Olive Bonsai in bad shape

Hello everyone!
I've a got a quick question for anyone that knows something about either olive trees and/or bonsai's.

We asked the florist for our wedding to order a bunch of olive trees that we could gift to the people attending our wedding and what we got were some lovely olive bonsais.

The pot it came in was, what we thought, a bit too small, so we transplanted it to a larger pot and filled it in with universal potting soil. The original soil looked a bit dryer, lighter in color and spongier than normal soil.

Since then, weâ??ve noticed a marked change in the treeâ??s health. Over half of its leaves have dried up and fallen off and the ones remaining arenâ??t looking to hot â?? the green is fading away slowly.

As this is our wedding plant, Iâ??m not too keen on having it die just months after the big day!

Any advice on how we can save this little guy?

Thanks!

Paul

 

Well that's the whole idea. Bonsai isn't just about trimming the crown in order to keep the tree small; it's containing the roots so that the tree doesn't have space to grow and develop a larger, stronger root system.

Well that should've told you that 'universal potting soil' is not the right stuff to use on bonsai trees. Bonsai soil often contains nutrients that a specific tree species require. Once the tree has become used to the nutrient ratio and levels it would be dangerous to suddenly introduce it to quite different soil. Check out this link for more info: http://www.bonsai4me.com/Basics/Basics_Soils.html

Hardly suprising really, considering what's been done to it. All trees respond to external stresses; bonsai more so because they are so delecate - and bonsai isn't a natural way to keep trees anyway.

Get a bonsai book, or look for a bonsai online forum or locate a bonsai club is the best info I can offer. Trying to fart around with bonsai soils and pots again after all you've done to it probably won't help the tree much.

 

What a shame about your bonsai olive Thanatos.
I'm no expert in bonsai. All I know is the roots of the plants are trimmed well back and they're starved to keep them dwarf. It's quite a tricky job to produce a good bonsai specimen.
All I can suggest in relation to your repotted bonsai is go out and buy some bonsai compost, repot it back into a small pot, keep it fairly dry, talk love to it everyday and keep your fingers crossed.
Maybe there's some wizards on here who can help.
I hope you can save your wedding plant.

 

Hello Paul and welcome to GC.

I do not consider myself an 'expert' on bonsai but have been 'doing it' for some 17 years and actually transported my collection to and fro from Portugal for several years and they now reside here with me permanently.

I completely agree with Harmony Arb. With hindsight you should have asked for advice before you took the disasterous action you did. Bonsai trees/plants actually live in tiny pots for hundreds of years.

I'd be very surprised if you can save them.

 

Well Thanatos, I think I said what the others said, but more kindly.
When medical science has nothing left to offer then all you can do is try the alternatives.
Talk love to the plant and cross your fingers.
I hope it works for you.

 

Alice, I don't think Harmony Arb nor myself were being 'unkind' ... we were being honest and giving the opinions and advice regarding the subject that is expected from this forum.

In my opinion, Paul acted without thought and advice and it all went akimbo and I said so .... as did Harmony Arb ....

Sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind ..... you learn by your mistakes. :thmb:

 

:flag:Sorry if I've offended you Victoria. It certainly wasn't intended.

 

No offence taken Alice.

I too hope that the little olives pull through but it can be a difficult task even for an experienced person. I certainly got upset when I lost my 13 year old Ivy and my Elm and Cotoneaster all of which I did from saplings. :( They had 25cm olive trees in Aldi this week and I was sorely tempted ... but I have seedlings out on the lane. I am nuturing a half dozen Jacaranda seedlings to create a 'forest' but this won't be done till around November when the weather is cooler. I am currently having great success with an Ivy cutting I took in Palmela in January and a little Hawthorne that Paladin sent me a few months ago and has more than doubled in size
.

 

Every success with your new Bonsais Victoria.
I appreciate it is a very skilled undertaking.

 

Hello all,
I'm sorry to have taken so long to get back on the site. I've had my hands too deep in the soil lately to type at the computer!

Thanks to you all for your advice, be it austere or kind. The olive tree is holding in for the time being but I've got my fingers crossed (and of course, talking much love in the meantime.)

 

One thing you might like to try as a salvage operation is to take a cutting or two and try to root them and start your own second generation bonsai olive from scratch. Olive cuttings are not too difficult to root.