I know next to nothing about growing olive trees but have recently acquired cuttings from olive branches. I was wondering if they can be grown similar to a fig cutting. I have currently three olive cuttings potted in soil in a shady area. Can they sprout roots in this way? Is there a better way to do this?

I live in Z6 and realize that they probably need much more heat and light to produce fruit. At this time I would just like to see them grow and am not too concerned about getting fruit. If they did grow, would I treat them as figs (i.e. grow them in containers and move them in and out of the garge in winter) or is it just not likely they'd survive my climate?

Thanks for any advice.

Olive can be rooted from leafy cuttings, and that is the standard method of propagation, but they are substantially more difficult than figs. (Figs have got to be the easiest plant on earth to root, with the possible exception of willows).

Yes, they like hot growing conditions, but they also need quite a lot of winter chilling, which is why they grow here in Florida but almost never set a crop of fruit, whereas they do wonderfully well in a climate such as Davis California -- hot summers, but lots of chilling in winter, without any extreme cold.

I have a small arbequina olive tree. It is doing well and regularly fruiting up here in Oregon, zone 8. I pruned part of it and used it as a cutting and now the cutting is a seedling. Olives are slow growing but they are evergreen and beautiful. We will eventually harvest the olives but for now it is a beautiful and interesting ornamental. I can leave it out during the winter and it's fine in z8 but in z6, you'd be wise to take it in in the winter.
John S
Portland OR
z8