Can I grow olives from supermarket fruit?

Growing olives from store-bought fruit is a special project. Most commercial olives are cured with heat which eliminates the seeds' living qualities. I tried to grow 50 store-bought varieties - I sprouted only 2% and lost those seedlings within weeks. If you want to be successful, you will want to use seeds from a nursery or at least untreated fruit.

For serious growers who are up for the challenge of growing olives from store-bought olives, soak the pits in lukewarm water for 48 hours. Pot the pits in 4" (10cm) pots using cactus mix. My only success was from organic Greek olives - in fact, one seedling survived for 18 months before giving in to root rot.

Exercising patience is important. Olive seedlings are slow to grow, they grow approximately 6 inches (15cm) each year in the beginning, so it can take time for them to grow. One of the trees that I had sourced from the nursery took 7 years to bear fruit. You can speed things up by grafting seedlings onto established rootstock. This allows you to leapfrog past the juvenile stages of growth and have fruit earlier than you would normally (2-3 years sooner).

Propagating olives from supermarket produce is often tedious and frustrating, but the results, while not easy to achieve, make it worthwhile. My oldest homegrown Arbequina olive tree I grew from seed is now almost 12ft (3.6m) tall and exhibits Mediterranean resilience. As living heirlooms, olives have thousands of years of agricultural experience rooted in every pit.

Read the full article: How to Grow Olives: Step-by-Step Guide for Home Gardeners