The Difficulties Of Wintering Olive Trees. Home Care. Photo

2023 Author: Ava Durham | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-27 07:13

Olive trees in regions with harsh winters can only be grown in the garden as a tub. Beautiful crown and graceful silhouette, amazing atmosphere of these plants instantly transform the surrounding space, creating a truly Mediterranean flavor. Despite the exotic status, these are hardy and unpretentious plants, difficulties with growing which will arise only during wintering.

Content:

• Features of wintering an olive tree
• Conditions for the olive tree in winter
• Taking care of olive trees in winter

Features of wintering an olive tree

Olives cannot be ranked as capricious tubs. They tolerate heat well, are not too sensitive to temperature fluctuations and weather oddities, and need standard care from spring to autumn. But low frost resistance leads to the fact that these plants can winter not just with a shelter, but only indoors.

And if in the summer in the garden they are able to cope with any surprises with surprising ease, in winter olive trees often surprise unpleasantly, completely shedding their luxurious, grayish leaves. Even partial preservation of the crown in winter is considered by many fans of these southern tree trees to be a success, but in fact, only that wintering after which the olives have preserved their crown unchanged can be considered successful.

The reason for the winter moodiness of olive trees is the wrong approach to watering during the dormant stage, which should not be reduced as well as for other tubs. At the same time, improper moistening, even in the process of preparing for transporting indoors, can have the same effect as watering in the winter itself: olives react slowly, and the first result of "drought" can be observed only after a couple of weeks. However, temperatures and lighting for these tree species are by no means less important.

Conditions for the olive tree in winter

Olive trees, despite their heat-loving nature, should not winter in the warmth of the rooms, but in the coldest temperatures without dropping the indicators below 0 degrees. The closer to zero the temperature is, the better. An acceptable range for these southern tubers is considered to be wintering in temperatures from 0 to 15 degrees, but even 12-15 degrees for olives will be too hot and lead to increased vulnerability to pests. In particular, during warm wintering, olives often suffer from aphids and spider mites, mealybugs and scale insects.

Finding a suitable wintering place for olive trees is already quite difficult, and the requirement to combine coolness with bright lighting makes the process even more burdensome. Indeed, without enough light, olives get sick, the cyclical development is disrupted, flower buds suffer, and the crown is completely discarded. Olive trees will feel very comfortable in a cold winter garden or in a cold, light hallway, on a frost-free, but not warm, balcony or loggia.

Taking care of olive trees in winter

In order for the olives to successfully overwinter, they should not experience a lack of moisture: under no circumstances should the soil completely dry out in containers with these woody ones. It is the lack of watering and the wrong approach to moisturizing these Mediterranean plants that most often leads to problems during the winter, in particular, is the main reason for the dropping of leaves. At the same time, improper moisture has prolonged consequences and not a single characteristic sign can immediately speak of the damage that it inflicted on the plant.

Olives, both in summer and in winter, do not like excessive waterlogging, but unlike relatives growing in the south in the open field, they prefer very stable growing conditions. With the approach of cold weather, watering for plants is made no more rare, but more and more economical, focusing on the rate of drying out of the soil (it should dry completely between procedures only in the upper layer, and remain slightly moist in the middle of the pot).

Reducing not the frequency of procedures, but the amount of water will avoid the risk of drying out the earthy coma during the winter. In the cold season, after the procedure, water should not remain in the pan; it must be drained immediately after each procedure.

When signs of renewed growth appear in spring, the olives should be transplanted into fresh substrate (even for mature trees, annual transplanting is preferable). Watering with the arrival of spring is made more abundant, gradually, slowly increasing the humidity and reaching the usual summer regime only before being brought out to the garden in May-June.