Why didnt my olive take off?

rockm

From the photos, it appears to me that the soil is your problem. Compost heavy with organic material, as that stuff appears to be, is pretty unsuitable for bonsai soil.

Cutting it back while it was in the questionable soil, probably contributed to its demise. You may have taken away the resources it needed to jump start itself this spring--crippling an already disadvantaged plant.

It's hard to really tell anything from here. It's really up to you to figure out what happened.

If the plant is dead, pull it up. Have a look at the roots. Review what you did over the last few months. Don't do it again . Think about what you could have done differently.

The cause of death for bonsai usually a combination of owner and conditions. Blaming the plant as "diseased stock" and leaving it at that will teach you nothing.

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Larry

Theres nothing wrong with the soil at all, its the same soil in the silver birch and italian alder and theyre fine-this olive just never moved since I bought it-I could almost believe its platic!

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rockm

Forgive me, but you're overlooking something.

Comparing water loving birch and alder seedlings' growth with a semi-arid plant's growth in a soil that retains too much water is a little myopic. Their requirements aren't the same.

Alder and birch love moisture and can take alot more of it than a sub-tropical tree like an olive. Olives grow in areas that border on semidesert. They don't require that much water and their roots can't handle it. They die off and new growth doesn't happen.

Pruning a seedling heavily can also slow it considerably. It can also push a weak plant over the cliff. If it's in difficult soil, all bets are off.

agraham

Larry,

How deep is the pot that the olive is in?Did you cut many roots?What has the weather(mainly temperature) been like since you repotted?Do you keep the soil moist all the time?..or let it dry out a bit?...to blame the lack of growth on bad material is a cop out.To automatically blame it on the soil is an uneducated guess.

Rock,Matt,Bob,...compost is a pretty generic term for soil in Great Britian and assuming that Larry is actually an experienced gardener(though not bonsaist) i doubt that his soil is some mucky mud.I won't argue that great drainage isn't imperative in a shallow bonsai pot if you won't argue that all nurseries grow their shrubs and trees in akadama and gravel.Even "succulent mixes" often contain some peat.

I could be wrong,but it looks to me as if the olive is in a standard "azalea pot"...they are shallow but not so shallow that drainage would be a major problem with any decent soil(or "compost").Cultural practices would be far more important.

Taking the typical English weather into account,i would imagine that the suggestions about the timing of transplanting semi tropicals were more appropriate.

Larry,....Rock is correct though, in stating that the same soil for different species is not the best idea unless you can and will adjust your watering and fertilising accordingly.

andy

clrosner

Larry: Did you do the fingernail test on the trunk? If there is green under the bark there is still hope.

Don't fret, just ignore it and don't over water it, since the roots have been pruned. My Olive took almost four months before it showed that it was still alive...

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Larry

Well, I checked on it last night during my nightly water,and I couldnt believe what I saw- a tiny 'eruption' much lower down, not where I wanted it but an adventitious growth nonetheless-it must heard me threatening to uproot and bin it!

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