My Olive Dig - Help and advice?

[TheNumber13]

Hi All,
I would like to start by saying: Please forgive my inexperience and ignorance, but I am very new to all this and keen to get stuck in. I would appreciate any opinions and advice especially on those I am considering digging, so don’t hold back on any criticism as I need to learn. Thankyou for your time.

For the next two weeks, I have access to what is left of an old, neglected olive grove (sp. unknown). Most of the larger trees have no useful movement low down, but I still have found many which I feel may have potential.

I dug two smaller ones out this afternoon (they were easy, and to try and turn into Shohin). Looking at them now, I am not so sure why I chose them (impatience?), but here they are, with my planned chop points. Please let me have it, any opinions and ideas for these would be great. Should I proceed with bonsai-ing, or plant them into garden?

Pat.Coll.Olive1b.JPG

Pat.Coll.Olive2b.JPG

Now I will show you some of the potentials I have found. Please let me know if there are any here which you definitely would, or definitely would not, bother collecting. I am planning on heading back for a couple at least, but want to see if you all agree.

Pat.Poten.Olive.1.JPG

Pat.Poten.Olive.2.JPG

Pat.Poten.Olive.3.JPG

Pat.Poten.Olive.4.JPG

Pat.Poten.Olive.5.JPG

Pat.Poten.Olive.6.JPG

Pat.Poten.Olive.7.JPG

So, Which would you choose? Am I Iooking for the right things? Anything on these I should avoid? Any advice?

Thanks again for taking the time to look through this.

Pat

[brownh]

honestly
a chance to get material like this does not come up to often
if the plants are just going to get destroyed soon
why not try to give them a chance at life
like i said a chance like this does not come up to often so i say
try to stock up as much as possible. you can buy 80c plastic buckets from bunnings. then just drill 5 or 6 holes in the bottom
get as many as possible as you have the rest of your life to turn them into good bonsai and if you dont want them try to sell them on this site if that is what you would like.
but try not to let good material like that go to waste
Hayden

[Edward Scissorhand]

Hi All,
I would like to start by saying: Please forgive my inexperience and ignorance, but I am very new to all this and keen to get stuck in. I would appreciate any opinions and advice especially on those I am considering digging, so don’t hold back on any criticism as I need to learn. Thankyou for your time.

For the next two weeks, I have access to what is left of an old, neglected olive grove (sp. unknown). Most of the larger trees have no useful movement low down, but I still have found many which I feel may have potential.

I dug two smaller ones out this afternoon (they were easy, and to try and turn into Shohin). Looking at them now, I am not so sure why I chose them (impatience?), but here they are, with my planned chop points. Please let me have it, any opinions and ideas for these would be great. Should I proceed with bonsai-ing, or plant them into garden?

Pat.Coll.Olive1b.JPG

Pat.Coll.Olive2b.JPG

Now I will show you some of the potentials I have found. Please let me know if there are any here which you definitely would, or definitely would not, bother collecting. I am planning on heading back for a couple at least, but want to see if you all agree.

Pat.Poten.Olive.1.JPG

Pat.Poten.Olive.2.JPG

Pat.Poten.Olive.3.JPG

Pat.Poten.Olive.4.JPG

Pat.Poten.Olive.5.JPG

Pat.Poten.Olive.6.JPG

Pat.Poten.Olive.7.JPG

So, Which would you choose? Am I Iooking for the right things? Anything on these I should avoid? Any advice?

Thanks again for taking the time to look through this.

Pat

Hi there, I really l ike potential 2 because its already crying out forest grove. Its even growing on a slant, I think you should be ambitious here and go out find a great big piece of sloping sandstone, then chisel a long groove to fit the trunk and its roots sliding into the soil. Or if your not ambitious, then a forest grove raft is nice.

[anttal63]

takem all, they're great, you can sell or give away what you dont want later

[TheNumber13]

Thanks ant and brownh - great to get confirmation that I am looking at the right things
Edward - Thanks! Hadn't thought of a slanting slab, might be too ambitious for me now. Here's to the future though!

Tomorrow will be fun, at least seven to dig!

[kcpoole]

Hi 13

I would definitley Grab some more, but the 2 you already have I would use more of what you have rather than chopping as low as you suggest. I can see some nice taper if you keep some existing branches / trunks where you have proposed to take the right back
See the attached images

[dayne]

hi where are the trees located in qld or another state

[Chris]

takem all, they're great, you can sell or give away what you dont want later

I agree fully with ant great score
many years of fun for one and all

[TheNumber13]

kcpoole - Thanks for those, I will definately leave more on as you suggested. I'm still not very good at visualising potential, so the virt's are very helpful.

Got five today, broke one shovel.
tomorrow will get a new shovel and dig a couple more out. Think more about where to chop them all down to, and place everything I chop off in a mix to grow as cuttings.

Thanks for your help everyone.

(oh, and its in NSW not QLD)

[anttal63]

good as 13 !!!

[Graeme]

#13, if you have the opportunity to clean out an old Olive grove - DO IT!!!!
Buy as many shovels as you need, a couple of chainsaws, crowbars and anything else you need. I honestly believe Olives are the next Figs ( I might be a little biased ) here in Australia. These things are great, you can't kill them with Roundup, they shoot continuously and the other thing - they make great Bonsai. If Pup could do it, I'd love him to get a photo of the one out at the Swan Valley Nursery and put it up here. Unfortunately I never got any pix, even tho' I tried to buy the bloody thing a couple of times. If a photo can be put up, it will show you just how big these Olives can be when you start work on them. the one I am talking about fills a 1200x800x300 pot.
They can be carved without set back, although they are HARD wood, so good equipment is required. I use a 100mm angle grinder with Arbortech attachments and only have smallish stock. Only draw back to that bigger stock is the weight, as I said Olives are HARD WOOD.
Don't worry about getting too much stock and then not being able to pot it all up in time, