Journal November 5, 2012

The Olea Europaea seedling arrived today, and I wasted no time in preparing it to be grown hydroponically. The first step was to remove all of the soil from the roots by rinsing the seedling under tepid tap water.

As these trees can reach a height of about 30 feet, growing the tree in a container will be very similar to growing a bonsai. The difference being, that I will grow the tree hydroponically in coir and perlite, and, I will do a very minimum amount of root pruning and shaping.  The particular variety of this seedling is unknown, however it will produce olives, and can either be a bonsai or full size tree.  In this case I intend it to be a dwarf potted plant, neither a bonsai, or full size.

After cleaning, the seedling was planted in a self watering container using a mixture of coir and perlite that was moistened with a very dilute nutrient solution.

As Olive trees prefer a fairly dry environment, I plan on top watering the plant and letting any excess drain into the reservoir below. I do not intend to use the reservoir, or wick, as Olive trees will not tolerate wet feet.

To acclimate the seedling to its new environment I placed it in a cool location, giving it an abbreviated photoperiod of 10 hours, with about 500 foot candles of lighting. I plan on leaving the seedling in the cool location for about a week before placing it under an LED grow light.