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Real-life advice on growing olive tree indoors

DevonianDevonian Posts: 176
in Plants
We're looking into keeping an olive tree indoors (for no other reason than they look stunning and will fit in very well with our colour scheme). We have a south-facing room with a very large bay window that seems to just suck in the light, even on gloomy days!

I've done a fair amount of research and it seems the general consensus is that it is possible to grow these trees indoors, but I'd like to hear from anyone who has 'been there, done that' for some real-life tips and experience!

In particular I'd like to know if it'll need to be in direct sunlight, or if it's enough to be in a bright area that doesn't necessarily need to be directly sunlit?

Many thanks
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Posts

  • NollieNollie Posts: 7,529
    Well I don’t have any direct experience, but there was a poster a while back who had one in a pot in a brightly lit room. It was leggy, desiccated and suicidal. Anything is possible if you can mimic it’s preferred conditions, but I’m not convinced you can in a domestic, heated interior. If you think you can, well, your house, your tree, your money, but why consign an outdoor tree to a life of misery and confinement indoors?
    Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
  • tui34tui34 Posts: 3,493
    For some real life advice:  olive trees, as any tree grow outside.  I think I would change your colour scheme to fit the indoors and not try and bring outdoors in.  Anyway, you will never get a turtle dove to fit in with your decor as you will need one of those to go with your olive tree.  Get with it!!
    A good hoeing is worth two waterings.

  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    . I had a quick look. There's loads of artificial ones available online 

    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • tui34tui34 Posts: 3,493
    @B3   :D  
    A good hoeing is worth two waterings.

  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039
    Sorry, but I think it is a terrible idea, trees are meant to grow outside.
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 30,090
    Lots of experience growing large houseplants tho not an olive.  I won't even have one in the garden, tho I could, because they are actually very dull.  There's a nursery I pass every week, run by a fellow garden club member, with a collection of olive trees in all shapes and sizes for sale.  The most interesting thing they do is get blown over in storms and I've seen them in sun, rain, frost, heatwaves, gentle breezes and gales.

    They need a cold period to do well so not sure they'd enjoy a centrally heated living room.  They also need well draining loam based compost such as John Innes no 3 which will make it heavy to manoeuvre.   

    They shed quite a lot of leaves in spring when most of their new leaves form so that could be messy and I suspect it would need regular misting to prevent problems with spider mite and so on.

    On the whole, I'd suggest you find a more suitable houseplant for a sunny window.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
    Plato
  • RedwingRedwing Posts: 1,511
    They won't do well inside, as others have said......too warm in winter, scale insects will take over, no pollinators just to name a few reasons.
    Based in Sussex, I garden to encourage as many birds to my garden as possible.
  • FireFire Posts: 19,096
    edited March 2021
    It will be an interesting question for many new growers, with a conclusive answer. I hope that helped, @Devonian :)
  • amancalledgeorgeamancalledgeorge Posts: 2,736
    Olive trees only look good when they're a century old and gnarly, to my eyes. The obsession in tuning them into generic containerised lollipops is one of those recent affectations of the horticultural trade. Get a philodendron or a schefflera, they will be happy indoors and look much nicer. 
    To Plant a Garden is to Believe in Tomorrow
  • DevonianDevonian Posts: 176
    Thanks all, yes I'd seen the previous post which was related to a much larger tree in a room without direct sunlight hence my genuine question! I've also lodged the same question with an olive tree expert (Oundle) who say that it is possible, so I await their answer! Maybe it's only advised in a conservatory where it's much cooler in winter...
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