Journal October 11, 2013 Added an Arbosana olive tree to my collection.

When I first got the idea of growing olives I wanted to order an Arbosana olive tree, however, the grower talked me out of it saying, in her opinion, they were too difficult to grow.   Later, I purchased an Arbosana elsewhere, and I subsequently lost it.

Since changing to a less dense media I have not had a single leaf drop, or problem of any kind with the olives, so I thought I would try an Arbosana again.  I found a tree at a reasonable price, but they had a minimum of five trees.  I wrote to the grower and explained that I had just a hobby greenhouse, and my granddaughter and I were trying to collect trees from different countries; asking if I could purchase a single tree.  A woman named Brandi responded, writing that they would be glad to sell me a single tree for ten dollars, shipping included.

The Arbosana arrived today, and it is magnificent to say the least.  Writing to thank Brandi I told her that Ava and I name our plants, and we would be naming this tree Brandi.  It is nice to know that there are still some kind people in this world, in spite of current events.

My collection is now in excess of twenty trees, though I have no idea of how many olives I can expect, if any.  I did find an encouraging sentence on one growers site that bolstered my expectations:

"For those of you who live in apartments, condos, any kind of rental or cold climates that want an olive tree but have no place to plant it, you can keep your tree in a large pot on your patio, sun room or greenhouse. Potted trees produce olives too and with one tree you can press and cure enough olives and oil for yourself. "

The Marconi pepper growing under the 150 watt 11 band LED grow light is doing fantastically.  The performance of this light is impressive, even if the color is a little weird visually.   The first four flower buds were removed to encourage growth; going forward I will let the plant flower to its heart's content.