Leaf shedding has many causes
The olive is actually an evergreen tree, ie it does not change its foliage depending on the season as you know it from the deciduous trees native to here. If your olive sheds more leaves or if they turn yellow, your little tree will not feel well. However, what is actually missing in your tree is not that easy to find out. We will help you!
also read
- Help! My olive tree has dried up! - You can do that now
- Properly care for the olive tree in the pot
- It is better to keep the olive tree in Germany in the bucket
Possible reasons for the leaves shedding
If your olive sheds leaves, there could be several causes behind it.
- Lack of light, especially in winter
- wrong winterization (too warm, too cold, too much water, too little water ...)
- too much water / waterlogging (as a result, the roots rot)
- too little water (pour from time to time even in winter!)
Make sure there is enough light
In principle, olives are very easy-to-care-for plants that do not resent their owner / keeper so easily. However, they absolutely need sun - also and especially in winter! Therefore, dark places such as cellars are not suitable for wintering or should only be used as an emergency solution for a short time. It is better to place the pot in a bright but cool place, such as a greenhouse or a stairwell. However, since many olive varieties cannot tolerate drafts, you should also ensure a draft-free zone. Your olive should feel comfortable well protected in a bright corner.
Pour olives properly
In the home of the olive trees it is quite dry, only in the winters it rains a little more. In addition, olives that have just been planted can develop very deep and branched roots, with which they can get the smallest amount of moisture out of the soil. For this reason, you should not water olives too often, because the roots are very sensitive to too much moisture and then start to rot. So if your olive sheds its leaves, you should ideally check the substrate and the roots for waterlogging or signs of rot. In this case, pot the plant in fresh substrate and carefully (!) Remove the rotten roots. In winter, in particular, it should be enough to water it roughly once every two weeks. The soil should be dry before watering again.
Tips & Tricks
Olives prefer to overwinter at temperatures between eight and ten degrees Celsius. For this reason, they often lose their leaves when they have been left outside for the summer and are finally brought into the heated living room in winter. In milder winter temperatures, you can also leave your olive - well packed and protected from the frost - in a protected corner (e.g. on the wall of the house) outside.
