Q.
I have a Texas olive tree that may or may not have survived this past winter.
We have had the tree for several years now and it has always bloomed and grown.
I don’t have any new leaves or blooms except the suckers on the bottom. All our other trees like our sumac, Palo
verde, and fruit trees are doing fine.
But not this one. Is there anything I can do at this point beyond just
watching it?
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| Texas Olive, Cordia boisieiri, hardy during the winter to about 25F, about the same winter temperature as Myers Lemon. |
A.
That particular tree, Cordia boisieri, is native to the desert southwest
Chihuahuan desert and survives to a winter temperature of about 25F; around the
same winter temperature as Myers lemon. Because it’s from our desert southwest
it is considered xeric in its water use. Lots of good that does you if it is winter
killed or severely damaged.
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| A better choice might be Littleleaf cordia, a smaller tree and found growing on East Flamingo in Las Vegas. |
A better choice might have been another xeric tree
from that area such as little leaf cordia, Cordia parvifolia, which
seems to survive to a slightly lower winter temperature. I suggest in the
future, permanent trees in your landscape should have a minimum winter
temperature of 20F.
Suckering from the base is a good
indicator it died to the ground, or the trunk was severely damaged. You do not
need to replace the tree unless it looks horrible. It is grown on its own
roots. Let one or more of the suckers replace what died. Suckers grow very
quickly if the roots were not damaged.
.JPG) |
| If a tree does not normally produce suckers at its base, the production of suckers can sometimes indicate the trunk is damaged either from borers or sunburn or both! |
If you decide you want to keep it, water
deeply and infrequently and fertilize it in the spring. Two handfuls of tree
and shrub fertilizer about two feet from the tree each year will be enough. Wet
the soil, create a slit in the soil with a shovel about 6 to 8 inches deep,
drop the fertilizer into the slit, step on it to shut it and water it in. Xeric
trees grow rapidly with water applied to them like mesic trees. You will have
to search to find this tree at local nurseries.