Sun, 27 Jul 2008

Olive Trees
One of my customers has several large olive trees. The largest of the trees is suddenly loosing leaves at the top and is showing a weird swollen area on the trunk. I have started calling around to see what the trouble is, and no one seems to know for sure, but everyone agrees that the tree is a goner. I think it may be borers, tiny larvae of a certain kind of moth, but I don't know what kind. I think that the culprit is borers because there are tiny holes in the trunk where the swelling is. But I am not sure. It also has some black sooty mold growing around the swollen part. I think it may also be a fungal infection because of this but I think that might also be mold growing in the leaking sap. Anyway, it was suggested to me that we cut off the top of the tree and let it re-grow. This is a fairly common practice in Italy and Spain where olives are from. I will have to check with the homeowner about this because it will look really strange for awhile. Plus, the tree is not in the best place in that yard, there isn't really enough space for it where it is. By the way, this is the second olive tree that this household has lost this way... Mysteries!

posted at: 15:28 | path: /colleen2008 | link for this entry

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