Hi, I'm really bad with plants. I have a potted olive tree in Ottawa Ontario. It's probably 4 years old. This winter, after I brought it indoors, it lost about 95% of it's leaves. Only a small bunch of leaves (maybe like 30 leaves) on one branch were left. Now some new leaves are growing but they are starting to curl. I don't know what to do. My water meter always show it's moist in this soil even when it isn't. (I don't understand why, like it could be bone dry and the meter will show "wet"). So I check with my fingers. There is no pest that I can see. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I uploaded a picture of some old and new leaves.
Those water meters are all very inaccurate, they can cause more problems than to give any positive effect. You must calibrate your meter with your soil, and even then it wouldn't be reliable at all. Anyways,you should reduce watering significantly for winter. About your olive tree I suspect, that it needs more light. Days are too short and dim now in your latitude.
It's time to retire the moisture meter. There's a better way to determine the amount of moisture in the soil. First make sure the porosity of the medium is appropriate for the tree then saturate the medium. Allow excess water to drain away then pick up the container and get a feel for its weight. Irrigate when the container feels relatively light. Note you may have to take extra steps if the medium is excessively dry to begin with: Watering Hydrophobic Soil.
Thanks! I will try this. I watered a few days ago so I will wait. It's really not drinking much as there aren't many leaves on it, so it takes a very long time for the soil to dry up.
