Poorly Olive

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Pertelotte

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Poorly Olive
« on: January 01, 2011, 21:45 »
Hi

I have an olive tree planted last spring i a south facing garden in South Beds.

Over the summer it seemed happy enough and produced some new shoots - always a good sign even to my unseeing eyes. In order to keep it through winter I wrapped the branches up to keep the snow and wind off and covered the ground near the base to keep excess moisture away from rotting the roots. 

I've just taking its 'blanket' off as the air is warmer and so it can get some sun (ha ha) only some leaves fell off when I unwrapped it.

Should I worry, and how can I best care for it? i was told that olives are tough, but last year I had a baby one which did OK in Lincoln, but seemed to commit suicide once in Luton. I thought a bigger one would last better.

Help!

Please.

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tosca100

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Re: Poorly Olive
« Reply #1 on: January 02, 2011, 06:48 »
We have an olive in a pot (for 5 years) and it is looking wonderful despite the weather here in North Wales. They are quite hardy and as long as they are not waterlogged will do OK without protection. I should imagine wrapping the top may cause fungal problems, but someone else may know different.

Good luck. :)

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New shoot

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Re: Poorly Olive
« Reply #2 on: January 02, 2011, 08:06 »
What did you wrap it with Pertelotte ?  Plastic can cause problems with fungal diseases as Tosca says but fleece would have been unlikely to damage your olive tree and you are right that they don't like sitting in wet soil. 

Olives can defoliate in harsh weather but all is not lost.  Give it a few weeks until the growing season starts and it should releaf.  Liquid seaweed feed diluted and sprayed onto the foliage will give it a kick start, but no point doing that yet as it will just be hibernating for the winter. Don't be tempted to dump on lots of fertiliser as they don't need it  :)





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Pertelotte

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Re: Poorly Olive
« Reply #3 on: January 02, 2011, 11:54 »
I used thick dressmaking wadding to hold a layer of air but still allow light in. It's about an inch thick and extremely light in weight. I removed it once before when it was sunny to shake of the snow and ice and dry it. I secured the wadding with a couple of pins to make a 'lollipop': the idea being to keep a bubble of warmish air around the branches.

The only plastic used was just a strip curled round the bottom to fight against water-logging of roots and there's a thin layer of hay/cut grass on the top just to keep it in place.

At the mo I've taken the wadding off as it's not too cold. Should I wrap it up again, or replace it?

Many thanks

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New shoot

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Re: Poorly Olive
« Reply #4 on: January 02, 2011, 12:23 »
I think if the weather threatens to go really cold again, I would wrap the tree up again just because it has been wrapped so far and so may possibly not have hardened up as much as if it had been out.

Sure it will be OK.  Olives are much tougher than they are given credit for  ;)



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