Homeowner warned after sharing photo of recent landscaping project: 'Don't want to start all over'

A homeowner hoping to give their new olive tree a glow-up ended up getting a crash course in tree care after sharing photos of its early growth on Reddit.

The post shows a young olive tree delivered through a city tree-planting program that provides residents with free trees to help green local neighborhoods. The homeowner said they chose an olive tree for sentimental reasons and loved how olive trees in their area grow into rounded, "wine glass" shapes with multiple trunks. But when their tree arrived, it had a single central trunk and an awkward silhouette.

"We didn't get to pick ours out, they just dropped it off at our home about two months ago, sight unseen," the original poster wrote. "Can't complain about a free tree, but I am a little worried about the literal shape of it."

The poster explained that while the plant looked healthy, they weren't sure what to do about new shoots forming at the base.

Commenters were quick to reassure the homeowner that it was likely just planted too deeply. "Will it be able to shape later if we leave it alone now though?" the poster asked. "I don't want to start all over with a new tree after years," to which one commenter responded: "Raise it up and let it recover from that process, there is no rush in pruning the branches, just let it grow."

Others warned against piling mulch up against the trunk (a common mistake known as a "mulch volcano") and making sure the base stays dry and well-ventilated to avoid rot or pests. Mulch volcanoes, commonly used in landscaping, are not only ineffective but also harmful to trees. 

Besides being a waste of money and effort, improper mulching can stifle a tree's growth and prevent water from reaching the roots while retaining too much around the base, leading to rot and disease. Properly mulching means spreading it shallowly in a wide perimeter (to match the canopy), keeping the root flare exposed so it can "breathe."

In the end, the consensus was clear. "Most likely planted too deep and the nursery stake should be removed and replaced with stakes that allow for a bit of movement and don't constrict the stem," one commenter wrote. "Other than that I probably wouldn't prune it for a couple years."

Another agreed, adding: "I'd focus on exposing the !Rootflare & removing the unnecessary !Stake for now."

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