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My olive cloud tree has lost lots of leaves over the winter

louise.colleylouise.colley Posts: 102
in Problem solving
propeevery year at winter I cover with a full zip cover which is breathable and for the job. This year we’ve removed and a few of the clouds have lost all their leaves - others are ok. Any advice as this is my pride and joy and doesn’t look great. I was going to feed with olive feed. Anything else? Advices welcome thank you 

Posts

  • clematisdorsetclematisdorset Posts: 1,348
    My olives are looking very similar to yours this year. Some of my branches just snap off if I brush past them. This is the first year mine seem to have had this problem. Mine are in pots too. 
    Sorry to witness the demise of the forum. 😥😥😥😡😡😡I am Spartacus 
  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    edited April 2023
    Feeding a plant, like people, is rarely the answer to an accident or chill or illness. Just leave the poor thing, and only react if parts do not come back to life. Which hopefully they wili. Post again if they don't.

    Mine was 3m from the house, so missed the worst frost.  But still had less damage than  a mophead bay.  Both under a single layer of fleece.

    Expensive and treasued plants need the the very best care.
     location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand.
    "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
  • Lizzie27Lizzie27 Posts: 12,494
    @louise.colley It has been a very hard long winter in most places and although olive trees have been surviving in the UK for some time, as you know they are not reliably hardy.

    I think if you wait for another month or so and it gets warmer, hopefully new leaves might appear. I wouldn't feed until that time as it will put the plants under more stress. 

    Keep an eye on watering if it get's dry but don't overwater.
    North East Somerset - Clay soil over limestone
  • tui34tui34 Posts: 3,493
    Hello @louise.colley

    Whereabouts are you in the UK?
    A good hoeing is worth two waterings.

  • louise.colleylouise.colley Posts: 102
    @tui34 hi I’m in doncaster South Yorkshire thanks 
  • clematisdorsetclematisdorset Posts: 1,348
    I agree about not feeding it. In fact, I am not sure olives need much in the way of food generally. I don't feed mine, I just mulched it in the autumn. I have checked mine - I moved them in their  pots to a sheltered corner by high walls (where I have my storage and experimentation/ pot collection area), and although some of the tips of the stems snapped off, most were 'bendy' further along the stems. Can you check yours @louise.colley - because if the stems are more bendy than snappy, that is a good sign. Also,do you have any new leaf growth? I have a bit on mine - see photo.

    I did not wrap mine in fleece and never have. Is yours in a sheltered spot? I am further south than you, but there was bad weather here between December and February. I wrapped another plant in fleece and think some snails were sheltering under the fleece... Did your olive get excessively wet under the fleece at all? Any browning leaves?
    Sorry to witness the demise of the forum. 😥😥😥😡😡😡I am Spartacus 
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