Olive Tree Help Needed

Hi all

I'm not gonna lie, I don't know much about plants and gardening. I recently got this lovely cockscrew olive tree and I have an issue with scorched leaves at the top. I've been watering it but my concern is, our garden is south facing and I'm wondering whether that is an issue? I know the olive trees do survive harsher temperatures aboard though.

I also need to repot it as well.

Any advice and guidance would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Terri

 

i wonder if it was not kept in full sun at the nursery and is now having to adjust to new conditions.
I've had one in a pot on my south facing patio for 20 years and I've never noticed scorched leaves.
I water it infrequently and try to remember to give it a seaweed extract drench about once a month in the summer and it seems very happy.

Is it an unusual variety of olive? as the leaves on mine look thinner and more silvery.
Mine also finished flowering recently and now has little bunches of tiny olives forming.
I can't see any of that happening on yours.

 

Welcome to GC
That was my first thought too....they don't look like olive leaves, although the twiggy habit looks right. It does look like scorch damage, so when you re-pot it, that's an excellent opportunity to place it somewhere shady while it recovers. If you've got a gazebo or some sort of shade arrangement on the patio, it could live under there for a few weeks?

 

I think when you twist and trim something within an inch of its life its not easy to keep it looking good.

 

Hi again, thank you for your responses

It's an olive tree from Italy, I have attached photos of the label

I have a shady area where I could put it

Terri

 

It will want to be in the sun, so maybe leave it somewhere out of lots of direct sunlight for the time being and in a month or so the sun will be weaker so it should be fine in full sun.

 

They sit in 40c in Italy for months on end, then often in -5c , but in soil. They are hardy, don't need the best of soil, but do need enough.

 

Thanks all. I will repot and put in a shaded area for a bit, see if that helps.
How often do they need to be watered?

 

If you stick a finger about 2" into the compost and it's dry, then give it water - rainwater if possible.
When it's back in full sun, on hot days it will need watering daily probably until it's in a much bigger pot.
Mine is in a huge pot so I can get away with watering less frequently.

 

When you re pot it use a loam based compost like John Innes no3 not a multipurpose potting compost, make sure there are drainage holes in the bottom of the pot!