wanton, there is a great deal of information to be found on the internet about the prunng of olive trees and I always recommend that you look through several resources.

Click HERE for an interesting website about prunung.

I glanced at a couple of websites, both said that the best time is in the late winter, just before the buds break in the spring.

It's location dependent. My arborists (both ISA) only prune olives in summer. I think that they are being overly cautious, but that's what they do.

does it matter what kind of olive.. are we talking fruit production pruning.. or pruning back the weed version of what is called olive in MI ...

ken

I avoid pruning during rainy season over concerns that humidity in a fresh wound might promote rot. Other than that, I prune runaways any time and major shaping type pruning in early spring. Exception: azaleas which I do soon after blooming.

It depends on whether you are encouraging fruit production or not. For best fruit production, olives are pruned in late winter to early spring, right up to flowering. If fruit production is not a concern, summer pruning is fine and is even recommended to eliminate or reduce the production of water shoots.

Bossy, are you talking olives or generally? Ken, I am talking olives as in oil and fruit.

Both but remember I am prune crazy so you might prefer a more conservative approach.

wonder if you would hit any production pruning experts in the fruit forum ... ken

GG nailed it. No need to go anywhere else. And these things are about as tough a plant as I've ever grown.