well maybe its planted to deep? The clay soil may have dryed up and sturned as hard as a rock? A pest? A disease? The bark really dosent help as much as some branches leaves and overall picture of the tree. Please post some more pics. By the looks of it some bug has took a certain liking to your tree and has started to eat into the wood, which caused a lack of moisture to get up to the branches and eventually the leaves, which caused the leaves to fall of and branches to be weak and die. Sap probably dosent flow regularly from it anymore and that can be a problem. Contact a horticulturist or someone reputable, or the nursery you've got it from. They'll probably diagnose you with the problem.

Thanks for the response. When I planted it, I put it slightly above ground level as planting most other trees. I do not see a pest, but that definitely could have been the cause - that's really what I'm trying to find out. I took a bunch more pictures:

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Nursery visit is next on my list but they don't open until later next week and may take a while longer to get a response afterwards - figured this would be a good start. Thanks again!

let me start by welcoming you to GW ...

OMG !!! ... are you trying to love that thing to death ...

cut off the wounded part just below the damage ....

remove ALL THE STAKES..

and all the bindings..

add proper mulch ...

and water it properly.. deeply.. and then not again until its NEAR dry ... insert finger and find out how long that takes ..

if i am not mistaken.. those look like all new green shoots ... which means the roots are alive.. and who the heck knows why the top failed ... to be fair [which means blame someone else .. lol] .. lets call it shipping damage from the wholesaler to the retailer..

that is NOT bug damage ... it mechanical ... or stress ...

next time do NOT amend ...

i wish we had a latin name.. because this means nothing:

fruiting green olive tree

is there anyone who might know.. if this thing is grafted ... if so.. we may have problems..

if not.. then it should probably go nuts this year ...

ken
ps: man o live.. could they jam in another house behind you.. lol ...

Ken and Brandon are right. The stakes look like they are strangling your tree. And you should remove the growth at the bottom. Prune off the dead branches and then shape it a bit. Now is defiantly not the time to add fertilizer. Maybe phosphorus for root growth and bud development. To me it looks like the branches lowest to the ground are all bare and have not growth on them. Maybe you should dig up some of the mulch and soil etc and look under their to see what is wrong

Olives (Olea, often O. europaea) generally hail from the Mediterranean, so less is more - less water, less fertilizer anyway, and they prefer rocky, well-draining soil (the opposite of clay. Having said that, they are generally incredibly forgiving, and we have quite a few here planted in adobe that are doing fine. It is, as you can imagine, especially important not to overwater those that are in clay. It is possible to transplant enormous specimens by digging up very small rootballs, so you might consider replanting it if your research suggests that the original planting situation is the crux of the problem. I'm wondering if that split bark is due to too much water.

Agree - get rid of stakes, plastic ties, and cut off all dead wood. I have never run into a grafted olive but I hear that they do graft them sometimes, so it is worth checking. Try the County Extension as brandon suggests and love it a little less going forward.

Good luck!

formandfoliage water cant cause the bark to split lol. But yeah I do my homework they do love well draining soils and not to much rain. In the Mediterranean, olive trees enjoy temps fluctuating from the 60s to the mid 80s. And maybe some heat stress has been the cause since you are in Texas. Dont over water. And as I stated before dont fertilize. You think this years weather may have been the cause?

Too much water and/or fertilizer can cause fast growth/weak tissue - can cause splitting.

Doubt olives would feel heat stress in Texas - they do fine in temps over 100 F. What Texas has that they don't necessarily like is summer humidity.

Thanks all for the advice.

I don't believe I've over watered the tree, but the soil here is all clay and drains extremely poorly. That being said, the olive is planted on the slope to help with that.

The reason the tree is tied up is because of the hill we are on and the very strong winds we experience regularly. Prior to being staked, the tree would not stand - note it's only been in the ground for 2 years. I had intended to pull the stakes next year if the tree was doing well. I'll take some close-up pictures of how it is tied, but the plastic does not go all the way around any one branch.

I'll try to find the original pot from the tree to see if i can find the full Latin name of this species.

I'll also contact the local extension office for more help - thanks Brandon for the link.

Is it safe to prune the tree of dead limbs now?

Certainly. Dead limbs can be removed as soon as you realize they are dead. I don't know if you are considering both of the two trunks, on the left in the first picture, dead or not, but I would remove both (dead or not). The damage on both looks significant.

Both of the trunks on the left of the first picture constitute essentially the entire tree. The remainder is the left dead branch on the 3rd picture and the only main branch with dark green leaves on the right of the 3rd picture. The two trunks are everything else...

yep....

Except you forgot about the root system which will hopefully send up new growth next year.

Uhh a previous post I said about strong winds lol. If the stakes had been on for 2 years put them up. They should have created a well root system by now, some trees will eventually loose protection, you cant keep it staked its whole life. After pruning out most of the dead limbs take the stakes off.

i was worried you would be mad at me.. thank goodness ...

once you remove the damaged part.. there will be no wind resistance .. so all the stakes will be irrelevant ... and ALL trees will grow.. accustomed to ALL wind ... its when we transplant a larger plant.. that wind becomes a problem ...

we need a pic near the soil line .... is that all new olive growth???

proper watering is imperative.. but dont confuse the matter by thinking that is what caused damage to these large branches ...

the thing with trees/shrubs.. what ever an olive actually is.. is that damage can date back many years.. before it 'appears' .... this damage EASILY dates to .. or predates your planting 2 years ago ...

please review brandons planting guide at the link below ... when you are at the point that you realize.. as you read thru it.. how much you did wrong ... you will be on the verge of understanding how to move forward ...

but at the same point ... understand it is an olive.. and you have had it for 2 years ... it is nearly impossible to kill an olive ... IMHO ... i have some .. ornamental rather than producing ... that have been on site for 20 years.. they were upwards of 5 inch diameter branches.. and i literally cut them to 3 inches from the ground .. and by fall.. they were back to 6 feet .. they are.. what i call.. 'run it over with the truck' type plants ...

your only real problem.. in all of this.. is that you EXPECTED to be eating olives .. and i am sorry.. but that will happen.. when it happens ... the few fruit trees i have planted.. have not produced a decent crop for 3 to 5 years after planting ... and that is the way it is ... my expectations really have nothing to do with it ...

pic of the plant at ground level ... and away we go ... in another year or two.. you wont be able to beat it back with a stick.. and it should be hiding the view from behind ... [which for me.. would be more important.. than actually getting a fruit off it ...]

good luck

ken

ps: i am pretty sure it is considered a fruit.. there is a fruit forum ... i wonder ... if you would get any different answer there ... as fruit nuts.. do things a bit differently than tree/shrub peeps ...

Here is a link that might be useful: link

You could also post on the California forum - I know you're not in California but virtually everyone out here has an olive tree! And olives are indeed fruits (stone fruits to be specific - our Farm Advisor is a stone fruit expert and he includes olives in his list). And Ken is right - it is really hard to kill these, and they can grow out of all kinds of damage if the conditions are ok. Good luck with it!
Sara
ps I only have 'fruitless' olives, which really means 'less fruit'. Olives are alternate year bearers, and on some of them, on their 'on' years, produce enough olives to feed the entire neighborhood. Unfortunately they are not a particularly tasty variety...