Quote from Lee Garden Ninja on 24th January 2022, 9:50 am

Hi Shaun,

Welcome to the Garden Ninja community!

Pruning olive trees is relatively simple but timing is key. Olive trees regenerate well from both coppicing and hard pruning if you do it at the right time. I would advise you to read and watch my beginner pruning guide before you get started to help you understand the basics of pruning and make the task easier/more successful!

When to prune olive trees?

The best time to prune olive trees is late Spring/early summer before they flower or fruit. This is because they are evergreen and pruning them in the winter can actually damage them. This is because they tend to bleed and the cold weather can cause all sorts of damage around the pruning cuts.

With younger olive trees you probably only need to remove 1/3 of the growth to help encourage side shoots for a bushier tree. 

Pruning stimulates growth so where ever you make your cuts the energy will be diverted back down to the bud or branches below. This is why it is so important to make the cuts in the right place. See the image below using a Gooseberry as an example.

For more innovative or formative pruning, ie bringing a large olive tree back to shape or size I'd recommend doing this over 2-3 years as it can put the tree under extreme stress if say you cut it down by half.

What you're aiming for is an open goblet shaped tree. So cutting out the main leader - central tall branch is best. This then forces the energy to the surrounding branches and can open up the structure. I'd do this in year one.

Then year two start to cut back the side shoots to the desired height.

You will notice that each year after pruning side shoots emerge of fresh olive growth. Most olive trees in Europe are coppiced every 5 or so years to create this short squat shape. See below for some extreme coppicing. Note the thickness of the trunk but the height is curtailed by coppicing.

Hope that helps and good luck with your pruning!

Lee