Arbequina olives in zone 7b/8a in the humid southeast?

I just ordered several arbequina olive rooted cuttings to try, though the major nursery here in Jackson Mississippi says they don't do well and doesn't sell them.

Does anyone have experience with olives in the humid southeast, good or bad? I also just had to try a Montmorency cherry although they advised against it.... Just gotta try!

If I ever do get olives, how do you harvest them? Do they need treatment before they are eaten?

I am running out of room in my little orchard (so much to try!) so I want to plant the olives as a privacy screen from our next-door neighbors. What spacing should I use?

Thanks, Susan
aka Zonkel

You can only push so far, then it's certain death for the poor plants. You might be able to grow the trees as ornamentals in a protected area, bur they really are best in zone 10 or 11. Some zone 9s and 8 might have it as an ornamental, but not for fruit. These give you cultural requirements. Olive trees are large trees. If they do survive, you have to prune a great deal to keep them in bounds. They will probably be little more than bare twigs and trunks most of the time which doesn't provide much of a screen. You might try to espalier semi-dwarf or dwarf fruit trees as a privacy screen or use columnar trees or shrubs.
http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/extension/fruit/olive/olive.html
http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/olive.html
http://www.davero.com/trees.php
http://www.oliveoilsource.com/site.htm

Thank you so much, Bettydee! I will go ahead and try one in a container just because they are beautiful trees, but you sure convinced me not to compound this mistake.

I don't really need a screen from the neighbors in the winter, more in the summer. I have some magenta crabapple I got for pollinators for my gala and braeburn apples; I'll plant those for the screen. I bought the magenta not knowing about timing of pollination; do you have any info on whether magenta will pollinate those two? My ein shemer died of fireblight and I'll have to remove it; I understood it was a universal pollinator like golden delicious.

Thanks again, Susan

Hi Susan, Gala and Braeburn will pollinate each other. Although if you have a "Star" Gala, Braeburn will not pollinate that one. Here's a link to some apple pollination charts:
http://www.flowerworldusa.com/charts/applePollinization.xls
http://www.acnursery.com/apple_pollinizer.pdf
An "Ein Shemer" apple ia a low-chill, no-chill that requires only 100 chill hours. In your area it would probably break dormancy well before your other apple trees and be through blooming before the others broke dormancy.

I had never heard of "Magenta" crabapples, but after reading about it it sounds like an excellent tree and one of it intended uses is as a screen tree. Better yet, it comes true from seed about 80% of the time. So if your tree produces fruit, you can grow more. It should be a good pollinator is it blooms at the same time the apple trees do.

Great!! Thanks again for the perfect references, better than I came up with on google!

I wasn't sure the magenta would bloom at the same time- mine are too small to bloom yet. My apples haven't produced any fruit yet. The Braeburn did have fruit on it when I bought it last year, but the Japanese beetles defoliated the tree and the fruit dropped. Both trees are flowering now, so I'm hopeful....

If I get another apple to replace the Ein Shemer, what would you recommend for Jackson MS zone 7b/8a?

I honestly can't give you an answer to your question on Ein Shemer. I do know it is a low-chill apple requiring about 100 chill hours. UC Davis, CA calls it a no-chill apple. That means it needs very little if any chilling to break dormancy and bloom. In your area, it could mean breaking dormancy well before winter is over. This means loss of blooms and fruit if the temperatures drop below what they can tolerate. This also brings up another problem. Without a pollinator that blooms at the same time, you won't get fruit. To help you decide whether to buy a replacement, you'll need to know how hardy the Ein Shemer flowers and fruit are, how many chill hours you average, last frost date, how cold does it gat on average, record cold and how often. You can get the answer from your local Cooperative Extension agent.