Olive tree - just thirsty?

[UTH]

Is this Olive tree just dropping leaves because it's thirsty? Should I be watering it? I didn't think they really needed watering, but I'm probably wrong?

[Huzzah]

Yes they need water.

[AndyTR]

They need a really good soaking 2-3 times a week from March through to end of September. As they are potted I would water them once a week over the winter, but not soak them. Does the pot have a hole in the bottom? If so you need to soak them until water drains out.

[UTH]

Thanks guys, clearly been neglecting them! Will get the hose out

[The Three D Mucketeer]

My olive tree lost every leaf in one day in January , might have been frost related , but none that particular week ... really for no reason.

I've been watering it almost daily during this dry spell and finally today I noticed a few new leaf shoots. The bark is nice and green if scrapped , so it's alive.

[danb79]

Water it well and pop some Tomorite or liquid seaweed feed in if you can; give it a boost. Chicken poo will work well too (just loosen the soil and mix some in)

My brothers went like this even though it's looked after well (frost was hard on it over winter) but it's flourishing now with a bit of feed and plenty of watering

Water it until it starts to dribble out the bottom and then repeat in a good few days

[Byker28i]

We have some olive tree feed, it's based on seaweed, says to use it between may and Sept

[DonkeyApple]

UTH said:

Thanks guys, clearly been neglecting them! Will get the hose out

They have quite a root system to cope with immensely dry soils. It makes you think they don't need water but in reality their roots can go incredibly deep in order to find what they need. In a pot you need to keep the soil damp and I would think, have a drain hole to prevent rot.

[paralla]

Defo water it. Good soak a couple of times a week in spring/summer.

I had a massive one on the roof terrace at my place in London. I used to fertilise it with specific fertiliser for olive trees.

[thetapeworm]

Great timing, mine look very dishevelled, I've been neglecting the watering so will ramp this up, cheers.

[Byker28i]

paralla said:

Defo water it. Good soak a couple of times a week in spring/summer.

I had a massive one on the roof terrace at my place in London. I used to fertilise it with specific fertiliser for olive trees.

Exactly the same stuff I use

[RustyNissanPrairie]

We have similar sized olive in a tub - ours also needed a good pruning to get rid of any dead branches.

[Craikeybaby]

Can they stay outside all winter? We are about to buy a house with a sheltered patio which will need some large plants in pots etc, and the kids would love an olive tree (even if it might never produce any olives).

[paralla]

Mine was fine outside all year in London, I'm not sure how it would survive a Northern winter though so I left it at the old flat when we moved up North.

[RustyNissanPrairie]

Ours is outside in an exposed location all year in the Rossendale valley (Lancashire). Early on in its life I chucked a massive plastic bag over it, subsequent years haven't bothered.

[Dr Mike Oxgreen]

Craikeybaby said:

Can they stay outside all winter?

Yes, they are moderately hardy, down to about -10°C. But bear in mind that plants in pots are more vulnerable to extremes of temperature because their roots are surrounded by air rather than benefitting from the stability of being in the ground.

I have one in a large pot, which does lose quite a lot of leaves during the winter. I emailed an expert to ask what I can do to prevent this, and the answer surprised me. I thought being fairly drought resistant that they would prefer to be dry during the winter, but the expert told me that they need occasional watering during the winter, especially when a cold snap is anticipated - you should water them generously in anticipation of very cold weather.

I tried to follow his advice during the winter just gone, but I wasn’t rigorous enough and it still lost leaves - but it did seem to happen worse when I hadn’t watered it for a while. So yes, olive trees definitely do need watering, even during winter - but during the summer any potted plant absolutely must receive artificial watering even when we’ve had plenty of rain (because potted plants don’t benefit from rain to anywhere near the extent that those in the ground do).

Mine is now growing lots of new leaves and I’m feeding it generously using general-purpose liquid fertiliser (and I mulched it with manure a couple of months ago). I don’t use specialist fertilisers - in my opinion they are overpriced and unnecessary. There is nothing extraordinary about the nutritional needs of an olive tree; just use a balanced general-purpose feed, perhaps switching to a low-nitrogen high-potash feed (like tomato feed) in autumn to toughen it up in preparation for winter.

Edited by Dr Mike Oxgreen on Wednesday 21st May 18:59