Olive experiment

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Today I am very excited to have received rooted cuttings, 5 of them.
I have planted them in different substrate to follow how they grow under the same conditions
- APL
- pumice
- the bonsai supply soil (bigger pot)
- the bonsai supply soil + pumice (30 to 40%)
- perlite and turface, turface topping

Let’s see how they all perform under the same conditions
 

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Mayank

Chumono
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Sick experiment! Let us know your results. Would love to have a nice olive ❤
 
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So the boys are all in a shaded area. Since they just got re potted, I wanted to know your recommendations on watering (daily? even is soil not dried?) and when to start fertilizing
I have removed all soil from the roots, but no other root work done
 

Wulfskaar

Omono
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I have some experiment advice. Whatever you do, do everything the same (sun, fertilizer, etc) for all of them EXCEPT in regards to the soil (watering). Even though you water specifically for that type of soil, everything else remains the same. That way you really get a better understanding of which soil works best. Knowing that everything else is the same helps the experiment maintain it's specific meaning.
 
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You bring up an excellent point. I shouldn’t over water or under water to keep the test consistent, the test isn’t about which tree does best with a set amount of water, it is about which soil helps the tree the best
 

Adair M

Pinus Envy
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Your sample size is too small to make any kind of scientific judgements on which soil is best. Too many things can go wrong with any particular tree to skew the results. A bird might land in one of them and uproot it, and do hidden damage that has nothing to do with the soil.

Maybe if you had 10 in each type of soil...
 
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You are totally right, their root system was not equal, some have more leaves... so many things differ

To be honest, I used the rest of my “allowance” on these, I wish I could have bought more
 

n8

Shohin
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I will join Adair in shitting on your experiment. Olives do not give a fuck as long as it drains and is slightly acidic.

I think the most exciting part of your experiment is trying olive saplings at your latitude. That'll be interesting! Give 'em as much sun as you can.
 
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That’s all very constructive
My last olive I lost to frost, wasn’t a bad one but that got him. Lesson learned

Seems we have to leave them in the shade for 1-2 weeks, and since I repotted, at what point would you start fertilizing?
temps currently are 65-85F
 
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