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Yes, it's me, again, with my olive tree, again. I moved my olive tree inside because I live in Cetran Europe and freezing winters are not good to plants like that. My olive tree started to show signs of distress - half of the leaves curled inwards, a few started to fall off - some turned yellow, some fell healthy and green, some turned brown at the base, close to the branch, and then fell off.
Also the leaves have this weird shiny spots that are a bit sticky when I touch them - I thought it were scale insects, because we have a little infestation because of my mother's neglected oleander, but that one is in a quarantine and I didn't see any scale bugs or any other pests for that matter, and I checked the tree thoroughly. I water it once a week/week and a half, depending on how dry the soil is (I always check it prior to watering).
I thought it was the root ball getting water resistant again, like the last year, and I gently stabbed it and it helped a bit, but the tree keeps looking sad and it didn't stop the leaves from falling off.
How can I help it? It's hard to fight something I don't understand and I'm really desperate. Maybe it's just that it doesn't do well inside? I thought about getting it back out because our "freezing winters" turned to an "English weather" this year. Can somebody help me, please?

Olive tree is something I've wanted to try growing, but haven't tried yet. So I'm not sure how much I can help, but I can describe some typical issues I have when overwintering woody plants inside during the winter.

In my experience, shrubs and trees and that would survive maybe a 100-200 miles south of where I live are the hardest to keep happy. They would normally spend the winter in dormant state. In the house, I need to find them a location that is coldest -- in my case, on the floor of the room farthest from the thermostat to the central heater, with the hot air vent blocked off.

I believe established olive trees in the ground can withstand frost and light snow but not severe freezing.

They also need humidity, which steadily drops as the heater dries out the air. I find it best to thoroughly mist every morning or at least every other morning. Picture them dripping with morning dew. If it's just one or a few treasures plants, you will get best results if you can put the plant in the shower in place of watering -- maybe once a week or two or three times a month. Use no more than tepid/cool water --- you don't want to cook your plant!

Then research the light levels they need an supply supplemental artificial light if necessary.

I'm sure they may be other issues, your plant may already be infested with typical indoor pests like scales or spidermites. Examine very very carefully, in bright light and with magnifying glass if necessary.

We don't have any cold but bright room, so I was keeping it close to the south terrace door where it's the coldest, together with my other exotic guys, misting them regularly. I took it back outside, because our temperatures aren't even close to below zero right now (December 20th and 10°C - rougly 50 degrees Fahrenheit - when it should be far far far below zero) - but it's cold and it's very humid due to frequent fogs since it's basically November outside.

I checked it very closely - still no signs of any pests. I saw some black dots now and then that looked similar to Olive lace bug droppings, but very few of them. I got an organic spray anyway which is friendly to animals and to my plants and should help me get rid of anything I can't see but it also increases plant immunity. None of my exotic plants look overly happy being inside for the winter (except for a fig tree which is sleeping in the basement), so it may be a combo of several factors.

Thank you for your help!

Hi,

a little update: nothing seems to work. My olive tree is shedding leaves like crazy, which are now turning brown at the base and falling off. I know what the sign of brown tips is, but at the base? Root rot? What can it be?

I still don't think water is penetraiting your soil. Lance soil or repot.