Olive Tree Help

[HP4]

I have a 36" box fruitless olive that was planted a few weeks go.
The leaves are starting to turn yellow and fall off.
I have 2 4gph drip emitters running 30 mins a day. So basically 4 gph/day. I have the deep drip so the water goes down to the roots.

I was told to water 4gph a day by the Nursery I bought them from.

Is this too much water or too little? Should i not use ithe deep drip emitter and rather just have the emitters on top?
I am in zone 9a, Southern California

 

[Bill Waud]

I have a 36" box fruitless olive that was planted a few weeks go.
The leaves are starting to turn yellow and fall off.
I have 2 4gph drip emitters running 30 mins a day. So basically 4 gph/day. I have the deep drip so the water goes down to the roots.

I was told to water 4gph a day by the Nursery I bought them from.

Is this too much water or too little? Should i not use ithe deep drip emitter and rather just have the emitters on top?
I am in zone 9a, Southern California

yes.....yes.....yes..... Olive trees are from the Mediterainian climate rocky hot and dry. Olive trees are not tropical. k

 

[HP4]

yes.....yes.....yes..... Olive trees are from the Mediterainian climate rocky hot and dry. Olive trees are not tropical. k

So how often should it be wateres?

 

[RudyLebanon]

Hello. Here in Lebanon (Mount Lebanon at 1000 masl) we have lots of Olive trees some are hundreds of years old. For new trees, we simply water the trees once a week by hose. Once the trees are a few years old just once every 2-3 weeks. Finally, when the trees are over 10 years old they barely get any watering - maybe a couple of deep waterings in early August and september. Older trees are not watered at all although 1-2 waterings would be fine. Our climate is very much like the hills of southern california.

 

[cpp gardener]

As long as it's a good long soak, you can water them once a week. Run your drippers for at least 2 hours at a time. That is the biggest mistake people make with drip systems; watering too little, too often.

 

[Aulaire]

As long as it's a good long soak, you can water them once a week. Run your drippers for at least 2 hours at a time. That is the biggest mistake people make with drip systems; watering too little, too often.

So, how many gallons for a deep soak on a 36” box tree? 20 - 30 gallons?

 

[cpp gardener]

20 should do it if it's in the ground.

 

[oneeye]

Your only problem is not checking the soil before you water. A big NO NO! Always check your soil before you water. Stick your finger or hand in the soil before you turn on your water. If you are in question, dig down deep to get to know what state the plant roots are living in. Never just water by time sequence, always water from necessity. On some trees, I will dig down to my elbow close to the trunk to feel the soil and know what I have. Especially on a sick tree. Know your soil conditions friend.

 

[Avocado]

Watering a tree isn’t a written rule like from a recipe book. You water your trees depending on the weather and the season. Also depending on your soil. During the hot days of summer in Riverside you can water twice a week or more. But as cooler season approaches, you can water less often and in less quantity.

I had an olive tree in front of my house back in SoCal. I was near 57 and 60. The tree was large and established. It provided shade for parked cars. I never really watered it except by my sprinklers, which wasn’t much for its size. But your tree is young. That will need more care with watering.

 

[cpp gardener]

Since it is a young, newly planted tree it will need more water than a well-established tree. Olives can thrive here with no irrigation at all if they're old enough. We have some that were planted for W.K. Kellogg that get no irrigation and make a god-awful mess with fruit anyway.

 

[oneeye]

One way to measure the amount of water out of a water hose is to count how many seconds it takes to fill one 5-gallon bucket up. With my water pressure, it takes a count of 22 to fill it up. So when I want to water a tree I know that if I count to 22 while watering with the water hose, I will have put 5 gallons of water on the tree. If I count to 44 that will give me 10 gallons of water on a shrub or tree. Thats how I measure the amount of water that goes on a tree.