Garden Pests and Diseases: Sweet Olive Osmanthus fragrans covered with a white powder? , 1 by podster

podster wrote:
My sweet olive is still in a large pot. I didn't want to put it in ground till fall. As we are overly dry I have been watering daily. I do not use fertilizer during these 100 + degree days.

This morning, I noticed this white powdery (dry)substance starting at the soil line and traveling up the stalk of the olive. It seems to have just shown up.

Over the years I have dealt with mealies, aphids and scale but never something like this. It appears to be similar to the fertilizer salts which one might see build up on a pot or surface soil but the top of the soil is fine. I have fertilized this plant rarely since I acquired it.

In this photo you can see the soil surface and the powder on the trunk.