Diseased olive tree

Monsclara

Hello
I had a bottlebrush tree next to an olive tree. The bottlebrush was killed in the frost year before last. There are 3 stems coming from the main olive tree stem and the one nearest to the bottlebrush is dead now. Does this mean that the olive tree has disease as well and what is the best treatment to keep the disease from spreading? I think I should cut off the dead stem on the olive tree, put should it also be treated?
Thanks

Oldtree

I think that it is unlikely that a disease is your problem. Frost did for the bottlebrush, my father in law's too, and it made attempts to grow back from the root but finally gave up. My bay tree got hammered too and also tried to regrow from the root but is slowly fading.

I think this is also what has happened to your olive tree. if the main stem is dead then cut it out. The tree may regrow from the shoots you describe but in the long run I dont hold out much hope.

It seems that we will at least get this kind of severe weather every ten years at least, maby sooner, so anything you want to last longer than ten years will have to be of the hardy variety.

beggers belief when I see people replanting their griselinia or escalonia hedges round here, HELLO!!!

Monsclara

Oldtree wrote: »

I think that it is unlikely that a disease is your problem. Frost did for the bottlebrush, my father in law's too, and it made attempts to grow back from the root but finally gave up. My bay tree got hammered too and also tried to regrow from the root but is slowly fading.

I think this is also what has happened to your olive tree. if the main stem is dead then cut it out. The tree may regrow from the shoots you describe but in the long run I dont hold out much hope.

It seems that we will at least get this kind of severe weather every ten years at least, maby sooner, so anything you want to last longer than ten years will have to be of the hardy variety.

beggers belief when I see people replanting their griselinia or escalonia hedges round here, HELLO!!!

Damn! I love that olive tree. I've cut the dead branch off, but not sure what you mean by cutting the main stem. The new shoots are on the 2 remaining branches so if I cut the trunk, won't that kill it entirely? Also, I had a good few suckers coming from the base of the trunk which I've removed, but assumed that they indicated that there was still some life left?
Thanks for any tips.

Bixy

I would be hopeful that the olive tree might survive. We have a lot of tender plants (live by coast and like 'pushing the boundaries' seeing what will survive), and yes a lot of plants appeared to be dead after the last two cold winters. Because I have not had the time to cut back the 'dead' trees/bushes they are still standing after the two years and in quite a few cases are resprouting. I think my 'neglect' in leaving the dead wood standing has helped shelter them and the roots are still alive. I am now carefully cutting back the dead main plant and allowing the new shoots to grow on. With some of the tree species I will be selecting back to one shoot later in the summer. This has happened with daturas, metrosidrous and some of the tender red flowering eucs. Olives are tough survivors! even here so far from their normal home

Oldtree

Monsclara wrote: »

Damn! I love that olive tree. I've cut the dead branch off, but not sure what you mean by cutting the main stem. The new shoots are on the 2 remaining branches so if I cut the trunk, won't that kill it entirely? Also, I had a good few suckers coming from the base of the trunk which I've removed, but assumed that they indicated that there was still some life left?
Thanks for any tips.

Sorry, read your op as "stem" - main stem rather than 3 stems - branches. You are right, only cut back dead wood to above where shoots are growing, and see what happens.

If it was a grafted variety then removing basal suckering would be a good idea otherwise you could try to regrow the tree from such a sucker.

Out of interest did you get ripe fruit on the tree?

Monsclara

OK - will keep my fingers crossed. I keep peering at it to convince myself there are more new sprouts - SAD!

Monsclara

Oldtree wrote: »

Sorry, read your op as "stem" - main stem rather than 3 stems - branches. You are right, only cut back dead wood to above where shoots are growing, and see what happens.

If it was a grafted variety then removing basal suckering would be a good idea otherwise you could try to regrow the tree from such a sucker.

Out of interest did you get ripe fruit on the tree?

Yes, I've wondered about the suckers - they always look so healthy, it seems a shame to be pulling them off and throwing them in the compost bin. In fact I've just checked again and there are 2 new "sprouts" coming from the soil close to the trunk. Do you think these are more suckers or new little trees? If they are trees, I'm wondering if I should get rid of them, as they may be in competition with the main tree?

Yes, I've had fruit, but as to their "ripeness", i wouldn't be sure. They looked dry on the outside and a little hard, but maybe that's how're they meant to be.

