Morning, Treefish. One thing Olive Trees require is sun..Direct sun, if possible. I bought my Olive back in 1999. In spring through late autumn it's placed outside. Starting in semi-shade, then working its way up to direct sun. Olives, 'like many other plants,' slow down growth when temps are extremely hot, but they love the outdoors. Can you place your tree outside? It's a little late in the year, but olives appreicate cooler temps. Ironically, my olive puts out more growth from late summer on. Olives form around the same time. If you continue pruning, your tree will not produce fruit. Years ago, a former GW member suggested adding alfalfa with other soils. I found a small bag at a local hardware store. The tree needed repotting, so I added fresh soil and alfalfa. Don't know if it's coincidence, but my tree is still kicking. Considering, when it arrived at my house, the tree was packed with Scale. That's another story though. I fertilize, only during growing season. One month Fish Emulsion, the next month, balanced fertilizer..Ex: 20-20-20. Is your tree getting natural light and artificial? Toni

Not seeing how major pruning by a contractor every so many years into perpetuity is an economical choice. And if you have turned them into pollards or otherwise severely pruned specimens then the charm of the natural shapes has already been lost - maybe plant some more suitable kinds of trees among them, cut the olive trees out after the new set is of some size. Otherwise they should probably be trimmed frequently, maintained as formal specimens instead of getting whacked back hard at longer intervals. Every time they are forced to regrow most of the top that was present at the time they are drawing on nutrient reserves in the trunks and may be gradually becoming diminished by the repeated assaults. There is also the possibility of trunk decay developing due to the large pruning cuts being made. For planting near swimming pools you want plants with large parts that do not get sucked past filters. As you have described olive trees are probably about as bad a choice as one could come up with.

i just bought some olive trees (1 year old), and now they are about 2- 2-1/2 feet tall. they seem to be alittle lanky and i was wondering if i can prune them down some, so they can have a stockier trunk later down the road, and won't break. i've never grown these before and was looking for a little guidance. or should i just let them do there natural thing. any suggestions? thanks ccwood

The trouble with tribbles! This has been identified on bugguide.net (use the google cached page, not the current search result for "mexican olive tree") as a larva of Physonota alutacea, a chrysomelid leaf beetle.