"Saxman" wrote in message
Sacha wrote:
On 11/2/08 15:14, in article ,
"Saxman" wrote:
I have a hardy olive bush in the conservatory. It appears to be losing
a lot of leaves recently. Is this normal at this time of the year?
How are you watering it?
I probably water it about once week when the compost is looking dry with a
Baby Bio general feed.
I was doing that last year and it survived the summer (if you can call it
a summer) in the conservatory.
The plant does drop quite few leaves, but I thought for this time of year,
it was excessive?
It's trying to tell you something by leaf dropping. I have 4 olive trees
(all planted out in the grass 2 Corregiola [sp?] and 2 Kalamatta) and leaf
dropping is not something they do much at all. In fact I can't ever recall
seeing any leaves below my trees.
They cope quite well outside with cold and it always get down to -5 in
winter here sometimes lower and they get no treatment given to help them
cope with the cold of winter. However, they do not like too much moisture or
too much feeding. I throw some pelleted chicken manure on my trees about
once a year if I remember ( I think I've remembered about 3 times and
they've been in at least 7 years) and because we have savagely hot summers
(over 40) they get an occassional watering, but they are doing well in a
hard and hungry spot on the edge of the grassed "lawn" where it runs into a
shaley section of land.
I'm in Australia and one observation I would make having read here for years
is that British gardeners seem to have a tendency to cosset their plants and
olives are one plant that shouldn't be. Don't treat olives (or Australian
natives) too well. Think of them as doing best in hard and hungry
conditions. Don't cosset, but make sure the pot is big enough too.