How to Prune an Olive Tree: A Beginner's Guide

Olive trees can be grown indoors or outdoors, adding a warm, Mediterranean accent to your porch. With their silvery foliage, olive trees create a calm and relaxing atmosphere.

Learning how to prune an olive tree will help you keep your plant in beautiful shape and prevent it from growing too leggy.

So, should olive trees be trimmed back? And if yes, how? Find out in our olive tree pruning guide.

About Olive Trees

The classical Olive tree (Olea europaea 'Mission') is an attractive evergreen tree with elongated, silvery leaves. The olive tree belongs to the Oleaceae family, which also includes familiar garden shrubs like lilac and privet. In the right growing environment, olive trees are easy to care for and very long-lived, thriving for decades in pots, while trees planted in the soil are highly drought-tolerant and known to survive for centuries. Native to the eastern regions of the Mediterranean, olive trees are best suited to USDA hardiness zones 9–10. They require several hours of full sun for optimal growth. 

Olive trees are non-toxic and pet-friendly. The olive tree is a traditional symbol of peace, reconciliation, and hope.

How do you prune an olive tree? Doing it the right way will help your tree flourish and keep its crown lush and thick.

So, how to prune correctly, and when should olive trees be pruned?

When To Prune an Olive Tree

So, how do you know it’s time to prune your olive tree? If you notice any of the issues below, your olive tree will probably benefit from trimming. Learn when to trim olive trees, and what signs to watch out for:

• It has damaged or dry branches
• Shoots at the base
• It’s too tall and overgrown
• It looks leggy and stretched out
• The canopy is too dense
• The branches rub against each other
• There are lots of new vertical shoots (suckers) on the branches
• It’s mature but doesn’t produce any fruit
• There’s no new growth 

Best Time to Prune an Olive Tree

The best time to prune olive trees is late spring or early summer. Pruning during this time will allow you to avoid both frost and extreme summer heat. The olive tree is also likely to flower by then, which means you can see the buds and keep branches that will bear fruit. Correct timing will also ensure that your olive tree has enough time to recover and grow new leaves.

Trimming Olive Trees: Tools and Supplies

You’ll need the following tools and supplies for trimming an olive tree:

• Sharp pruning shears
• Rubbing alcohol for tool disinfection
• Gloves
• Wound sealer paste

Now that you’re prepared, you can learn below how to prune olive trees the right way.

How Do You Prune an Olive Tree the Right Way?

It’s not difficult to learn how to trim an olive tree correctly. Are you wondering what shape to prune an olive tree? Or can olive trees be cut right back? The right way to prune depends on your tree’s age, size, and where it grows. Here are some specific guidelines:

• General seasonal trimming: Choose a central trunk with 3-4 thickest branches. Remove any thin or intersecting branches. The aim is to give your olive tree an open, vase-like shape that aids air circulation.
• Pruning when overgrown: Your olive tree’s canopy should allow light to reach all the branches. Remove vertical shoots from the base of the plant, and cut the tallest branches to reduce the tree’s height and promote horizontal growth.
• Combating leggy growth: Trim leggy stems down to a healthy node or to the base of the branch. This will encourage thicker growth.
• Trimming to achieve a desired shape: The optimal shape resembles a vase, with 3-4 main branches growing from a central trunk. Other olive tree pruning shapes include the ornamental topiary, numerous sphere-shaped crowns, or a shrub-like form with several trunks.
• Pruning to remove deceased branches: Cut any dry or broken branches. Remove any weak branches that are less than 3-4 inches in diameter.
• How to prune a young olive tree: Don’t prune a young olive tree as vigorously as you would a large, mature tree. Form it gently into the desired shape, but don’t stress it by removing too much of its mass.
• How to prune an olive tree in a pot: When pruning an olive tree in a pot, first remove any damaged or dry branches. Then trim any inward-growing shoots, and cut very thin or intersecting branches. Remove the tallest branches to give your tree’s canopy a rounded look. 

What Is a Mistake in Pruning Olive Trees?

Some olive tree pruning mistakes can damage your plant or deter its growth. Here’s what to avoid when pruning an olive tree:

• Pruning during rain or frost: Pruning during cold weather leaves the cut branches vulnerable to frost damage, while damp conditions can promote fungal issues or hinder quick healing.
• Using unsterilized pruning shears: Undisinfected tools can spread bacterial infections, like olive knot.
• Removing fruit-bearing branches: Cutting back all the older branches can result in no fruit, since olive trees produce fruit on one-year-old wood.
• Excessive pruning: Pruning too much of the tree’s mass can cause severe stress. The tree will need time to recover, and may struggle to regrow all the cut foliage.
• Using blunt tools: This can tear the bark and cause ragged cuts, which heal slowly. 

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Pruning Olive Trees: FAQs

Q: What happens if you cut the top off an olive tree?

A: Cutting off the top of your olive tree will most often result in stress and loss of harvest. The olive tree will need to regrow its canopy first, and will aim its resources at producing quick-growing vertical shoots instead of bearing fruit. However, removing some of the top branches (in moderation) can be beneficial, since it allows more light and better airflow throughout the canopy.

Q: When should you not prune olive trees?

A: Avoid olive tree pruning in late fall and winter, since frost can cause severe damage to the cut branches. Pruning in the heat of summer is also inadvisable, as it can stress your plant. 

Q: Can you hard prune an olive tree in pots?

A: Yes, you can hard prune mature and established olive trees in pots. Removing the fruiting branches, however, will result in loss of harvest.

Q: What to do with a leggy olive tree?

A: Trim any thin and weak branches down to the nearest healthy bud. Remove any vertical shoots that drain the tree’s energy, and cut any dead or damaged branches.

Q: Can you prune olive trees in October?

A: It’s not advisable to prune your olive tree in October, since the new shoots that will grow after the pruning will be vulnerable to the winter’s cold.

Q: How aggressively can you prune olive trees?

A: Olive trees growing in the ground can often survive extreme pruning, regrowing from stumps. Note, however, that you should normally never remove more than a third of the tree’s overall canopy.

Q: Do you cut back olive trees in pots?

A: Yes, pruning olive trees in pots prevents them from outgrowing the size supported by their roots.

Conclusion

Learning how to prune olive tree plants correctly will help you keep your trees thick and vibrant. Choose the right shape for your tree, regularly remove any damaged or dead branches, and make sure all parts of your tree receive sufficient light.

Grow your olive tree with other sun-loving companion plants, like the drought-tolerant Aloe Vera or the compact Ficus Ginseng.