If a Maltese garden has trees at all, the odds are they are one of two: an olive, planted for permanence, or a citrus — lemon, orange, mandarin — planted by someone's grandfather and still delivering. Both are superbly suited to the island and both are routinely mistreated, usually with a chainsaw in the wrong month.
Olives: nearly indestructible, frequently disfigured
Olives tolerate drought, salt wind, poor soil and neglect. What they do not forgive quickly is bad pruning.
- When: late winter to early spring, after the worst weather and before flowering. Never in high summer, and never hard in autumn — winter storms exploit fresh wounds.
- How: open the centre for light and air (the classic goblet), remove dead wood, water shoots and crossing branches. The habit to avoid is the annual "haircut" that shears the outside of the canopy — it produces the dense green ball that fruits poorly and hides disease.
- Water and feed: established olives generally need neither in a garden setting; a deep summer soak in extreme years and light feeding for young trees suffice. Overwatering an olive is more dangerous than ignoring it.
Citrus: generous, but needy by local standards
The citrus is the exception in a low-water Maltese garden — it wants regular deep water through summer, especially in pots, and feeding to keep leaves dark and fruit coming.
- Water: deeply once or twice weekly in summer for ground trees, more often for containers. Irregular watering is why fruit splits and drops.
- Feed: citrus-specific fertiliser through the growing season; yellowing leaves with green veins signal the iron and magnesium hunger common in Malta's alkaline soils — treatable with chelated supplements.
- Prune lightly after harvest: dead wood out, shape maintained, suckers from below the graft removed at sight, canopy left largely intact. Citrus does not want the olive's architecture.
The pests to know
- Olive fly and peacock spot on olives; sticky traps and copper treatments respectively, timed right.
- Citrus leafminer (squiggly tunnels in young leaves — cosmetic on mature trees), scale and mealybug (ant traffic is the giveaway; the ants farm them), and sooty mould as their calling card. Most respond to horticultural oils applied correctly and repeatedly. The wider cast appears in our garden pests guide.
When to call a professional
Mature tree pruning is genuinely skilled and occasionally dangerous work — a big olive's limbs, a ladder and enthusiasm make a bad combination. Professional pruning runs €60 to €200 per tree depending on size and access (context in the gardener price guide), and a properly pruned olive stays right for years. Persistent citrus decline — yellowing that feeding doesn't fix, dieback, trunk damage — deserves an experienced eye promptly. Post clear photos of the whole tree plus close-ups on Qabbad's gardener page, note the access situation, and gardeners covering your locality will quote; villages with mature gardens like Attard, Naxxar and Mosta keep tree-comfortable providers busy year-round.
Frequently asked questions
When should olive trees be pruned in Malta?
Late winter to early spring — February to March — after storm season and before flowering. Avoid summer pruning and hard autumn cuts.
Why are my lemon tree's leaves turning yellow?
If veins stay green while the leaf yellows, it is usually iron or magnesium deficiency in Malta's alkaline soil — treat with chelated iron and citrus feed. Overall pale yellowing with leaf drop points to watering problems, in either direction.
How much does tree pruning cost in Malta?
Typically €60 to €200 per tree for professional pruning, depending on size, condition and access. Waste removal can add to it — confirm whether the quote includes taking the branches away.