Can anyone shed light on why approx one in three of my 3to 4 yr old Kalamata trees start to get very pale older leaves which eventually drop off and the whole limb defoliates.No other signs off distress.Have cut trees back hard and they reshoot-still early days,don't know if they will do the same thing down the track.Trees were purchased from Olea nusery-don't know what they were grafted on to.Have many other varieties,none of which exhibit this problem.Am getting very frustrated as they(kalamatas) grow well then go downhill.hope someone can help.Thanks.

I have the same problem with the Kalamata as I bought from the same nursery, but not as severe only about one in a hundred. Have not been able to identify the problem, but suspect we stress them by overwatering.

Water-logging is a good guess, but if it's only some branches in the whole tree it may be Verticillium dahliae. If you post a picture of the symptoms I may be able to give you some more info.

Cheers,

__________________
João Correia
Cascais - Portugal
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msn: jorgegranja@yahoo.co.uk

skype: JoaoJCorreia

Thanks Eric and Joas for your replies.After talking to various people i have been told the problem might be dieback(phytophra).I didn't know olives suffered from this disease which is very prevalent in western australia.Can anyone say if they have seen this problem with olive trees and in particular which varieties?

I must say i've never heard about phytophra infection in olive tree. I believe it's much more likely to be Verticilum wilt. Cheers, João

__________________
João Correia
Cascais - Portugal
____________________________________________
msn: jorgegranja@yahoo.co.uk

skype: JoaoJCorreia

We only have 10 kalamatas, but they were difficult to get going in the first years, and a couple died and had to be replaced. The others which looked bad had defoliated and were yellow. My theory was inadequate root development. We cut the sick looking ones back very hard, and staked them securely, as they seemed to be wobbling in the ground. We gave them extra 'tonic' in the form of molasses and Seasol, and now you wouldn't know they had been sick. They look as good as the others. I hope you can get yours to come good. Regards, Judith

Thanks Judith for your post,i did cut one back hard and stake it and feed it and yes it appears to be comming back o.k.Will get some seaweed extract and molases and do the others.