Monsclara

Bixy wrote: »

I would be hopeful that the olive tree might survive. We have a lot of tender plants (live by coast and like 'pushing the boundaries' seeing what will survive), and yes a lot of plants appeared to be dead after the last two cold winters. Because I have not had the time to cut back the 'dead' trees/bushes they are still standing after the two years and in quite a few cases are resprouting. I think my 'neglect' in leaving the dead wood standing has helped shelter them and the roots are still alive. I am now carefully cutting back the dead main plant and allowing the new shoots to grow on. With some of the tree species I will be selecting back to one shoot later in the summer. This has happened with daturas, metrosidrous and some of the tender red flowering eucs. Olives are tough survivors! even here so far from their normal home

Words to my ears on getting results by NOT gardening!! Yes, I'm hopeful. And I have 2 new sprouts or suckers coming from below the ground right beside the trunk. I've asked Oldtree if I should leave them or pull them out. I think they are quite embedded as they do not seem to want to come out with a reasonably strong pull.

Bixy

Aa far as I know (and I am no expert!) if olive trees are grafted they are grafted onto other olive trees so if you have suckers (and they look like an olive sprig) AND they are well attached, then I would sit tight and see what it looks like in the autumn.

Monsclara

Bixy wrote: »

Aa far as I know (and I am no expert!) if olive trees are grafted they are grafted onto other olive trees so if you have suckers (and they look like an olive sprig) AND they are well attached, then I would sit tight and see what it looks like in the autumn.

OK, will wait. I'm less an expert as I don't know what "grafted" means?

Bixy

a branch/twig of a plant is attached to the roots of another (usually by making cut in bark and binding the two parts of the plants together) usually for ornamental or agriculture reasons - happens with apples to keep the trees small or sometimes rhododendrons where a nice non agressive variety is stuck on to the very vigorous and invasive species Rhodo ponticum (spreading all over Killarney and elsewhere). You sometimes see the suckers from the root part of the graft appear at the base of the plant, looking different from the rest of the plant that is above ground

Oldtree

The sucker leaves may be a little different if looked at closely and compared with the top leaves. It would be preferable to prune out the suckers if you decide to do so, rather than rip out as you could damage the rootstock.

The suckers from a rootstock will always be more vigerous than the grafted material and would eventually take over the plant if allowed to grow unhindered.

I see this a lot with contorted hazel which is grafted onto a normal hazel rootstock. Easy to see the rootstock suckers here as they are straight and vigerous against the contorted twigs.

You may be able to see a line around the main trunk that would indicate a graft.

looksee

Don't haul on the suckers, prune them with a sharp knife/secateurs, or you could disturb the main roots.

Monsclara

Bixy wrote: »

a branch/twig of a plant is attached to the roots of another (usually by making cut in bark and binding the two parts of the plants together) usually for ornamental or agriculture reasons - happens with apples to keep the trees small or sometimes rhododendrons where a nice non agressive variety is stuck on to the very vigorous and invasive species Rhodo ponticum (spreading all over Killarney and elsewhere). You sometimes see the suckers from the root part of the graft appear at the base of the plant, looking different from the rest of the plant that is above ground

Bixy - is the graft done by nature, as I haven't done any cutting or binding? I'll post a couple of pics so you can see what I'm on about.

Monsclara

Hi all
I've attached a few pics of olive tree leaves, the suckers coming from the ground and in relation to the tree and a pic of the tree itself. I think the suckers look pretty similar to the tree leaves. But as you can see, I'm tight on space with no room for another tree, so perhaps I should get rid of these?
Thanks

Oldtree

yes I would remove those suckers.
Does the tree get any sun?
Has the main stem been damaged?
Did you plant the tree at the same level as it came in the pot or mound up above that point i.e. to the height of the bricks?

Monsclara

OK - suckers will be cut. It gets about 2.5 hours sun a day. Before the damage it had loads of leaves, but last year and this year they are a bit sparse. Stem is fine apart from a strip that the cats used as a scratching post.
I had the tree for about a year. A friend dug up the cobblelock, dug a hole big enough to plant the tree, planted it and then built the bricks up around it and mounded up within the bricks. It's been in the ground about 5/6 years now.

Oldtree

Cats can do a lot of damage... The living part of the tree is a small green layer about 1mm under the bark, easily scratched away.

It may be that the tree had some reserves before being planted but an olive tree may find it difficult unless in a full sun position, it is from sunnier climbs. It may also be a water logging problem around the roots or no water at all.

The problem with mounding up after planting is that there is above ground bark and underground bark. If you plant deeper than this "nursery line" then you can effectivly ring bark the tree.

Monsclara

Oldtree wrote: »

Cats can do a lot of damage... The living part of the tree is a small green layer about 1mm under the bark, easily scratched away.

