Olea europaea

• Moderate care
• Needs full sun
• Upright
• Drought tolerant
• Pet safe

Olive trees look incredible indoors — but most homes can't actually support them. If you've got consistent, direct sun and the space to match, they can be one of the best statement plants you'll grow. If not, they'll struggle quickly and let you know about it.

That's not a reason not to try — just a reason to be honest before you buy. And when people go wrong with a potted olive, it's almost always one of two things: not enough light, or a mix that holds too much water. Get those right and the rest becomes much more manageable.

Looking for the quick answer? Use a gritty, fast-draining potting blend — we use three parts Cacti & Succulent Mix to one part Indoor Mix. There's more detail below, along with the light and watering that keep an olive thriving indoors.

Olives are full-sun plants, end of story. They want consistent, direct sun for 6–8 hours a day. An unobstructed north-facing window, a sunroom, or a conservatory is what you're looking for — and "unobstructed" matters, because many north-facing windows are shaded by eaves, balconies or neighbouring buildings.

To sanity-check a spot, use the Shadow Test: in the middle of the day, hold your hand between the window and the plant. A clear, defined shadow tells you direct light is reaching that spot. A soft or barely visible shadow means it probably isn't bright enough for an olive long term. This is more reliable than feeling for warmth — you can feel heat without useful light, and bright winter sun may not feel warm at all.

If you do have that spot, rotate the pot a quarter turn once a week to keep growth even and stop the tree leaning as it chases the sun.

No direct sun but set on an olive? A sufficiently powerful grow light positioned close above the canopy can make up the difference — a small ambient plant light usually can't; output, distance and duration all matter. Without adequate light, though, everything else you do for this plant is wasted effort. Worth reading Understanding Light and Plants before you commit either way.

Olive trees need a full soak — and then they need to dry properly. Sitting in damp mix is where things go wrong.

When you water, distribute it evenly across the entire root ball and keep going until water runs from the drainage hole. Then wait. Water again when the top 3–5cm feels dry and the pot has become noticeably lighter — not while the lower mix is still holding plenty of moisture. Lifting the pot before and after watering is a more reliable guide than a fixed depth: within a fortnight you'll know what full, half and empty feel like for this plant.

Through spring, summer and autumn olives put on a lot of growth and get genuinely thirsty. In winter, cut back significantly — unless you're running a grow light and light levels haven't changed, in which case maintain the routine.

The single most important thing about olive soil: it has to drain fast. Olives evolved in Mediterranean conditions — gritty, free-draining ground that warms quickly and never stays wet. A rich, moisture-holding potting mix is the fastest way to kill one indoors. Structure matters more than fertility here.

The blend we use for olives indoors is 3 parts Cacti & Succulent Mix to 1 part Indoor Mix. The Cacti Mix delivers the drainage and open structure olives want; the smaller share of Indoor Mix adds just enough moisture retention that the blend doesn't dry out the instant you water it. That ratio is the whole trick — heavy on the grit, light on the richness.

Two things matter more than pot material: the pot must have a clear, unobstructed drainage hole, and you shouldn't dramatically oversize it when you repot. A pot that's too big holds a reservoir of wet mix the roots can't use, which is exactly the waterlogging olives hate — go up one size at a time. Beyond that, terracotta is a nice-to-have: it's porous, helps the mix dry evenly, and gives you a more forgiving margin on watering. Glazed ceramic and plastic work fine too — just water more cautiously, because they hold moisture longer.

Feed fortnightly through active growth with a complete liquid fertiliser — one that covers NPK plus trace elements. Indoor Plant Food works well for olives. You don't need to overcomplicate feeding — consistent, complete nutrition through the growing season is what supports steady growth.

In winter, drop back to once a month or skip entirely if growth has stopped. Feeding a dormant plant does nothing useful and can build up salts in the mix over time.

Humidity

One of the easier boxes to tick. Olives like it dry — average room humidity is fine. No misting, no pebble trays, no humidifiers needed. It's one of the reasons they suit most Australian homes.

Pruning

Olives take well to pruning, which is part of why they've been kept in pots for centuries. Indoors, you're pruning for three reasons: to keep the tree to a size that suits the room, to open the canopy so light and air reach the inner branches, and to shape it into something you're happy to look at.

The best time is late winter to early spring, just before the growth season gets going — the tree recovers fast and you're not cutting off the season's new growth. Avoid heavy pruning in the depths of winter or the peak of a hot summer, when the plant is least able to bounce back.

Start by taking out anything dead, weak, or crossing, then thin gently to let light into the centre — olives fruit and leaf on newer wood, and an open canopy keeps the inside from going bare. Step back often; it's easier to take a little more than to put it back. Use clean, sharp secateurs, and there's no need to seal the cuts.

Common problems

Most issues with olives come back to light and watering not lining up. Here's how to read what the plant is telling you:

Root rot: usually begins with a root zone staying wet for too long. Pathogens may become involved, but the underlying conditions — too little light, too much water, or a mix that drains too slowly — are what need correcting. Slide the plant out and check: soft, dark brown roots confirm it. Trim off anything affected and repot into fresh, lightly moist mix, then water according to how much viable root is left rather than soaking it straight away.

Curling leaves or brown edges: check the root zone before blaming the sun. A very light pot and dry mix point to drought stress; wet, heavy mix points to damaged roots; browning concentrated on the window-facing side can indicate intense heat through glass. Check for scale and salt build-up too before changing anything.

Leaf drop: often follows a sudden change in light, temperature or watering. Check whether the plant has recently moved, whether the mix is staying wet longer than usual, and whether seasonal light has dropped. Olives dislike abrupt change more than they dislike any single condition.

No flowers or fruit: patience. Olives can take years to fruit indoors. In the meantime the silvery-green foliage and mottled grey-white bark is the real show anyway.

Common pests

Scale: the most common one, indoors and out. Small, flat, brown or tan bumps on stems and leaves. Wipe the foliage down with a soft cloth or cotton bud — physical removal is the most effective first step — then keep an eye on new growth and check back over the following weeks.

Mealybug: small, white, fluffy insects tucked into the cracks and crevices of stems and leaves. Remove them the same way — they're easier to spot and generally easier to lift off than scale.

Good to know

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