I appended this to another LONG thread but want to separate it.

Mike Corazzi

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It went: "
That troubled olive I've been pestering JudyB about has been INSIDE all winter (as she suggested to remedy the leaf drop and general withering) and it has responded very nicely even putting out some new shoots, one of which actually qualifies as a ...limb.
Now, my concern is reacclimating it to outside. I don't want it to be an indoor olive.
But how would it react to sudden 35-42 degree nights after a winter of obvious recovery?

This is a bit perplexing. Locally a BUNCH of folks who meet weekly spent the last Wednesday repotting a ....bunch... of trees.
Are they doomed? 55 degree days and 34-40 nights. Their mix was elms, zelkova, and Japanese maple.

The only two trees I am concerned with are the olive and a boxwood and my "book" says buxus is very tolerant of abuse.

No?

The box had NO root pruning. A simple slip pot into some mix that has SOME akadama and organic. MUCH better soil as I think.

But asking just the same.

My two options are to bring those 2 trees BACK inside for the balance of the season (month and a half)
or....
let them try to cope with the colder environment.

Any recos or flames appreciated. :)
 

sorce

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Olives can take lower...
But 50F is my in out degree.

If the sun wasn't so bright, I would wait longer.

To me..
Months at 70F indoor..
Then outside at 40F.
Then summer at 100F.
Then 40's again....
Then indoor at 70F.

Those 2 40F periods ...its like Spring AND fall are both mini winters.
Confusing To the tree.
Confusion causes death.

Good to hear your olive is well!

Sorce
 

Eric Group

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All depends on so many factors- size of the pot, health of the tree, how tender the new growth is...

Neither variety you mention is a real trooper in cold weather and if you have aclimated them to indoors, they will be especially squeamish. That said, if you want to move then out now, as long as it is not freezing out, they should not be damaged too bad by moving outside. If it dips below freezing I would protect them though.
They question is- Why are you so interested in moving them outside right now? At this point if you wait another month or two you should have less chance of freezes. I don’t think either tree you mentioned is one that NEEDS a long cold winter the way a Maple or Larch or Ume... would. I would probably just keep them happy until closer to Spring then start them in partial sun and slowly acclimate to full sun.
 

JudyB

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Your olive will be much happier if you keep it in until the weather is stabilized. They don't like sudden cold swings, so why push it if it's doing well where it is. I would do the same for the boxwood. My boxwood, olive and BRT all stay in until it's not going below 50 again.
 

Mike Corazzi

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This all sounds promising. It seemed intuitive (but checking to verify) that the "plan" to stay the course through THIS winter is the wise one.
Sorce, I don't plan to do this again next winter.
The soil is much better since talking with Judy and I'm sure both will do fine with normal seasonal variables after they come out of the 2017 blues.

Thanks all.:)

Judy do you mean you take them inside ...every...year? I've been ferrying them outside during the day.
 

rockm

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Um, boxwood of most varieties is very cold, to extremely cold tolerant and does very poorly inside.

The only "tropical' boxwood I know of is Harlandii. I have many boxwoods, from English to Korean and Japanese. ALL remain outdoors in winter and have tolerated sometimes extreme cold. They are among the most durable plants I own as bonsai. Buxus Koreana (which yours appears to me to be) is pretty cold hardy -- to USDA Zone 5. English and America boxwood have been standard landscaping in Virginia since the late 1600s and we have had some pretty stiff winters here in that time with temps well below zero. Regardless, old and even ancient boxwood are all over the place here at old plantations.

I can't imagine anyone in these parts thinking boxwood are "indoor" plants....
 

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JudyB

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Judy do you mean you take them inside ...every...year?
I do, and would recommend it to anyone who's temps don't stay above 50 in the winter. (at least speaking about the olive)
As you can see, it's growing inside now, so it'll work as long as you have a plan with good light and warmth. Mine grows almost as much inside in the winter as it does outside in the summer.
 

JudyB

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Um, boxwood of most varieties is very cold, to extremely cold tolerant and does very poorly inside.



I can't imagine anyone in these parts thinking boxwood are "indoor" plants....
I have a kingsville that comes inside every winter, and I've had it for many years. It does go outside in the summer. But from what I've experienced, it doesn't need a dormancy. Not saying that all boxes are like this, but for Kingsville, I can say that.
 

rockm

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I have a kingsville that comes inside every winter, and I've had it for many years. It does go outside in the summer. But from what I've experienced, it doesn't need a dormancy. Not saying that all boxes are like this, but for Kingsville, I can say that.
Well, Kingsville boxwood comes from this area. The variety is named for the Kingsville, Maryland Nursery that discovered it as a sport. It is used as a landscape plant here too. They are VERY cold tolerant. Mine have been outside for the winter for well over 15 years now. Not a problem. I've seen people keep them indoors for the winter, with mixed results--spider mites and low humidity take their toll over winters.
Kingsville is a variety of Japanese boxwood,

http://www.boxwoodsociety.org/uploads/55_2_2016_Winter.pdf
http://torontobonsai.org/archive/Journal/Journal.2004/mar.2004/kingsville.boxwood.htm
 
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JudyB

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I am not all that surprised that they are cold tolerant, I only know that as I have had this for at least 6 years or longer, it has done fine for me inside with no dormancy required. And I don't really do anything special for humidity, and have never had an inside pest problem.
Good for people to know that there is no necessity for winter protection for boxwoods.
 

