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Good evening everyone,

I have had this olive bonsai for about 6 or 7 months now. It has been doing fine until recently. I had left it outside until now since it's been getting cold I kept it in an unheated shed with windows. Since it's a fairly young tree and it's probably its first year exposed to cold temperatures I decided to bring it in the house before it got too cold. While it was outside the last few weeks it's been losing leaves slowly but in the last week since I brought it in it's been losing leaves faster.

Here are some pictures and more info to help you diagnose what I could be/ have done wrong.
- It is in a south-facing window getting lots of sunlight
- I only water when soil is drying out
- the lowest temps it saw were maybe -2 or -3. The pot was wrapped in burlap and the leaves weren't exposed to frost.
-I have not been fertilizing
- I have not repotted

If I am patient do you think I will see new growth as long as I keep watering appropriately?

A few degrees below freezing is not a problem for the tree as long as it is just in the middle of the night . But the dry air inside our homes is a problem.

The best winter care is cold but frost free, lots of light and humid air. If that conditions cant be solved outside you will need to adress air movement as well.

It is natural for olives to shed old leaves year round. But as sunlight decreases they shed a little bit more.

My olives stay outside all year. The dark shed is possibly the worst place for it. It should not be losing many leaves, what do you mean by cold? -5C is getting cold nut mine cope with it, I would put it outside.

M5: do you have temperatures below 0 day and night for longer periods? How long?

Where I live olives dont survive winter outside. However, I am not sure if it is the temperature or lack of light in winter that kills them. Will try overwintering in unheated greenhouse next season to find out.

We sometimes get frosts, and -5C occasionally, but not often. I keep them under a cover that is open to keep them dry. They do well like that. as long as they are dry. I don't have anywhere to put them in.
Geoff.

Tropfrog wrote: Where I live olives dont survive winter outside. However, I am not sure if it is the temperature or lack of light in winter that kills them. Will try overwintering in unheated greenhouse next season to find out.

Just my opinion but most likely both. Certainly cold does kill them.
Where I live we used to have lots of olives in people’s yards. Right now only a few old ones around, apparently (I’m told) due to a particularly harsh winter season way before I was born.

I think the problem with a shed is lack of light, the trees are still metabilising if slowly all winter and need as much light as possible. Sheds are dark, as are garages and possibly the worse place after in a house to put them. A friend of mine had one in a cold greenhouse several years ago, which lost all it's leaves, it took two years to recover. Now the tree stays out and it is fine. I just keep it dry.

You beat me to the punchline. Key seems to be DRY and cold. Where cold is max a few degrees of frost.

I let mine take the night-time dusting of frost. But when it gets to be consistently cold they move into the garage till frost leaves.

I live in southern Ontario. This past month we saw a low of -8 outside. The shed I kept it in has a window and I kept it in the window. I’m in a hardiness zone 5. It can drop down to -20 to -25 in late winter here. I thought that would be too harsh for an a olive. If I put a humidity tray under the tree could that provide any relief of it staying in the house?

Thank you all for your assistance!

I think you are up to a real challenge then. Outside it will die for sure . Inside it will struggle to survive, possibly die sooner or later.

Try to adress this question to a local gardeners club or forum. There are most likelly gardeners keeping olives in pots in your area. How do they overwintering their trees?

In my area there are "plant hotells", greenhouses with mediteranian climate where you can leave the plants for the winter. Maybe that is an option?