Big Olive cuttings

[Pat.G]

Hi All,

I have recently moved into a new house and found out that the front trees are big old wild olive trees. I am going to cut them back quite heavily and I am wondering whether it would be possible to keep some trunk cuttings for bonsai or should I airlayer before cuttting them as the wood is quite old?

Pat

[shibui]

It is supposed to be possible to strike cuttings from olives. I am led to believe that bigger is better but cannot confirm that as all mine have failed. It is certainly possible to root trunks. I have flat bottomed (cut through the swollen base) several olives leaving few or no roots and those trees grew new roots no problem.
Layers should work but are the branches worth layering. I assume you want them for bonsai? Many branches lack taper and are really not suitable for bonsai.
If you have old olives it is very likely that there will be feral seedlings nearby as birds spread the seeds. Look along roadsides, parks, garden beds, bushland, etc. Olives are easy to transplant.

[greg27]

Hi Pat, as shibui said if you can find a feral olive to dig that would be more ideal as you can often find trees with good taper and character in the trunk, and they'll grow roots after literally being cut with a chainsaw through the lignotuber. Depending on where you are there might be a lot of feral olives ready to dig - here in Adelaide there are quite a few sites with thousands of feral olives that private land owners or park rangers are happy for you to dig.

Digging a tree will likely get you something nicer to work with sooner as opposed to air layering / growing cuttings.

[Pat.G]

Ahh thanks guys. There are a couple of stumps that have shot up next to the trees so I’ll have a fit with them and try a couple of big cuttings to see what happens!
I’ll keep you posted with the progress!

[Matt S]

Hi Pat,

Tony Tickle in the UK uses a method on collected hawthorns that he said he adapted from European farmers working with olive cuttings, so that might be worth a try.

He has some videos of the technique at his site //yamadori.co.uk, but in summary:

- Plant the large cuttings in a small pot
- Give it a good drink
- Completely enclose the cutting and pot in a thin black plastic bag (not a thick bag, you want some sunlight to get through)
- Put the whole thing in the warmest sunniest spot you have. During winter a greenhouse is best.

The idea is that the hot humid conditions encourage quick growth. Haven't tried it myself because I don't take olive cuttings. As stated by others, Olive stumps are relatively easy to find and recover quickly.

Matt.