It may be that the tree had some reserves before being planted but an olive tree may find it difficult unless in a full sun position, it is from sunnier climbs. It may also be a water logging problem around the roots or no water at all.

The problem with mounding up after planting is that there is above ground bark and underground bark. If you plant deeper than this "nursery line" then you can effectivly ring bark the tree.

Yes, where the cat scratched on the trunk, it's dead looking, but alive around the rest of the circumference. As for the planting, it's done now, so hoping for the best. I think I need to get pretty optimistic about the gardening issues.:)

Oldtree

I used to live in a flat in london and got addicted to Geoff Hamilton on a friday and there it all started. I would recomend reading any of his books (well all of his books) can't go wrong.

Monsclara

Oldtree wrote: »

I used to live in a flat in london and got addicted to Geoff Hamilton on a friday and there it all started. I would recomend reading any of his books (well all of his books) can't go wrong.

OK will look out for him. I'm a worst nightmare for a gardener - I like things looking nice, but as lazy as sin when it comes to taking care of everything. I think its mainly lack of confidence, - am a firm believer that I'll kill everything - but getting a bit more confidence now and the worse that can happen is I DO actually kill something, so will keep at it.

Bixy

Monsclara wrote: »

Bixy - is the graft done by nature, as I haven't done any cutting or binding? I'll post a couple of pics so you can see what I'm on about.

Graft is done usually in the nursery before the plants are sold. Personally I would let the suckers/young shoots grow until the end of the summer and then, with secateurs cut back leaving the strongest one still there, and let that grow on into a tree/bush. By letting all of the shoots grow overt the summer you are allowing energy to go back into the plants roots.

Oldtree

Bixy wrote: »

Graft is done usually in the nursery before the plants are sold. Personally I would let the suckers/young shoots grow until the end of the summer and then, with secateurs cut back leaving the strongest one still there, and let that grow on into a tree/bush. By letting all of the shoots grow overt the summer you are allowing energy to go back into the plants roots.

I was always under the impression that a tree sucker will sap the energy away from the healthier and more desirable branches on top of the plant and thus should be removed asap.

Bixy

Oldtree wrote: »

I was always under the impression that a tree sucker will sap the energy away from the healthier and more desirable branches on top of the plant and thus should be removed asap.

You are right Oldtree. I had read the OP that the Olive was mainly dead but that a few sprouts were appearing at the base. My approach of letting sprouts grow from the base of some tender plants of mine that appeared to be dead after the last two years of cold weather has resulted in effectively a new tree sprouting of the old roots of the apparently "dead" tree.

If the Olive tree is still OK then I do not think there is a problem and in the case of an Olive I would not really worry about suckers as, if they are grafted, they are grafted onto other Olives. We do not really have enough Olives in this country to know much about them. Apple trees I would know about!

Oldtree

You got me thinking about it and it may well be a good idea to try and restore a previously damaged rootstock of a grafted plant and when roots are restored then prune out the sucker, but how to quantify the benifit to the grafted bit from this approach as against the sucker boosting the roots to its own ends I don't know (experiment 5,746)

It is a good idea to try and regrow from the roots plants badly damaged (or planting opportunity in a mature garden) from the previous winters onslaught but I feel that they would only do well until another winter like that. Many people suffered the loss of hedges 10 years and older and it was a sad sight so I think that for the future we need to be planting hardier plants in our gardens, stuff from the Himalayas/Arctic tundra should be fine...
except Rhododendron ponticum :eek:

I have 6 irish apples in the garden and one grown from seed.

Monsclara

Oldtree wrote: »

You got me thinking about it and it may well be a good idea to try and restore a previously damaged rootstock of a grafted plant and when roots are restored then prune out the sucker, but how to quantify the benifit to the grafted bit from this approach as against the sucker boosting the roots to its own ends I don't know (experiment 5,746)

It is a good idea to try and regrow from the roots plants badly damaged (or planting opportunity in a mature garden) from the previous winters onslaught but I feel that they would only do well until another winter like that. Many people suffered the loss of hedges 10 years and older and it was a sad sight so I think that for the future we need to be planting hardier plants in our gardens, stuff from the Himalayas/Arctic tundra should be fine...
except Rhododendron ponticum :eek:


I have 6 irish apples in the garden and one grown from seed.

Phew - just read your earlier post Bixi and decided to sue Oldtree for providing bad advice as the suckers got snipped yesterday:D. But all looks OK on reading your posts.
On a completely different note, any ideas about digging up some cobblelock as I have another tree to plant. Maybe I should post on DIY forum?