Olive tree mystery disease

[ToastyWrench]

Hello! New to the forum and greatly hoping I can get some feedback on this. So as some general info I’m in the Midwest 6a and was recently gifted a very interesting olive tree fragment/stump. being in zone 6a I’ve got temperatures well below freezing for extended amounts of time so the olive has been (unfortunately) staying indoors. I’ve had it for about a month now and right off the bat it appeared to have a rather severe case of powdery mildew, subsequently I gently wiped the leaves and applied a spray fungicide. It seemed to clear up a bit but recently I’ve been getting a whole new host of issues. some leaves have been taking on a yellow blotchy hue, while others have persisted with a powdery coating, some leaves are showing slight red spots and lesions, while ultimately I’m finding dead brown curled leaves.
This is my first time caring for an olive and understand (at least I thought) that they generally prefer drier conditions and have been watering with that in mind as well as with indoor conditions in mind. Any and all knowledge or help would be greatly appreciated, I’d hate to lose this one as it has a lot of potential (in my eyes). Thanks for any responses this has become my last bit of hope for saving this.
below are a few pictures of the leaves up close in their varying degrees and stages of whatever bacteria/fungus/pest’s damage.

 

[PonderingSage:]

I have one olive, so I’m not an expert with them by any means. That being said, I have to bring my off indoors as well, and it really limps through the winter it tends to have some leaves usually on the interior dry up and curl and fall off. My suggestion would be to water it less and perhaps keep the foliage dryer I water my olive just once a week.
I also keep mine in indirect light.
Cool stump by the way. I’ll cross my fingers for you!

 

[badatusernames]

I have one olive, so I’m not an expert with them by any means. That being said, I have to bring my off indoors as well, and it really limps through the winter it tends to have some leaves usually on the interior dry up and curl and fall off. My suggestion would be to water it less and perhaps keep the foliage dryer I water my olive just once a week.
I also keep mine in indirect light.
Cool stump by the way. I’ll cross my fingers for you!

How long have you had yours? I brought mine in this winter and have it on a heat pad, but this was mostly because I didn't have my space set up the way I wanted to give it a proper dormancy. I'm curious if folks are having success raising this indoor during the winter / outdoor during the summer, or if I'm right in thinking that it will decline over time without dormancy.

 

[Crazy Diamond]

I think the right way its to keep them dormant in a cool basement, garage or something like that

 

[Bnana]

I wouldn't use a heat pad. Mine is outside, and easily handles light frost (night frost to a few degrees). They're tough and will start to grow once outside in the sun in spring.
Warmth but no light is a bad idea.

 

[badatusernames]

I wouldn't use a heat pad. Mine is outside, and easily handles light frost (night frost to a few degrees). They're tough and will start to grow once outside in the sun in spring.
Warmth but no light is a bad idea.

It has light too actually!

 

[ToastyWrench]

I have one olive, so I’m not an expert with them by any means. That being said, I have to bring my off indoors as well, and it really limps through the winter it tends to have some leaves usually on the interior dry up and curl and fall off. My suggestion would be to water it less and perhaps keep the foliage dryer I water my olive just once a week.
I also keep mine in indirect light.
Cool stump by the way. I’ll cross my fingers for you!

Thanks so much! Yeah I’ve been trying to really let it dry out adequately, I’ll just keep on keepin on. Appreciate the insight though! I always feel dirty when I have to bring one inside hahaha

 

[ToastyWrench]

How long have you had yours? I brought mine in this winter and have it on a heat pad, but this was mostly because I didn't have my space set up the way I wanted to give it a proper dormancy. I'm curious if folks are having success raising this indoor during the winter / outdoor during the summer, or if I'm right in thinking that it will decline over time without dormancy.

I’ve only had this ugly stump for the past month to two months, I’ve got a feeling that it’ll need to have some sort of more apt dormancy period but I could be wrong. And im in the same boat, I wasn’t prepped for this type of dormancy storage, hopefully next year I’ll have an appropriate setup.

 

[ToastyWrench]

I wouldn't use a heat pad. Mine is outside, and easily handles light frost (night frost to a few degrees). They're tough and will start to grow once outside in the sun in spring.
Warmth but no light is a bad idea.

So you keep yours outside in light frost, I’d love to do the same but I worry about the steady below freezing temps, usually hanging around 20f. What are the outer limits you have encountered with olives (temp and frost wise)

 

[Rowbow]

Hear in the UK, I have mine planted outside all year-round, the leaves stay on plus one or two olives, it's a very hardy tree, about ten years old and was in a pot when we first got it,
no name though just FIG?

 

[PonderingSage:]

I bring mine in when nighttime temps drop below 40.
And do the shuffle so it spends time outside once it consistently gets nicer… desert weather is crazy.
I’ve had it since 2014.

 

[AlainK]

@ToastyWrench :

Where do you live, what's your location?

In Europe, around the mediterranean sea, there are unfortunately diseases that dramatically endanger olive trees. Some orchards in Italy have had to be wiped out to contain the disease.

So depending where you live, the answer to your question can be very different.

Alain, Loire valley, France.

 

[ToastyWrench]

@ToastyWrench :

Where do you live, what's your location?

In Europe, around the mediterranean sea, there are unfortunately diseases that dramatically endanger olive trees. Some orchards in Italy have had to be wiped out to contain the disease.

So depending where you live, the answer to your question can be very different.

Alain, Loire valley, France.

