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.

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.

Hi tenacre, One reason I know Autumn Olive only too well is because it is a pernicious weed in my state, Maryland. Our state tree nursery actively distributed them, the soil conservation districts did the same until they stopped due to loud, screaming environmentalists. I have never seen Russian Olive. I considered for a moment that you might have Elaeagnus commutatus the native Silverberry. I don't think that's what you have. Sure would be helpful to know which state you are posting from. Russian Olive is a tremendous problem in some parts of the country. It is supposed to have "willow" like leaves and yellow flowers. Eradication of Autumn Olive is not gonna be easy but it can be done. The fruits are so plentiful and there is a buildup of dormant seed in the seed bank. Set a goal to eliminate it over a period of years and it can be done.

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