John, pictures do help.
I grow about 8 olive trees in containers, they are all thriving, I didn't have the problem with broken limps, but I have pruned my olives severly last week, and they all branched out all over the place with no problem. In fact I'm getting olives on some of them already.
Bass

Olives are almost indestructible except for low temperatures. Wait until you see growth this summer..give it nice helping of nitrogen. Then do your corrective pruning in Jan or Feb.

Good Luck

Sorry for the thread drift, but how big of containers are you growing your olives in, and ultimately how big do you think those containers will need to get? When you bring them indoors for the winter, how much light do you provide them?

I want an olive but even the cold hardy ones would be very borderline around here. I totally forgot that olives have shallow root systems, so they might be good container plants, but I am running out of winter room in my sunny foyer for all my container trees! I do, however, have a huge covered outdoor porch that gets tons of indirect light which might be good for a little TLC during the winter on warm days.

Hello,

Thanks for the information. It is good to know that they can withstand some severe pruning or in this case (branch loss). You said that you already have some olives... when can I expect to see them budding? They are about 2 years old now, should they fruit this summer?

I have attached two pictures that show the tree. Some of the branches are starting to look a little droopy but the leaves still look healthy.
http://photos.gardenweb.com/garden/galleries/2007/05/olive_tree.html

This second picture shows the break and how I tied it to try to restore some symmetry.
http://photos.gardenweb.com/garden/galleries/2007/05/olive_tree_break.html

Regarding pot size - you can see it in the picture they are roughly 18 inch pots at the moment. I expect that I will have to upgrade to bigger pots some day but they seem ok for now. I kept them on my enclosed porch for the winter and they did fine. It is not heated but does not freeze and receives roughly half of day of sun.

Any comments are appreciated. Even if it is to yell at me for doing something wrong. :)

Thanks,
John

If you plan on keeping them in pots you are going to have to do some root pruning even with the largest pot you can find.

2 years for olives is still quite young. As the saying goes.."plant grapes for your children, olives for your grandchildren. My neighbors trees are about 15 years old and are really coming in to production right now. Last year we pick about 500 pounds of olives. Mine are 6 years old and barely hold any fruit. BTW, you will probably see some flowering but don't hold your breath for fruit. Olives are notorious for aborting fruit.

There is a reason why good olive oil is so expensive.