I’m located in the Midwest United States, and the material I believe was collected a few years ago off an orchard in California

 

[ToastyWrench]

I bring mine in when nighttime temps drop below 40.
And do the shuffle so it spends time outside once it consistently gets nicer… desert weather is crazy.
I’ve had it since 2014.

Yeah that’s kinda what I’ve been thinking, the temps are starting to warm up during the day some so hopefully it’ll be out In sun here soon

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

The Midwest, USA is far too cold for Olive, Olea. They are only hardy to maybe -2 C, or about 29 F. Possibly a bit colder, but here in the Midwest we routinely get MUCH colder, -10F or -23 C is common at least a few nights every winter.

To keep any plant indoors under lights, air movement really helps. A small inexpensive fan maybe 8 inches diameter (20 cm) blowing 24 hours a day across the growing area, so that grassy leaved plants would be constantly, lightly, waving, is enough to keep plants healthy. The moving air helps keep fungal and bacterial issues away. Moving air also prevents or helps limits spider mites, false mites, and many insect infestations from getting going. The moving air also mixes air down into the potting media (to some degree) and helps keep roots more healthy. There is no down side to moving air except that you will need to adjust watering frequency.

Olive would probably do better wintered with a cool, slightly dry, dormancy with good air movement, but if air movement is good, warm and with moisture could work. When kept warmer, they will want more light if they are in active growth.

 

[ToastyWrench]

The Midwest, USA is far too cold for Olive, Olea. They are only hardy to maybe -2 C, or about 29 F. Possibly a bit colder, but here in the Midwest we routinely get MUCH colder, -10F or -23 C is common at least a few nights every winter.

To keep any plant indoors under lights, air movement really helps. A small inexpensive fan maybe 8 inches diameter (20 cm) blowing 24 hours a day across the growing area, so that grassy leaved plants would be constantly, lightly, waving, is enough to keep plants healthy. The moving air helps keep fungal and bacterial issues away. Moving air also prevents or helps limits spider mites, false mites, and many insect infestations from getting going. The moving air also mixes air down into the potting media (to some degree) and helps keep roots more healthy. There is no down side to moving air except that you will need to adjust watering frequency.

Olive would probably do better wintered with a cool, slightly dry, dormancy with good air movement, but if air movement is good, warm and with moisture could work. When kept warmer, they will want more light if they are in active growth.

Thanks for the reply! Yeah it’s most definitely easier when the tree is native, that way at least they work with you a little easier, I’ll most certainly need a more specialized area for this one next winter

 

[AlainK]

The Midwest, USA is far too cold for Olive, Olea.

Right. In the south of France, during exceptionally cold winters (more and more rare these days) when the top dies, the tree survives from the stump - but they've been in the ground sometimes for decades, in pots, they hardly survive -2 C as Leo said.

There's one that is in a garden near where I live, it must be of of the thousands of trees that were removed from abandoned orchards in Spain. It's been there for quite a few years. It has a diametre at the base of about 40 cm (1 foot and a half) and has survived last winter when temps went down to -10° C (14 F) one night... My next-door neighbour planted a small one, aout 3 cm in diameter, in his garden to remind him of his Portuguese origins. The tree died.

 

[Sonny85]

Hello! New to the forum and greatly hoping I can get some feedback on this. So as some general info I’m in the Midwest 6a and was recently gifted a very interesting olive tree fragment/stump. being in zone 6a I’ve got temperatures well below freezing for extended amounts of time so the olive has been (unfortunately) staying indoors. I’ve had it for about a month now and right off the bat it appeared to have a rather severe case of powdery mildew, subsequently I gently wiped the leaves and applied a spray fungicide. It seemed to clear up a bit but recently I’ve been getting a whole new host of issues. some leaves have been taking on a yellow blotchy hue, while others have persisted with a powdery coating, some leaves are showing slight red spots and lesions, while ultimately I’m finding dead brown curled leaves.
This is my first time caring for an olive and understand (at least I thought) that they generally prefer drier conditions and have been watering with that in mind as well as with indoor conditions in mind. Any and all knowledge or help would be greatly appreciated, I’d hate to lose this one as it has a lot of potential (in my eyes). Thanks for any responses this has become my last bit of hope for saving this.
below are a few pictures of the leaves up close in their varying degrees and stages of whatever bacteria/fungus/pest’s damage.

I've had an olive tree for 18 years and sometimes it gets leaves like this. I believe it's just a lack of nitrogen and it needs some feed, that usually gets rid of the yellow leaves for me. Nothing really to worry about.

 

[AJL]

@ToastyWrench :

Where do you live, what's your location?

In Europe, around the mediterranean sea, there are unfortunately diseases that dramatically endanger olive trees. Some orchards in Italy have had to be wiped out to contain the disease.

So depending where you live, the answer to your question can be very different.

Alain, Loire valley, France.

Xylella is the disease you are talking about- its a devastating bacterial disease spread by leafhoppers and humans trading plants between countries. It has killed thousands of Olives in the heel of Italy and has also spread to southern France and Portugal and Corsica.It Also kills Vitis, Citrus, Lavender, Rosemary, Acer and may other species and it is also present in USA .Symptoms are leaf scorching and progressive dieback, but fortunately not like the pictures Toasty Wrench has posted

 

[Gustavo Martins]

Some leaves just look old too me and the tree is shedding them. I often see this on mine around this time do the year until spring.