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<pre>>From: "Phil Bramley" <bramleyp@one.net.au>
>
>In this growing season I have noticed that my grafted Kalamata olives
appear
>to be less healthy than other varieties in the same block. The leaves have
a
>yellowish look compared to color of the Frantoio (Paragon) varieties close
>by. The latter are much greener and appear to be more vigorous.
>
>Does anyone have any information on the Kalamata variety and whether they
>have a greater nutritional requirement than other varieties.
>
>We are also noticing that this year's crop of olives generally is much less
>than last year's. Although the olives are under sprinkler irrigation the
>bi-annual nature of olives seems to be much in evidence.
>
>Regards,
>
>Phil


Phil,

I had exactly the same problem last year with my grafted Kalamata (from
Olives Australia). They were 3 years old, some perfectly healthy, some
turning pale green, de-foliating and looking generally sick.

I suspected some sort of root problem and did find some curl grubs, but I
ended up pruning off anything that didn't look healthy, hit them with
Alliette (a systemic fungicide) and some foliar fertilisers and they seem to
be recovering this year.

I am having some tissue analysis done soon and hopefully this should shed
some light on the problem, but I have also heard of other growers having the
same problem (Graham White in Fordwich mentioned something similar).

There doesn't seem to be a straightforward answer, but keep an eye out for
insect attack on the weakened trees. I has some small dark brown / black
insects all over one or two of the weak trees, a quick spray with Rogor
fixed them up.

If you are interested, I wrote an article on the problem for the Hunter
Valley Olive Association newsletter, which I can forward to you, or to
anybody else interested, just e-mail me off the list to avoid boring
everybody else to death ... mike.wilson@hunterlink.net.au

Regards,

Mike Wilson.
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