Not sure where you are, but there are olive presses scattered throughout California. You go there with your load, and they will give you the oil (and keep the pomace as well as some of your money). An olive press is much more complex and expensive than an apple press. It will be 10 years before you are up to 30-40 lbs of olives per tree per year (and those 100 lbs will give you only 10-20 lbs of oil, which is very little. My family of three uses 30-35 lbs a year. If you do the pressing yourself, you may only get 5-10 lbs). In the intervening time, I would just eat some fresh (fresh olives fried with a drop of oil and salt are wonderful, and not bitter at all while hot), freeze some (they are great in all sorts of stews and braised meates) and cure most of them. Middle Eastern friends do the curing in their bathtub. For bigger crops, water in May through July, but withhold water later.

I had an Italian olive tree for seven years and found it very easy to get cuttings to root. I did use rooting hormone. I just cut off short pieces of branches about 10 inches long. Always used the branch ends (terminal bud section). Striped of the leaves that would be below ground in the cup. Placed the cuttings dipped in the rooting hormone in soft potting soil. Never sprayed or covered them. Set them up behind the front brick wall on my patio during the summer months. This wall was exposed to sunlight most of the day. Kept the potting soil moist. For every five started usually had three take. I don't have the tree anymore. A few weeks ago I gave it to a friend of mine who has a hot house. I could never get it to flower even keeping it indoors under lights during the cold season. Lou NE., PA

Butterfly4u... I feel like I have known you for a very long time...Boy does time fly! Thank you for your kind comments and stopping by...You do know that your suggestions and comments always have meant a lot to me.. Much apprciated.. I was reading some of your older posts, and I even think you wrote one on olives too, or gardenias also.. I will be commenting soon..Your plants are just beautiful too! Yes, it is the same one as last year...It grew big didn't it?!..I love this tree..I also have 3 others doing just as nice..I bought them in 2 inch pots, and now they are so much bigger since the spring..I will post those pics soon..I hope you see them.. Because of all the gardenia information you have dispensed here, mine are also doing fanatastic! I never got that red olive....They are so expensive and I was told they do not bloom as much.. I never put that any in the pop up..This particular one has been going in my garage at night when temps drop to the 30's..Then it has stayed outdoors everyday since..It seems to thrive in the cold....I also place it against the pop up so that it faces the sun and it warms that area up very nicely..Cold at night, warm by day and fresh rain...Loves it..;-) So nice to spend this time with you..:-) Moonwolf....I have seen your new aquired plants..Just beautiful..They should do very well with your love and caring attitude to back them up...Nice.. Kemistry....Thank you so much....I am suprised you couldn't keep them happy inside for the winter...They are not hard to grow indoors for the winter.. If you should decide to get one again, I , as well as everyone else would be happy to help you.. MIke

I'll be sure to let our "resident pruner," AKA hubby know not to prune this year so at least we get some fruit. We do plan to keep these trees to a reachable height, and we will remove the suckers. I may stick some in cracks in granite boulders prior to rainy season just to see if they will root and grow. How is pickling different than brining? We just soaked ours in very salty (enough to float an egg) water in a dark place in a covered container. We changed the brine often. I think it took a couple months to get decent tasting olives, and then we put them in sterilized mason jars with peppercorns, citrus slices, garlic slices and various herbs. I know somewhere in that time the recipe called for red wine vinegar. I found it on the web, and will look for it again when it's time to process the fruit. If you know of a good one, please put the link here. Thanks!