Olive tree knocked down, how to pot

maroun.c

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This olive tree was knocked by a car, saw it still in soil but very loose, pulled it out by hand and brought home. Still got some roots but not looking really good. I know olives can root from wood immediately but not they're if that's limited to summer. Were in autumn here but temps.are still around 20 degrees Celsius. How do u think I should pot it for vest rooting chance:
Regular soil?
Peat moss?
Regular living moss?
Straight in to pumice?
Bucket of water for few days to get roots and then pumice ???
Thanks
 

Shibui

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We have dug feral olives here in both spring and autumn. Both times of year I have cut roots severely, even flat bottom the trunks with a chainsaw and they still survive. Lebanon should be mild enough for the tree to have a good chance.
I always pot straight into my preferred potting mix. Moss is likely to stay too wet for olive. I have not used pumice but it seems to be a good option for many. Soaking for a few hours to a few days seems to be OK but don't leave it to root in water as that's also likely to cause roots to rot. Just pot up soon, place in afternoon shade and water as needed. Fingers crossed it will take.
 

leatherback

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I would not soak, but plant directly in pumice. If it still has roots, it should just start growing once spring arrives.

If no roots, it will eventually grow I suspect. This cutting took 1 1/2 years, but grew roots!
 

Bonsai Nut

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Olives are so hardy that you can plant a stump upside down (with the roots sticking in the air, and the branch stubs in the dirt) and the tree can still survive. This is an easy way to get a thick trunk with no huge cut scars.
 

maroun.c

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Thanks for the replies, kept it water as I'm not able to pot it today, will pot in pumice, clay balls mix that I typically use for olives directly then
 

maroun.c

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Potted the tree yesterday, in pumice lava and clayball mix that I use for olives.
Its got.couple of twists low in the trunk which makes for a nice base at soil level I feel. Trunk has a bit of dead wood which might look nice but guess were in forna low chop and/or some heavy carving to make it look good?
My main concern is it taking at this stage and guess I'll workout a plan for it later on.
I'll try tonfertilize lightly in 2_3 weeks hoping it developed some roots l, and to load it with energy for winter or is that counter productive ?
Screenshot_20201102-165907_Gallery.jpg
 

Shibui

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That's a tiny pot for a recovering tree. You can probably get away with it for an olive but I prefer to give collected trees a little room so the soil does not dry out too quick.
Leave it alone until you see plenty of new shoots. Fertilizer will not do any good until the tree has roots and leaves to utilize it.
Some olives recover quite quick but I have had some that do nothing for nearly 12 months before hooting again.
 

maroun.c

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Do u think its best to repot immediately in a bigger pot. Its actually a bit bigger than what shows in the picture, but do get ur point of should drying faster, as well as maybe allowing for more roots space at this stage which will support more foliage and better recovery.
 

Shibui

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Given that it has only been in there a couple of days there probably won't be any new roots yet so transplant should be quite safe. It is only when new root tips have emerged that a second disturbance causes problems as the new roots are really fragile. i would go up to a larger recovery pot for a year or maybe even 2 years.
 
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