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Received healthy-looking tree in mail from fast growing trees website on 16 April. It sat on my doorstep for five days because I was out of town. It was in a plastic bag that maintained moisture. Was not rained on because it was protected. When I returned on 21 April, it was still looking decently healthy.
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Put in pot on 22 April. Soil is 80% miracle grow cactus-type soil and 20% percolate (as recommended by chat gpt). I watered it lightly (not deeply because I was told to be wary of root rot) and put it on roof balcony where it gets 8 hrs of full sunshine.
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Quickly started to curl leaves. At first thought it was transplant shock. By 1 May I hit up chat GPT again and it said it was dehydrated. I watered deeply. Still dying a few days later. I replanted, removing a piece of paper barrier that had been protecting the roots when it arrived in the mail. That might’ve been the issue — dehydrated because most roots were blocked by that paper. I thought the paper could have water seep through, but I guess not.
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Now it has been replanted, deeply watered every 3 days, and in bright shade not sunlight. I removed the support pole yesterday and now it’s bending over.
Tell me what to do please. Thank you!
by TwistySnakeBear
6 Comments
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Something looks wired about the roots. Looks like a cloth is covered around maybe this is the cause of the dehydration
Sorry, it’s dead. What you’ve described is *a lot* to go through for a young plant. And olives are notoriously difficult to grow in containers to begin with.
You’re right about the paper being a main issue, and the roots drying out, but there are some other problems.
If you want to try again,
* Repot immediately upon receipt
* Use a smaller pot, that one is too big. The soil will stay wet too long, making root rot more likely
* Water deeply, not lightly. Root rot doesn’t happen with one watering, and isn’t caused by water exactly. It happens when the roots sit it water and can’t get oxygen for respiration. So as long as it’s draining completely, you’ll be fine.
* Don’t water on a schedule, wait til the soil is mostly dry (check with your finger or a chopstick), then deeply water again.
* Start in bright shade and move to sun over a few days. They need full sun
* Leave the support pole in place until the plant is established and able to support itself. Tie it loosely so the stem can move around a bit, but can’t fall over.
I wish I had advice beyond “that looks too far gone” and a reminder that Chat GPT is a **language model**, not an encyclopedia like the whole world is pretending it is.
Chat GPT is programmed to give you a response that looks like an answer. **It is not programmed to ensure that the answer is correct.**
You listened to chat gpt?