Smoke

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I am not all that surprised that they are cold tolerant, I only know that as I have had this for at least 6 years or longer, it has done fine for me inside with no dormancy required. And I don't really do anything special for humidity, and have never had an inside pest problem.
Good for people to know that there is no necessity for winter protection for boxwoods.
Boxwood is evergreen, and grows year round. I don't understand why you mention dormancy??? Treated exactly as pyracantha.
 

Mike Corazzi

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Well, now I have some differing opinions and haven't really come to a conclusion of WHO is the "rightest." ;)

But it now seems to me that since I have....started...this treatment....THIS year, that it stands to reason that finishing out the cold weather inside is not going to do any harm as it is what they have become USED to.

For THIS winter anyway.

I'll assess the progress of the olive as the year goes on. This olive is an old tree (8-10 yrs for me) from a mere stick and this is the first time it has shown any distress over the summer.

Course, as I think I mentioned.... it was in ONLY lava and (I think) dying of thirst. Hopefully, the addition of some dirt, akadama and pumice has been part of the recovery.
 

JudyB

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Boxwood is evergreen, and grows year round. I don't understand why you mention dormancy??? Treated exactly as pyracantha.
True, I guess that's the wrong term to use. Better to say that they don't need a cold period, but apparently they can deal with cold temps.
 

Smoke

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True, I guess that's the wrong term to use. Better to say that they don't need a cold period, but apparently they can deal with cold temps.
What you mean is its not deciduous. And.... not tropical.
 
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Olives can take much lower than 50F for sure. Otherwise they would all die in their native range (the Mediterranean).
Here in Portugal, where olives are native, they go through either cold (-2C, 28F) and very hot (42C, 107F) periods and can experience hail without a problem.

Ain't California a mediterranean climate as well? They should do fine outside all year, I suppose.
 

Mike Corazzi

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Hey WHOA..maybe.
My OP was specific to those 2 trees in my pic. None others.
I misunderstood some info a few years back and potted EVERYTHING into almost 100% ...lava...
"THINKING" it was the right thing to do.
While I certainly DID have a year of akadama horror, I have now gone to larger and harder aka and learning HOW to mix.

(about time I woke up as ALL my "problem trees" exhibited lack of water)

The olive was definitely "ON THE WAY OUT" and ...with Judy's good advice... is not now.
It was brown tipping, losing leaves, failing to sprout new growth.. IOW.... dying.

OTOH, I have a couple of "pulled up sticks" olives that were started and ARE outside all day and night and look to develop into good trees this year.

The boxwood was an afterthought on the indoor/outdoor dilemma. I think they're from Korea (?) and, if so, should stand EXTREME cold.

However, as it was also in PURE ROCK ONLY..... the "normal" bronzing of the leaves was accompanied by those leaves withering.

So that's why I brought it inside a month and a half ago. It lost the bronzing and even put out new green leaves which I guess would be right if it thought it was spring or whatever...... Anyhow....MY...idea was to bring it in also.

I don't plan to do this next winter. That olive has been outside since it was a stick but this situation was sorta an emergency.

Here in north central CA, we only get into the high 20s maybe 3 days every 2-3 years and MOSTLY have winter lows in the low to high 30s.

So..... hope this clears it up and I'm not advocating indoorsering the trees after they recover.

BOTH will be outside within 4 weeks.

:eek: :D
 

rockm

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Hey WHOA..maybe.
My OP was specific to those 2 trees in my pic. None others.
I misunderstood some info a few years back and potted EVERYTHING into almost 100% ...lava...
"THINKING" it was the right thing to do.
While I certainly DID have a year of akadama horror, I have now gone to larger and harder aka and learning HOW to mix.

(about time I woke up as ALL my "problem trees" exhibited lack of water)

The olive was definitely "ON THE WAY OUT" and ...with Judy's good advice... is not now.
It was brown tipping, losing leaves, failing to sprout new growth.. IOW.... dying.

OTOH, I have a couple of "pulled up sticks" olives that were started and ARE outside all day and night and look to develop into good trees this year.

The boxwood was an afterthought on the indoor/outdoor dilemma. I think they're from Korea (?) and, if so, should stand EXTREME cold.

However, as it was also in PURE ROCK ONLY..... the "normal" bronzing of the leaves was accompanied by those leaves withering.

So that's why I brought it inside a month and a half ago. It lost the bronzing and even put out new green leaves which I guess would be right if it thought it was spring or whatever...... Anyhow....MY...idea was to bring it in also.

I don't plan to do this next winter. That olive has been outside since it was a stick but this situation was sorta an emergency.

Here in north central CA, we only get into the high 20s maybe 3 days every 2-3 years and MOSTLY have winter lows in the low to high 30s.

So..... hope this clears it up and I'm not advocating indoorsering the trees after they recover.

BOTH will be outside within 4 weeks.

:eek: :D
"in north central CA, we only get into the high 20s maybe 3 days every 2-3 years and MOSTLY have winter lows in the low to high 30s."

Your Korean boxwood (which is buxus coreana) is the variety recommended by the University of Minnesota's extension office as the preferred boxwood variety for that state.
http://www.extension.umn.edu/garden/yard-garden/trees-shrubs/korean-littleleaf-boxwood/index.html
It is hardy to ZONE 4....can tolerate minimum -35 F (that's BELOW ZERO F)...I doubt very much your plant's issues had anything to do with cold and needs indoor coddling. I would bet, as you mention, this is a soil-related issue. Such free draining mix can allow roots to dry out...
 

Mike Corazzi

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It would still probably be a bad idea to try to "green it up" with LIQUID nitrogen. :eek:
 
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