While olive trees are native to the Mediterranean climate, small species of olive, such as Olea europaea, can be grown successfully in other climates in containers with minimal maintenance.

Care and Maintenance
Olives are drought resistant as adults and prefer poorer soils with a pH above 7. Too much fertility or water opens them to disease. Container plants, especially the younger plants available on-line from Seranata, will require a watering schedule to prevent salt build-up in the soil, as well as a small amount of slow release fertilizer applied once at the start of each growing season. Since roots grow deeply, a tray should not be used under the container.

Additionally, olive trees will need to be removed from their containers at the start of the growing season to inspect the roots. This is the right time to add more soil, upgrade the size of the container depending on the size of the root ball, and generally inspect the roots for health. Once you have an idea of the rate of root growth, it may be necessary to only perform this inspection once every two years. The olive grows slowly.

Indoors and Outdoors
Olives are best suited for outdoor conditions during the growing season, though they can be grown indoors if attention is paid to turning them, so that the tree can receive sunlight from all sides. Olive trees can be trained to bonsai easily and are unique in that capacity.

If anything goes wrong, such as too much fertility or not enough watering, the effects will be quickly visible in the leaves. If the leaves begin yellowing or otherwise looking abnormal, this is a good sign to assess care and make any adjustments. The most common problem encountered with container-grown olive trees is too much or too little water.