When to Prune an Olive Tree: A Month-by-Month Atelier Guide

The single question we get most often, from both new growers and second-generation olive owners, is this: when do I prune? The short answer is that there are three right windows across the year, and nine wrong ones. Most of the advice online gets the month correct but the climate wrong — a pruning calendar for Andalusia is not a pruning calendar for Istanbul, and neither works in the Gulf.

This is the calendar we keep on the wall at the NAS nursery in Istanbul, adapted for Mediterranean and Middle-Eastern climates from Damascus to Dubai.

January — dormant pruning begins (cool-winter climates only)

In climates with a true winter — Istanbul, northern Syria, the Turkish interior, Morocco's Atlas — late January is when the heavy structural pruning begins. The tree is dormant. Sap is low. Fungal pressure is near zero because spores are not active in the cold.

What to do this month: major cuts only on trees older than four years. Remove dead wood, crossing branches, and any suckers at the base. Do not touch young trees — they need every leaf they have.

What to avoid: pruning on a freezing day. Tissue below 2 °C tears rather than cuts, and the wound heals poorly. Wait for a dry day above 5 °C.

February — the main pruning month

February is the window. Cold-climate growers should plan their biggest work here. The rule of thumb from the atelier: if you can see the sky through the canopy by the time you finish, you have done enough. An olive wants air and light through the middle — a goblet shape, open in the centre.

This is the month to lower a tree that has grown too tall, remove a third of the interior shoots, and shape young trees that are establishing their structure. Cuts made in February heal cleanly by May.

March — stop, if possible

In Istanbul and most of Türkiye, March is the switch-over. Buds begin to swell, flowering is approaching, and the tree is mobilising energy upward. Any cut made now is a cut that costs the tree — the energy in that branch was already earmarked for flowers and new growth.

Finish the last of your February work in the first week of March if needed. After that, tools down until summer.

April and May — absolutely no pruning

This is the flowering window across the Mediterranean basin. Olive flowers are small and discreet but they are where the year's harvest is decided. Pruning now cuts off flowers, stresses the tree during its most vulnerable week, and invites dieback. We see more damaged olives in April from well-intentioned pruning than from any other cause.

The only exception: a broken branch from wind or snow that must be removed for safety. In that case, make the cut cleanly at the next healthy branch junction and leave the rest alone.

June — first flush has set

By June in Istanbul, and by late May in the Gulf, the fruit has set. The flowers are gone; tiny green beads are on the branches. You can now do light work — nothing structural. Remove watersprouts (vertical shoots that have exploded out of the trunk or main branches), suckers at the base, and any branch that was damaged in the spring.

From NAS's field work: this June sweep is often the difference between a tree that looks wild by September and one that looks composed. Twenty minutes of watersprout removal now saves an hour in winter.

July and August — high heat, minimal work

Do not make structural cuts in high summer. Heat-stressed tissue does not heal well, and fresh wounds are an invitation to bark-boring insects that are active in midsummer.

What you can do: continue watersprout removal, tip-prune any branches that are dragging on the ground from the weight of fruit, and remove any leaves that show signs of peacock spot (dark circular marks) so the disease does not spread in the humidity.

September — harvest begins in some regions

For early-ripening olives, September is harvest. No pruning during fruit picking — it is unnecessary and slows the work. Save it for later.

In the Gulf, where the climate starts cooling from the peak, this is a good month for light corrective pruning on ornamental (non-fruiting) olives.

October and November — post-harvest sanitation

Once the fruit is off the tree, the second real pruning window opens. This is sanitation pruning, not structural: remove anything that looked sick during the season, any branch that did not produce fruit, and any wood with cankers or deep bark wounds.

The goal in autumn is to send the tree into winter with nothing diseased on it. Burn or dispose of the cuttings — do not compost olive prunings that showed any sign of fungal issue.

December — rest

The tree is settling into dormancy. Leave it alone unless you have a specific structural issue that cannot wait until January. Cold-climate growers: wait. Gulf growers: you can begin light work at the end of the month if the weather is mild.

The three cuts every olive pruning starts with

Regardless of month or age, when you do prune, make these three cuts first, in order:

1. Dead wood — anything brown, brittle, or barkless. Remove all of it, every time.
2. Crossing branches — two branches rubbing against each other will both eventually fail. Remove the weaker one.
3. Interior shoots — anything growing into the centre of the tree rather than outward. The centre wants to be open.

Do only these three cuts on a young tree. Older trees can take more.

Tools and technique

A clean bypass pruner for anything under 2.5 cm. A bypass lopper for 2.5 to 4 cm. A pruning saw for anything larger. Anvil pruners crush the tissue — do not use them on olives.

Disinfect blades between trees (especially between trees in different gardens) with a 10% bleach solution or 70% alcohol. Verticillium wilt travels on dirty tools more than people realise.

Cut at a slight angle, just above an outward-facing bud. Never leave a stub — it will die back into the main branch and invite rot.

When to hand it over

Call us — or another trusted atelier — when you are working on a tree older than fifty years, when a major structural correction is needed, or when you genuinely are not sure what to remove. A mistake on a heritage olive takes five years to recover from; a right cut takes five seconds.

An old olive is the exact work NAS's nursery has done for three generations. If you have a specimen that matters, send a photo to WhatsApp +90 535 422 5227 — a real landscape architect will look at it the same working day. No charge.

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NAS Landscape has pruned, planted, and restored olive trees across seven countries since 1965. Written by MHD ZUHIR MADAMANI, Istanbul.