful and can grow to an awe-inspiring age, so acquiring an olive tree is an acquisition for life. Reason enough to get detailed information before you buy.
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Beware of cheap bargains
Olive trees are occasionally offered for sale from all sorts of commercial sources. For example, large cash and carry markets offer magnificent, thick olive trees that are significantly cheaper than what is available on the normal market. 2 meters high, 150 years old, it’s said to be around 200 euros – sounds good at first. Upon closer inspection, you will then realize that this olive tree has been cut out of its natural environment. It looks a bit like a pollarded willow in the crown area and is then also offered as a bonsai. A mutilated tree with no proof of origin, which you should better keep your hands off if you can’t “get it thrown in” for a few euros.
Order olive trees online
You can also be lucky on the internet and find a really cheap olive tree. When a three-year-old olive tree from Spain, around one meter high, is offered for €1 and shipping to Germany costs €10, you really can’t go wrong, can you?
Maybe it is: If you take a closer look at the offer, you may notice that this olive tree is only stated as older than 24 months in the detailed description. This is probably why the trunk is as thin as a finger. A look at the seller’s address shows that this olive tree grew up in Andalusia, the southernmost administrative region in Spain. Of course, the mildest temperatures in all of Spain also prevail here. The temperatures in Andalusia never drop below about 8 degrees, in fact in the plus range. It is really not to be expected that this olive tree will be happy here in Germany. Under these circumstances, you can also save yourself the expense of 11 euros.
Buy olive tree from the specialist
After all these adventures, it’s a good idea to buy an olive tree from a specialized nursery or tree nursery.
Where you can be confident that your olive tree was grown in a climate so similar to that in Germany that the olive tree will not have any problems. Where you don’t get trees taken from nature anywhere, but rather self-grown trees. A specialist who usually gives you a few years’ guarantee on your olive tree.
Here they will also be able to answer your questions about what to consider if you want to harvest olives from your olive tree.
You should only make sure that it really is a specialist.
The place of rearing should be known
If you make a major purchase such as an olive tree, there is certainly a reason to buy from a specialist nursery, because then you really have someone to talk to. In any case, you will not have an anonymous large company as a contractual partner, with whom you will have little luck if you have questions or even complaints.
You should also be able to ask this specialist where your olive tree was grown. Whenever the cultivation is in very warm regions, the olive tree in Germany has little chance of survival. It is the same if your olive tree was grown in a greenhouse somewhere. Of course, you should also find out exactly which olive tree you are getting, with the exact botanical name. It would be best if there was an address where you could even view your olive tree and pick it up personally. Whether or not you intend to do so is secondary, but a retailer who doesn’t want to give out an address is almost certainly hiding something.
The right kind of olive tree
Just buy an olive tree – it won’t be that easy. In the Mediterranean region alone, more than 1,000 varieties of olive trees, botanically called Olea europaea, grow. Each of these olive trees has developed slightly differently depending on the climate and soil conditions at the home location. You should certainly choose an olive tree cultivation for the culture that is not exactly at home in the hottest corners of the growing countries.
It is best if you let us explain in more detail where the olive tree variety offered to you originally grows and what conditions prevail there. This development has shaped the plant for a very long time. If you then ensure that this variety is cultivated in a nursery that has a slightly harsher climate than in the coldest corners of its home countries, you can be fairly certain that you are getting a variety and an olive tree suitable for planting out is suitable in German gardens.
Only buy healthy trees
Olive trees are easily infected with fungi, as are fruit trees. You should make sure that your tree does not have any visible fungus networks when you buy it. In particular, you should watch out for signs of Spilocaea oleagina, or eye spot disease, in this area. Leaves infected with this common olive tree disease show round discolorations on the leaves resembling peacock eyes. Another fungal disease called Mycocentrospora cladosporioides is manifested by black spots on and yellowing of the leaves.
Cell proliferation on the trunk and branches could be a sign of olive canker. An infestation with the bacterium Pseudomonas syringae for which a curative treatment is not possible. Another soil bacterium called Acrobacterium tumefaciens also causes cancerous growths in olives and likes to attack young trees in the root area or at the base of the trunk, these trees usually die within a few years.
Your olive tree should not show all these signs, it should generally appear strong and lively in color and also not show any “German pests” such as aphids. However, you can only recognize many diseases if you are either a real specialist or if the symptoms are already very advanced. The only way to be sure is to buy from a trustworthy specialist.
