[Chipper5] Olive

[chipper5]

• Species name: Olive
• Original height of stock: around 40cm, was chopped when digging
• Where you obtained it from: Olive dig a year ago- Sydney outskirts
• Cost of stock: Free!

[chipper5]

I've taken some better photos of the olive today (lower res so I could get them onto the site!) You can see the nice old gnarled trunk in the "front" photo which I've chosen as the front. The back is still nice but not as much texture.

It has lots of new shoots as I cut it back hard when I dug it up. I potted it up and left it for the year- when I took it out of the pot a month ago I noticed lots of great new roots so it's quite happy and healthy.

Unfortunately though it has a slight reverse taper which I'm going to have to try and work around to get the best out of it. I was thinking most likely a semicascade... but we'll see if I can get enough growth in a year!

Chipper5

[chipper5]

Have done a little work to my Olive since the start of the comp:

-Wired a new leader and removed any other competing branches from around the original trunk chop
-Cut back some of the other branches which had grown since it was dug a year ago. Most had just one branch with leaves, no twiggy branching yet. I did this to encourage more branching and start to encourage some ramification.
-Have decised I may do some jins and will enhance the deadwood part at the base of the trunk- I really like that area but I haven't done any deadwood work before so hopefully it'll turn out ok

Chipper5

[chipper5]

Here are the photos...

[chipper5]

My little olive is coming along well, ramification and branches are starting to develop. Have pruned a few times now as it's loving the heat and shooting out everywhere! Also jinned the tip and used some wire to bring it forward.

[chipper5]

This little olive is coming along really well, with copious amounts rain and full sun (when it's out!).

I have pruned it a little and thinned it out since the last photos, now i'm going to wire some of them to get some movement in before they get too hard.

I've also repotted this into an orchid pot so I can see it and work on it a bit better. Covered over the roots with soil on the outside of the trunk in the hope they'll thicken up a bit.

Chipper5

[chipper5]

This little olive has been growing really well, has had a few tip prunings since the last photos but the foliage pads are starting to develop well. Have wired the apex to bring it inot line with the direction of the rest of the tree. Am really unsure though what sort of pot would suit it as it's so rugged looking- I'm thinking a rugged sort of pot to match, but as to the shape- I'm stumped!

Chipper5

[Olivecrazy]

Nice little tree maybe a nice round pot or one of them odd looking things i see dont no what they are called tho

[chipper5]

This Olive slowed over winter and I've just been feeding it occasionally and kept it in as much sun as I could find in my yard. I've removed some of the wire as I've found it starts to cut in very quickly on this tree but thankfully it doesn't need to be left on too long anyway- once removed the branches hold their shape pretty well. Next I need to wire the L) two pads next to the jin up and down slightly.

Aaaaaaaaaaand the great news I have found a pot!!! Very excited, it's one of Penny's pots and I'm hoping it will suit!

[chipper5]

I potted up the olive at the beginning of Spring & found 7 curl grubs had been happily feasting on its roots which is probably the reason for its slow growth recently. However it did mean I didn't have to remove many to squeeze it into this fantastic pot by Penny Davis, so it hasn't shown any ill effects after repotting.

Overall I'm really happy with how this little tree has turned out- I was able to display it in our club's recent show (first time I've ever exhibited a tree!) which you can see in the bottom picture, on a beautiful stand made by one of our members (unfortunately not mine ). I'd like to refine the tree a little more and reduce the height slightly and bring the back left foliage pad around to the right slightly. I'm hoping now the hotter weather has arrived and the curl grubs were removed it will power on over Summer and fill out the pads a little more. Also I may try my hand at carving some of the dead wood later on.

But I've had a fantastic time participating in the comp (as well as reading all the other entries) and I've really enjoyed learning what can be achieved with different trees over a short period of time. Well done to everyone who participated!