It takes around three years to produce its first fruit. Once the first olives appear, the olive tree’s productivity increases considerably. It produces fruit constantly, meaning that it is a very fertile variety.

Mission trees can reach heights of 40 and 50 feet (12 and 15 m). They produce small fruit, typically of around 4.1 grams (0.14 oz). It has the lowest flesh-to-pit ratio (6.5:1) and greatest cold resistance of any commercial cultivar in California.

Olive trees grow best in regions with hot, dry summers and mild but cool winters. In order to bear fruit, they need a two-month dormancy period of cool weather when temperatures are ideally between 40° F to 50° F. However, colder winter temperatures (below 20° F) can damage or even kill a tree that is left unprotected.

Olives are Mediterranean plants so thrive in conditions closest to the hot, dry climate of their native habitat. Choose the sunniest and most sheltered spot available – a south-facing spot with a brick wall behind it will work well.

When planted in the ground they can reach heights up to 20 feet and they will need 12 feet of spacing. You can grow them in a container in ALL zones. When container-grown they will reach a height of about 5-6 feet tall. Click here for our Olive Tree Care Guide.

Generally speaking, olive trees grow to full maturity quite slowly, at most 2 – 4 inches (5 – 10 cm) of new growth a year. As well, olive trees planted in the ground grows faster than olive trees in pots.

Humans have grown olive trees for thousands of years. The oldest known olive tree is 1500 years old, but the average life span is 500 years.

about three years
Most olive trees take about three years to come into maturity and begin to set noticeable amounts of fruit. To increase fruit set, it is recommended that you plant more than one cultivar close together. Olive trees like to be planted in well drained soil in a sunny area of the landscape.

Olive trees are very drought resistant; however, they still require water to survive. Water an establishing olive tree once weekly for the first year or anytime the top 2” of soil becomes dry. After an olive tree is established, deep watering once monthly is sufficient.

During the first few years of its life, an olive tree will grow rather quickly, but growth slows thereafter. If your main interest in growing olives is to harvest the fruit, you can speed the growth somewhat by carefully pruning the tree during its first five years, to create a strong, straight central trunk.

You can also grow a Mission Olive Tree with other similar olives, such as Ascolana Olives, or Sevillano Olives to increase pollination and yields. Mission Olive Trees can grow well in a wide range of soil types. Since they are somewhat drought tolerant, they can be grown in drier areas that have high proportions of gravel and sand in the soil.

Classic Olive Trees. When grown in the traditional open-grove way, olives begin bearing fruit in the tree’s fifth year and have full fruit production in seven to eight years after planting.

Planting Your Olive Trees Plant your trees in the spring. Start with potted trees. Dig a hole about the same size as the tree’s planting container. Take the tree out of its container and check the roots. Fill the hole. Install dip emitters near the tree trunk. Water and mulch the area with straw.

Mission is an olive oil cultivar. A cultivar is the variety of olive. Just like the Chardonnay grape is used for some wines, olive varieties, or cultivars, are used for their unique characteristics to produce monovarietal olive oils.