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Olive Tree Suckers

Novice2020Novice2020 Posts: 42
in Problem solving
Can I prune out these suckers growing from my olive tree now (mid-February)? Is the tree in distress to have so many suckers growing?
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Posts

  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039
    Are you sure it is an Olive Tree?
    The suckers appear to have thorns, which Olives don’t.
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • wrighttwrightt Posts: 234
    do you know if the olive tree has been grafted onto something else which could be suckering
  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    edited February 2023
    The tree sometimes known as the Russian Olive, Eleagnus angustifolia, has thorns … could  this be what you have? Can we see a photo of the whole tree? 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • tui34tui34 Posts: 3,493
    Some olive trees are thorny.  Cut the suckers off as they appear.  Don't worry about pruning time, just lob them off right to the base of the tree..
    A good hoeing is worth two waterings.

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Ah that’s good to know @tui34 😊 
    You’ll have seen far more of them than I have 😊 

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • tui34tui34 Posts: 3,493
    Thank you @Dovefromabove   As are some lemon trees.
    A good hoeing is worth two waterings.

  • DovefromaboveDovefromabove Posts: 88,147
    Yes I used to have some lemons and grapefruit trees (little ones) … they were very spikey … but the perfume from the flowers was amazing  :)

    Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.





  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    edited February 2023
    A while ago, I wanted to grow an olive, or olives, for the promise of the Mediterraneum they bring. Thinking them too tender, I looked at Weeping Pear (Pyrus salicifolia) and Elaeagnus angustifolia.  Then suddenly olives were accepted as OK in UK.  

    I'm glad I waited.  Was there a new cultivar?

    When suckers have been allowed to develop to the extent of Novice's pic, there is little one can do except cut them back as neatly as possible, frequently.

     location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand.
    "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
  • Novice2020Novice2020 Posts: 42
    punkdoc said:
    Are you sure it is an Olive Tree?
    The suckers appear to have thorns, which Olives don’t.
    They're not thorns but leaf buds (see photo)
  • Novice2020Novice2020 Posts: 42
    edited February 2023
    Here is a photo of the entire tree
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