Jzack605
Chumono
Curious as what the possibilities of an olive tree in zone 7 is. Can they be brought indoors or need a greenhouse/cold frame/etc for winter?
Olive Tree Zone 7
- Thread starter Jzack605
- Start date
Bonsai Nut
Nuttier than your average Nut
Depends if you want them to fruit. In order for them to flower in the Spring, they need a cold winter dormancy - below 55 but not freezing. Otherwise you can leave them outside until temps at night get close to freezing, and then it will need to be protected until the spring.
Large trees in landscape can take short freezing spells - though they may lose some fine branches. I think Zone 7 would just be too cold for them in the winter.
Large trees in landscape can take short freezing spells - though they may lose some fine branches. I think Zone 7 would just be too cold for them in the winter.
Bonsai Nut
Nuttier than your average Nut
I know people who let their fruit bonsai flower, but I am not aware of anyone letting them fruit - unless they bear really small fruit like princess persimmon or golden bean kumquat. You generally wouldn't want to let a quince bonsai fruit... though I have to admit I have seen photos of quince bonsai with full-sized fruit on them. I was talking more about the dormancy requirements for the tree in general. I actually don't own any olive bonsai, but I do have several in landscape. If you want to keep your olive in zone 7, and in the fall if you take it from outside into your house, it won't flower. Cold requirements are top of mind (for me) because many trees that I wish I could keep I can't because it doesn't get cold enough. For example, you can keep apples down here (in SoCal) but you will have a hard time getting them to fruit because it is tough to meet their cold degree days. If you are looking for apple blossoms on your apple bonsai... make sure it gets cold enough. Same can be said for all of our stone fruits. Some cold years I get a bumper crop of peaches. Some warm years (like this one) I scarcely get any.
Jzack605
Chumono
Bummer. Don’t care so much for the fruit but more so for the unique bases they’re known for. I’ll have to hold off until I have a greenhouse
You mean your Ume don’t do this?
I was going to see if I could get this one back home and put it in the National Shohin Show, but, alas, the fruit was ripe and fell off. It’s on my bench at Boon’s. At least it fell off before I packed it all up for the journey!
Jzack605
Chumono
Russian Olive grows in zone 7. Highly invasive.Do you heat up your greenhouse @Adair M ?
Or is it enough to have a cold green house in zone 7?
I actually thought olives could handle zone 7, maybe even 6B, as long as pots are properly mulched in and they are protected from snow, rain and wind.
Wishful thinking I guess
hemmy
Omono
I’ve seen a lot online references to moving olive “patio trees” inside during winter. But I bet they suffer hard without adequate light and some humidity. I wonder if indoors could work with additional lighting and a humidifier? It might still be hard to keep a nice highly refined tree without a proper greenhouse setup.
