European Olives hedges worth collecting ?

[Paulneill]

Do u guys think these Olives are worth collecting at 1st glance what’s do you think?

[Paulneill]

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[TimS]

I don't work with Olives but i know they can take serious root abuse during collection just fine, and can be cut back extremely hard and bounce back so i can't see why you wouldn't be able to collect them. Just someone with olive collecting advice would be the best to speak to for safe collection of them

[shibui]

Olives transplant easily as mentioned. One of our members digs down to clear the soil then cuts horizontally through with a chainsaw to remove the tree then plants it as a giant cutting. Most survive.
I've also 'flat cut' olives. Feral seedlings have a lignotuber - fattened part of the trunk just under ground level. Many only have a couple of roots growing out the bottom of the lignotuber - not ideal for bonsai. You can cut horizontal through the widest part of the lignotuber and plant the trunk, again, like a giant cutting. Most will develop new roots from around the edges of the cut.
If you are not that adventurous you can dig and collect some roots with the trunk an cut back when they have re-established. Don't bother chasing long roots looking for fine roots. You don't need them. Olive roots are reasonably brittle. One strategy I've used is to open a hole all round the trunk then take hold of the trunk and yank sideways. Usually, any down roots will snap off and you can lift the trunk out.
There is no need to collect soil with the roots. In fact, I suspect it's better without field soil.
I also don't worry too much about protecting roots after digging. Most of my collected olives go into bags then into the back of the ute for the trip home. Sometimes they don't even get a bag so the roots are exposed to sun and air for up to an hour. Exposure of roots to air (within reason) does not seem to cause any problem with survival. When I get home they are all dumped into a tub of water until I can get them pruned and potted up.

We've also collected feral olives both Spring and Autumn. Maybe steer clear of mid summer but I suspect they will transplant almost any time of year, especially if winter is not too cold.

So, we have established most olives can be transplanted easily. The next question is whether these trunks will convert to decent bonsai in a reasonable timeframe.
It appears these don't have the typical lignotuber of seed grown olives so I'm guessing they were propagated as cuttings originally. That may mean you won't get the ultra thick trunk bases but that could also be hiding below soil level.
Without the lignotuber to give the trunk taper you'll rely on branching to provide added thickness and therefore taper. The trunk in the foreground show extra diameter below the visible first branch. If there's more branching along the trunk that will give you places to prune for taper and for a thinner apical trunk somewhere. The dense canopy starting reasonable low bodes well for plenty of branches hidden in there to give you those options but, until you get in you won't know.

I'd say they are worth considering. The rest is luck of the draw.
Just remember the cardinal rules of bonsai collecting:
The ground is always much harder than you imagined.
Trunks are thicker than they look. Many trunks seem to expand as you remove soil from around them.
Trunks weigh about double what you estimated.
Containers need to be around twice the size you estimated to hold the roots so have larger containers ready or materials to make boxes to suit.

[Paulneill]

Thanks Guys
Some good info, I’m well versed in collecting olives myself and was considering buying a chainsaw to remove these. I have struggled with a bow saw in the past.

I just wonder what the structure would be like inside all that foliage.

[TimS]

No way to know from the photos, but they bud freely so if the structure is ass you can just chop it all off and start over

[Raniformis]

Olive make wicked carved bonsai, taper and structure can be irrelevant if you're so inclined. Just an option you may have overlooked.

[shibui]

I just wonder what the structure would be like inside all that foliage.

From the density of those canopies I assume these have been pruned from very early on which means very likely plenty of well ramified branches right from the trunks. The only way to know for sure is to go and check.

I’m well versed in collecting olives myself and was considering buying a chainsaw to remove these. I have struggled with a bow saw in the past.

I've started to use a battery recipro saw. More compact than most chainsaws and cheaper blades which wear out so quick when cutting through soil and sand.