Suppliers of olive trees
The Palmenmann in 44577 Castrop-Rauxel is not only dedicated to palm trees, but also to the sale of olive trees. Greenhouse and pick-up address are in Castrop-Rauxel, further information is available at www.palmenmann.de. At the Palmenmann you get olive trees of different Spanish origin varieties. Here is a brief overview:
- Arbequina: No hardiness stated, but should grow in almost any soil, even acidic or sandy soil and in saline soils near the coast.
- Hojiblanca: Most frost-hardy olive variety down to minus 19 degrees, grows on almost any soil
- Manzanilla: Most common variety for green olives, frost tolerance down to minus 14/16 degrees
- Picual: A frost tolerant variety down to minus 16 degrees with good ability to regenerate, self-fertile and suitable for a wide range of soils and climates, some resistance to cold and wet soils, tolerates salt.
At Ambiente Natura, a company of Monteverde 2004, SL based in 86633 Neuburg/D. you will receive olive trees (no variety specified on the website) that are produced, cultivated or recultivated by the company itself. More information and pictures on www.olivenbaum.es.
The company Matthias Boch from 68305 Mannheim operates the Olive Park Rhein-Neckar. The Olive Park olive tree sale invests in research and test series. A wide variety of varieties are tested here under a wide variety of growing conditions. The care and planting in Germany are examined as well as necessary protective measures, possible locations and climatic conditions, frost resistance and winter tolerance. Further information at www.olivenpark.de.
If you enjoy vacationing in Italy, you can of course bring your olive tree with you from there. On a private page about the Cilento National Park, at www.cilento-nationalpark.de/garten.html, you can e.g. B. read something about the cultivation of olive trees in Italy, with an indication of an olive tree nursery.
If you take a closer look at the website and see that your olive tree specialist is part of a large plant distribution chain that produces plants in the Netherlands, that doesn’t have to be a bad thing. Because if your olive tree was grown outdoors in the Netherlands, it will certainly feel at home with us. However, if these olive trees are grown in a greenhouse in the Netherlands, they are not necessarily adapted to the German climate. Therefore, you should get detailed information about the cultivation of the trees from the olive tree specialist A. Gastens from 47624 Kevelaer, which can be reached via www.olivenbaum.de.
Olive tree prices
From about 60 euros you can get a well-grown olive tree from the specialists with a trunk circumference of a good 10 cm, but only as a short trunk with a height of about one meter. As a standard with a height of about one and a half meters, the olive tree costs just under 90 euros.
For tall trunks with a trunk circumference of 20 cm and a height of more than two meters, you can expect a price of around 200 euros. A trunk circumference of 50 cm and a height of more than 2.50 meters costs around 400 euros.
Since the olive trees, which are even more vigorous, are of considerable age, the price is now increasing exponentially, even if the trees are not much taller. An olive tree with a trunk circumference of one meter and a height of two meters costs around 800 euros, with a trunk circumference of two meters over 2200 euros.
Then there are some specialties that cost a little more: limited edition Tuscan olive trees, the “absolutely hardiest” Pyrenean olive trees, olive trees with a so-called “pom pom” topiary (multiple islands of foliage) and olive trees as bonsai.
When to buy and plant?
When you buy your olive tree, it doesn’t really matter, even if you want it to have its final place in the garden. In fact, if you study the care of the olive tree, you will learn that putting it in the garden is done gradually. You will overwinter the olive tree in the house for the first few years anyway.
After-sales care
The olive tree that gets its place in a pot should be repotted as soon as possible after purchase using a well-fertilized substrate in the larger container. A drainage layer must be placed in the bottom of the tub, e.g. B. from expanded clay, as a substrate is z. B. a mixture of 1/4 quartz sand and 3/4 earth. After repotting, you should not fertilize the olive tree directly, of course it only needs water immediately.
The olive tree that gets its place in the garden should be properly planted as soon as possible. Instructions for this and for the further care of your olive tree can be found in the other articles that revolve around the olive tree on Gartendialog.
Conclusion
Buying an olive tree that is really hardy in Germany is a task that requires a great deal of information. If you want to keep the olive tree in the bucket, it will be easier, then you don’t have to pay so much attention to the variety. Another tip for patient gardeners when buying an olive tree: You can grow your own olive tree from seeds.
