Wood ash for Olive trees???

[Lesley81]

Hi all,

I read earlier today that wood ash can help to balance the Ph of the soil if added, I just wanted to ask, as I know olive trees prefer a more neutral to alkaline soil, if adding a bit of wood ash from my wood burner would help recover a sickly tree?

A few months back the tree was covered in buds, but just before they should've blossomed, all the buds dried out and fell off. This has continued with the leaves yellowing & falling too.
There is new growth on the tree, and I know that there is nothing wrong with over/under watering or feeding, or sunlight etc as all three of my olive trees receive the same TLC, the other two are doing great 🤔

I thought maybe that a bit of wood ash may give it some good minerals, but would appreciate your opinions?

Oh and I only use natural wood on my fire, nothing painted or treated, so there should be no chemicals in the ash.

[starloc]

You need to measure the pH of the soil before correcting it with anything

I would guess if one tree is affected others not , something eating the roots like chaffer grubs vine weevils or similar

[Snoop Puss]

I agree with starloc.

Are the trees in the ground or in tubs? If in tubs, I'd take it out and have a look at the soil and roots. Make sure you don't pass on whatever is in the soil to the other trees (or anything else for that matter).

Hardwood ash is very useful as a source of calcium and P and K. Olive trees don't like wet ground either, so any watering should be sparing.

[Lesley81]

Ok so I measured the ph and it's about 4.5, so alkaline, which the olive should like, tested the other two which were the same.

I dug out the roots from the pot & could see no evidence of anything eating them.

The roots did seem quite compacted, so I have released them out a bit and repotted the tree.

I think they may be a bit wet now as we've had quite a lot of rain this past few weeks, so I'll hold off watering for a while and see how things develop ������

Thanks for the tips