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 the same promblem until I went to the grower who has a huge 18 footer in his greenhouse and asked him the same question. These trees or plants will only bloom and smell unbeleivable if you let them grow in COLD conditions for a period of time. His does not bloom all year until fall and winter. It is in a greenhouse that is kept in the 40's to 50's all winter, and boy is that tree loaded with flowers at that only time. Sometimes the flowers will appear out of no where if the morning in cold enough for them to come out! I tried it. I have 3 of them. One of which I left out in a cold room with sunlight, one I left outside under shrubs so frost wouldn't get to it, and one I brought indoors into my warm sun room. The one outside grew tons of flowers and lasted until the end of October, until it was to cold to keep it outside. The one in my cold shed flowered throughout the whole of winter. The one indoors, nothing. Just constant new growth. Given warm temps, they only grow leaves, and as soon as the warm sun hits the plants after a cool morning when I get flowers, they frizzle up and die. Try it. Leave your plants growing in cold conitions for a while. Do not over water, and don't fertilze ok. They do not like fertilizer like most plants. In fact the grower never feeds his. I hope this helps. I have great sucess with this plant!! They have the most fragrant yet suttle scent!!! Remeber, because you are going to keep in in cooler temps, back off on the watering ok. Mike

I've got lots and lots of osmanthus up here. I'v found that it's one of the few plants that are said to like part sun but actually love lots of sun even in Texas. They bloom best in sun and grow leafier in sun. But they live just fine even in total shade. Love this plant. The blooms are small and insignificant except for the apricot smell which waftes through the garden. It likes Texas so much that I've got 60 or so. They form the walls for my garden rooms. Believe me that you won't enjoy that many because the fragrance really does get overpowering. But they live and thrive and grow quicky with no water and plenty of sun. I see them all the time at the big box stores. Easy to root but slow to grow from a cutting.

I also live in Southern California. I bought these two fruitless olives at the same time 4-5mo ago, but the one on the right is turning yellow. Both are still in their original pots and drain into the decorative pots that also drain and are not waterlogged. I don't water them differently but the green one on the left gets slightly more shade. Should I repot? Feed? Please tell me what I need to do. Thanks in advance.