Olives still "brown tipping"......aarggh... WHY?

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Olives are Mediterranean trees. They like to be watered deeply, but infrequently. My olive trees in my landscape get no supplemental watering - so they go 6 months+ with no water. They almost like the soil to dry out completely between waterings. I can see algae on your soil which means that your soil - even at the surface - is not drying out. You need to put your tree in full sun and avoid watering it until the soil is dry. Do not keep it in a pan of evaporative water. They are almost desert plants.

Additionally, because of our poor water in California, you have to watch salt buildup in your soil. The best way to avoid this is to not water frequently and shallowly, but infrequently and deeply - so the excess salts are flushed from the pot.

True. However... I saw a documentary a while ago about cork oak (Quercus suber). It is in many ways simliar to olives and lives in the same habitat. Harvesting of cork is done on average every 20 years. They have done a long term experiment where they watered cork oaks using a drop system (not sure how you guys name this technique) where drops of water fall every x minutes. This is a technique used for crop production in arid and desertic areas. The result.... they were able to harvest cork every 7 years. So maybe the answer is: watering continuously but very little? Just a thought...
 

MichaelS

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I think this problem is a Calcium deficiency or a combination of that and ammonium toxicity. Olives are limestone plants. They won't like soft water or acid conditions without regular applications of lime. A neutral pH also favours conversion of ammonium to nitrate which they probably prefer. Give them lime (crushed limestone or dolomite) 4 times a year and you will need to wait a full growing season to see it that is the problem. They usually get enough calcium from mains water supply but if you use soft water or rain water, you MUST supply calcium.
Also Calcium is a cation. These ions are held on colloids which are found in humus and some clays. These things also give a buffering capacity to the mix. (resists pH changes) If you don't have colloids in your mix (which you don't by the looks of it) your fertilizer must be perfectly balanced and continuous or the plant will develop deficiencies. I think if you include some decomposed organic matter and a bit of calcium your problem will disappear. You are basically growing this as an acid loving pine instead of an alkaline loving Mediterranean tree.
One more thing, Lack of Ca leads to root tip death so if you're not getting good root growth, that's another hint.
 
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Mike Corazzi

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It has perked up noticeably since repotting into some akadama and a sprinkle of a local rock supply place's version of "soil" which I can see has some sticks in it and other unknown stuff.

The new growth encourages me as last year it was actually LOSING leaves and now it is making new ones.

So... ???????????? :)
 

Mike Corazzi

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I'm also planning to make a modest new shelter for it.

Stocker_2B8_2B_2Bcradle_2Bopen.jpg
 

M. Frary

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Miracle Grow
Your friend.
Mix it to your needs.
No poo.
No smell.
No bugs.
Just good growth.
Why switch to organic?
Because It's what all the kids are doing these days?
If it ain't broke,don't try to fix it.
 
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