Olive Tree Dropping Leaves, Dying Branches After Root Pruning

[richardandrewparedes]

Hi everyone. I have a lot of questions concerning my olive trees. I root pruned an olive tree 3 weeks ago and repotted it in its original loam soil due to overcrowded roots. Today, I have noticed that it had lost a lot of its leaves. Is this normal? Will it take a long time before it could recover and can it recover? Its branches and leaves are dropping and dying and becoming brown but I have noticed that some leaves remain. Also, is there any way I could safely prune olive tree roots when they are crowded in the pot in order to avoid such an occurrence in the future? What can I do to revive it back? Thanks a lot.

 

[Shibui]

You have not mentioned or shown us how big the tree is or how much leaf it had before or after repotting, how much root you cut off, how much root remained after or how much of the branches you cut off at the time so it is really hard to make any meaningful suggestions.
A lot of the olives I have collected have dropped all the remaining leaves soon after the initial collection and massive root reduction. Some were left with no roots at all after flat bottom cut. They do eventually shoot again and I have only had a couple actually die. Some shoot again after a few weeks, one took nearly a year to start growing again.
I hope that this is a normal reaction to the root pruning. How long I cannot say for you or your area.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

Olives are Mediterranean species. They do well in inorganic, free-draining soil and do not like to be kept wet. You can water them a lot if they are in pumice but if you have an organic soil mix you have to be careful of root rot and/or fungus.

 

[richardandrewparedes]

Hi Shibui. It was actually a large tree which remained in the pot for 3 to 4 years. Will be sending pics of the roots. I never pruned any foliage. Am just a beginner to bonsai so I am not very much familiar with any techniques. Do i need to also prune the branches and foliage when root pruning? Also, can i remove a lot or all of the leaves of the tree when newly root pruned? I repotted it in well draining Akadama soil and hope it recovers. There are still some green leaves remaining. Thanks

 

[Shibui]

I can only tell you that when we collect wild grown olives we cut almost all the branches and most of the trunk off the tree. We also cut off almost all the roots. Sometimes they roots are chopped off with a chainsaw at the widest part of the trunk which often means there is no roots at all left. All those trees are just potted up in potting soil and they nearly all recover and grow.
I have just repotted some of my more established olives. I took off some roots and shortened a few of the longer branches but otherwise left the leaves on. They have not shown any signs of losing any leaves.
Your trees look like they are really long, thin and tall. Root pruning is often a good time to do any major cutbacks and I would probably have taken the opportunity to cut the trunks shorter. You should still be able to do that without causing any more harm to the tree.
Removing some or all of the leaves from an olive should not cause any problem but should not be necessary when root pruning. Mine have no problem recovering from root pruning even though I don't cut leaves.

Olives do not like to be too wet. I always use a very open, free draining potting soil with collected trees. Loam soil may be OK in deeper pots but it may cause some problems if it stays too wet so don't water too much.

 

[Cadillactaste]

I was always told to repot these when they are actively growing in summer. Which I did...mine never skipped a beat. So I am wondering if timing of repot is a huge factor

 

[Shibui]

The olives in question appear to be in the Phillipines so no winter and probably not much difference in temp any time of year. Rather than time of year it may be the climate in general that is causing these issues. Always hard to pin down a specific reason when you can't be sure of all the surrounding factors - previous care, tree health, watering, fert, weather, general climate, how much and how often, soil and a myriad of other factors that all have some influence on how the trees grow and recover.

 

[richardandrewparedes]

Thanks for all your replies. Shibui, is there any method on how to prepare the soil mix for an olive tree? Is it ok to use an ordinary cactus soil mix or blend pumice, lava rocks and loam soil to improve drainage? We often have poor soil in my place so i sometimes resort to buy Akadama though its expensive. I repotted it in Akadama as it lost a lot of leaves during the 3 weeks it was in loam soil . The branch die back and dropping of leaves stopped immediately after I repotted it in Akadama so i suspect it the soil could be the culprit. Hope it recovers soon. As for watering, I only water them once every 7 to 10 days and never water if the soil is still wet as they really hate wet feet. Also, as we receive a lot of rainfall here, I placed them under a transparent plastic roof so they never get wet from the rains brought about by the typhoons during the rainy season.

 

[Cadillactaste]

The olives in question appear to be in the Phillipines so no winter and probably not much difference in temp any time of year. Rather than time of year it may be the climate in general that is causing these issues. Always hard to pin down a specific reason when you can't be sure of all the surrounding factors - previous care, tree health, watering, fert, weather, general climate, how much and how often, soil and a myriad of other factors that all have some influence on how the trees grow and recover.

I understand that its a warmer climate. But...wouldn't it still have a definitive growing period? But alas I am only going on what ones tell me. Repot when actively growing. For me...that is my summer. Might be another season for the poster. Good pointing that out.

 

[sorce]

3 weeks ago wasn't a good moon.

Sorce

 

[Shibui]

Thanks for all your replies. Shibui, is there any method on how to prepare the soil mix for an olive tree? Is it ok to use an ordinary cactus soil mix or blend pumice, lava rocks and loam soil to improve drainage? We often have poor soil in my place so i sometimes resort to buy Akadama though its expensive. I repotted it in Akadama as it lost a lot of leaves during the 3 weeks it was in loam soil . The branch die back and dropping of leaves stopped immediately after I repotted it in Akadama so i suspect it the soil could be the culprit. Hope it recovers soon. As for watering, I only water them once every 7 to 10 days and never water if the soil is still wet as they really hate wet feet. Also, as we receive a lot of rainfall here, I placed them under a transparent plastic roof so they never get wet from the rains brought about by the typhoons during the rainy season.

Your frequent rainfall is my chief concern, especially with a loam soil but anyone can learn to grow almost anything anywhere in any soil by modifying care.
I don't use akadama. It is expensive. It is imported at great cost to the environment. It is just a fad at the moment because growers believe that if Japanese growers use it it must be the best. Truth is they use it because it is the best locally available material., If they had other stuff they would use that. I find that akadama retains far too much water and kills roots here. Use what is locally available that provides the required characteristics for your potting soil. That will vary from place to place and from climate to climate and then learn to care for plants in that mix.
Some of my fellow growers have good success with cactus/succulent mix because it is designed to be free draining. Our problem has been that different companies produce products that have completely different properties so it is hard to generalize or give accurate advice on care in cacti mix. My advice would be that cactus mix would probably be far better than akadama.
My other advice is to grow species that have evolved to suit similar climates. I don't grow (many) tropicals because it is too cold here. Trying to grow dry climate plants in tropics will be challenging. There are so many great species that are far better suited to Phillipine climate and can make great bonsai.

 

[Adair M]

Of all the soil choices mentioned, I would go with straight pumice. That way, water (rain) would pass straight through.