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I have an Olive tree in a pot which I bought 2 years ago and I feed it Seaweed and Sequestered Iron as advise.
This year the olives are starting to grow I have read it can take 4years- ish before they start to grow so I am assuming it is in that age range.
However some of the leaves have started to change from a healthy green to a marbled yellow and brown colour the rest of the leaves are a very healthy green and new leaves are appearing in good order. I was advised to try "Sequestrene" granules and have done so, I have only used two of the five sachets upto now but to no avail.
Could you please advise possible solutions. Thank you . MikeC




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I'm somewhat confused as to why anyone would advise seaweed and sequestrene as feed for an Olive in a pot, it's absolutely not necessary.

Olive trees benefit from a spring feed with a compound fertiliser such as Vitax Q4 in the ground. In pots, if you want it to fruit (which it will only do in a warm summer) you should feed it something like Phostrogen every month during the growing season. It's also critical to keep the compost moist during February and March, if it needs it.

Note that olives grown in this way in the UK taste nothing like the olives you can buy - these have been picked in hotter countries and cured before selling on. Lastly, olives are not entirely hardy, so in a very cold winter, they are vulnerable to the cold, and in a container, they are particularly susceptible to frost damage at the roots.

The marbled yellow and brown leaves are hard to diagnose without seeing them, but don't let any which fall sit on the compost in case its a fungal infection, though it sounds as if its only a few leaves and the topgrowth is healthy.

26 Aug, 2014

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