Will my Olive bush fruit without a second bush to fertilise it?

Question

I've read that olive trees are planted in pairs to aid fertilisation, but is it necessary to have two or will I be able to pollinate the bush artificially?

My "orchard" only consists of a pear tree and a cherry tree. The cherry tree seems to drop its fruit before it ripens and the pear just produces that much fruit it's eves pudding all autumn. Maybe the insects that pollinate them, will have a go at the olive then...?

Answer 1

I had an Olive bush in my old garden, all on it's own without any trees locally to my knowledge. It produced a fair amount of olives. Sadly, due to where I lived I didn't experience long enough summers for it to ripen fruit to black, just green, but they were tasty. So I guess I am saying is no, you don't need to have a second tree to cross pollinate. Insects should pollinate for you, you shouldn't need to pollinate artifically with a brush or cotton ball

Answer 2

Quote:

Nearly every olive variety will benefit from cross fertilisation with another olive variety. Experimental work is still determining just which varieties pollinate other varieties best but in general you should have at least three to four different olive varieties in your orchard to optimise cross pollination. Different olive varieties should be within at least 30 metres of each other with the ultimate design for cross pollination being to alternate varieties in each row. If the rows are clearly labelled this should not create major management problems unless the varieties are of a different age or growth rate.


Effective cross pollination
Recent research from Adelaide University Department of Horticulture, Viticulture and Oenology has shown that some commonly planted varieties such as Kalamata, Frantoio, Picual, Pendolino and Manzanillo are not fully self fertile. Therefore, if you have a monoculture of any of these varieties they are likely to return poor yields. As well, the research showed that only Frantoio was an effective cross pollinator of the other four varieties. The remaining varieties were not particularly effective at cross pollinating each other meaning reduced yields if they are the only varieties in your orchard. This is particularly significant as Pendolino has often been recommended as a good pollinator and this research shows that recommendation to be incorrect.

Answer 3

I have a large bush with olives on and no other trees in the area, as far as I know. I haven't tried eating them as yet, but they are looking good at the moment!