Journal Nobember 1, 2013 - Donkey olive ex vitro

The donkey olive seed that was in culture has now been planted in soil, so it is now ex virto. It is my intention to leave it covered with a dome until true leaves begin to form, though that may take a while, as olives do everything at their own pace.

The transfer was made early, even before the radicle, or tap root, had emerged from the seed.  My feeling was that the tap roots are very long and delicate, so I did not want to take the chance of breaking it off during transfer, which would have been the end of the seedling.

There is another donkey olive seed germinating, though this one is not in culture.  The seed was soaked in a mixture of nutrients and other ingredients for several hours.  Following the soak the seed was placed in a coffee filter moistened with the mixture.  At that point, the seed was placed in a sealed container, with the container then placed on a heating mat under the LED grow light.  That seed began to germinate in only eight days, rather than the four months the first seed spent in vitro before germinating.  This should be another interesting experiment.

The Ascolano clone is making great progress now that it is on its own.  There are a few yellow leaves that I expect to fall off soon; the yellow may be a nutrient deficiency, or senescence.  The yellow leaves are not a concern, as there is a lot of new growth at the very tips of the laterals. 

 One nice aspect of cloning your own trees, is that you get to determine their shape early on, so that you don't end up with a buggy whip.  This plant will have the ideal martini glass shape so desirable in olive trees.