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Southwestern Gardening

How to keep olive trees healthy

18 years ago

We have two old olive trees (40 years old) and they were healthier during the first 20 years, and now they look kind of sickly and full of dead branches (that I constantly clean out) and not healthy. I would like them to be green and full of new growth. They are in San Diego. I heard there is a disease or something that attacked all of them in the neighborhood, but I don't know any specifics. Is there anything we can do? Fertilizer?

Thanks

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Comment (1)

lazy_gardens
18 years ago
Try watering them DEEPLY (use a soaker hose for several hours, or overnight) every couple of weeks. Give them a couple of months to respond.

Fertilizing a stressed tree is like taking someone with a broken ankle on a marathon ... it forces activity that the tree is not ready to do.
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