AusBonsai

Here is a little olive I purchased. It is suffering from being several years overdue for repotting and a lack of sunlight. The roots when I bought it were just a solid mass in the 5" pot it was in (and I mean a solid mass) and the bark was falling off the trunk with a black mould on the exposed wood. I severely chopped the roots, potted it up into a larger pot and I am treating the mould with a GP funguside (very open to recommendations on more specific treatments). I also removed all of the more vigorous shoots from the foliage to take some stress of the roots.

The tree has some healthy new growth on it so for the moment I'm just feeding and watering. I don't think I'll do any more to it for a growing season unless the more knowledgeable people here say otherwise. Hopefully it will survive as I think it has potential to be a nice smaller tree.

Cheers,

Steve.

Hi Steve,

I’d say you’ve done well and your tree will recover quickly. Keep it in the sunlight and by the time Spring rolls around you’ll be able to work on it. In the meantime, have a think about how you want it to look!

Matt.

What Matt said. Good pick up Steve!


Bonsai teaches me patience.
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looks like it's had a tough start, hope it thrives in your care.

I can't see any reason this will not thrive. It does take quite a lot to kill an olive - can be done but you really have to try hard.
Black mould on trees is usually caused by an insect infestation on the leaves. Insects produce honeydew which falls onto the leaves and trunk and feeds the mould. Get rid of the bugs and the mould will disappear (may take quite q while for the black to wear off though) Scale insects are common on olives and will produce the sooty mould. Check older leaves for scale and treat if you find any signs.

Thanks for the tip, Shibui. I'll have a close look today.