charleshobbs

I Have a black olive bought from a bonsai nursery a few weeks ago(like 6). I gave it a moderate pruning and shaping right after getting it. It sets in an eastern facing window that did get a lot of light until the greedy maple tree outside opened its leaves. To compensate for the lack of light I have installed a 4ft flourescent light, about 3" above the tree, 14 hours a day. I watered it about once a week, when soil got dry. Every other week it got a diluted scotts liquid fertalizer, 10-15-10. The tree didnt really grow at all and the new growth that was on the tree when I bought it stayed the same. About three weeks ago, a bunch of the leave started to drop. I was doing some research on line and found some sites that recommended letting it dry out a little between waterings. So...Last week I put off watering a day or two longer than I normally would. I watered from above as usual (with fertalizer). The following day the soil seemed dry again so I soaked the pot for 10 minutes by immersion.Now The leaves seem crispy and the little fruit/ flowers completely dried up and fell off. I scratched the bark and it is barely green... Is there anything i can do? I also have a serissa that recieves the same care, light, watering/ fertalizer schedule and it is thriving! I know that Black olives need a lot of light butWhen I bought the black olive it was growing under a bench in a tropical green house. I dont think that it was getting that much light there. It was very warm there though. The temp where it is now it is probably about 65F at night to 80F in the day... Could this temp change halt the growth and did my delayed watering + fertalizer kill my olive? please help.

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