Growing your own olives?
Question:Was wondering if it was possible to get your own plant gowing using the pits from olives?
Answers:
I don't know too much about gardening but I do know that most olives you buy are treated or cured. Some are cured with brine or salts and other things. I think this would stop the germination of the pit. You could probably grow them if you had fresh olives, but they aren't too common. You would probably have to get them from a gourmet specialty market. Even if you find a place with a variety of olives, like in an olive bar, these are all cured.
Olive pits that are in processed consumable olives will not germinate.
Olives grow on trees and fresh-off-the-tree olives are very bitter.
http://www.hobbyfarms.com/crops-and-gard...
http://www.calolive.org/homecooks/facts.
I saw on Good Eats that they are bitter off of the tree. They are treated with lye and salt to make them palatable. Here is an excerpt from a web-site,
"Seedlings do not produce the best trees. Instead, seedlings are grafted to existing tree trunks or trees are grown from cuttings. Olives are first seen on trees within eight years, but the trees must grow for 15-20 years before they produce worthwhile crops, which they will do until they are about 80 years old. Once established, the trees are enduring and will live for several hundred years."
I've seen olive trees for sale online.
I hope this helps.
More Related Questions & Answers...