Discussions about propagating from cuttings, seeds, air layers etc. Going on a dig (Yamadori) or thinking of importing? Discuss how, when and where here.
Hi my names Dave and im new to the site and fairly new to bonsai.A mate at work has been doing bonsai for years and he now has me interested.I have a few which i might put up some pics of later.
Now my question ,
I have a few Olive trees in my yard that are very stunted with big trunks on them ( about as round as a beer bottle ). But they are only about 1200 tall.
What would be the best way to remove these to turn into bonsai?
Should I do any cutting back on them while they are still in the ground?
Can I dig them out at this time of year?
Glad to meet you Davo
This is an interesting one. I think the best bet would be to trm all the branches back hard and then remove the top of the tree something like indicated in my altered pic. Plunk this in a very gritty mix and don't let it dry out. People cut the olive trunk of at ground level and grow new roots so I gather this should work but hopefully someone else will chime in because I haven't done that before. Seasol may help with growing new roots?
Then let the bottom half grow out. Maybe cut it back again lower to the ground in a couple of years it should have grown back with an interesting new leader or two. Then remove the tree from the soil unceremoniously as they are tuff buggers and by this time the top half should be ready to work on.
One thing to keep in mind is that although oives are very tuff these things always work best on healthy trees so take extra care of the tree before hand if possible to get it pumping.
Aaron is one member I know that has done extensive work with Olives so hopefully he will chime in on what the success rate of what I suggest is.
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It's too bad your in such a hurry cause the stories I could tell you, Bushels and baskets of stories, hole crates full of stories. But if you can spare a moment I will tell you one story.
welcome mate, good to see you on board, with your olives i would have a chat to chris, he is on here from adelaide, he has been digging up olives from all over the place and has had some pretty good success with it, chris generally is on the chat here at night, if you just pop in everynow and again you will probly find me and him having a yarn.
good luck mate and enjoy
SHOHIN YAKUZA!!! taking the top half of trees of since 2005!
and growing trees for the future generations! 50+ year plans
Im keen to get started with these but I dont want to stuff it up.
Regards Dave.
If you live at Murrumbateman then you should join/attend the Canberra Bonsai society , Weston Creek Bonsai or Goulburn Bonsai soc.Lots of experience there.
Hi Dave - I lack experience in digging olive in our region - but I reckon they might be okay to dig right now. I usually repot olive as bonsai around this time of year for the Canberra climate - ie. late October early November. Maybe someone with experience digging olives with affirm this for us.
taking the top half of trees of since 2005! 
