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

Well, the tree will not prune itself. Have not seen that happen, yet. Photos will help us to determine what might need to be done. I doubt it will be pruning, unless you have a tall, lanky single leader tree form. Most likely, to promote new growth, good potting medium, regular fertilizing and lots of sunshine, outdoors if possible, will be the solution. But, we cannot really tell you without seeing your tree. Patty S.

beany's out of league on this one ... dont remove more than 1/3 of the canopy ... in the pic.. at least everything below the top of the black stuff or water.. whatever that is ... and maybe one or two more ... then let it go .. and maybe take another one or two in fall .. i am not one much to having a best time of year for pruning... except maybe red oak .... its usually done when it pisses me off.. or when i walk by with the saw .... i might look the rest of the way up 8 feet or so.. and snip out a few of the tiny branches .. kinda thinning up to my goal... without waiting until i get that high ... bet this thing puts on 3 feet of growth this year... cant think you can go wrong... short of pruning it up 11 feet ... lol just look at the structure as a whole... take the bottom ones.. and think about your pruning for the next 3 years.. and see if any whim hits you .. ken

I also live in MD, and have potted meyer lemon trees that were on the deck all summer long and that I'm about to transition to a winter inside, and asked very similar questions in another thread, and here is the advice I was given: Bring them in when the temps outside at night are lower than what the temps are at night in my house (to minimize the temps differences when you bring them in). So, basically, starting now, I have to bring them in at night-.- since my house is at about 69° at night. Once the daily temps get consistently lower than 73 (which us what my house is at during the day in the winter), I'll bring them in permanently. Also, start putting them gradually in the shade more during the day, since they won't get much sunshine or that much light once they are in for the winter. I'm far from being an expert, but that was the advice I was given. Hope that helps :) . Atheen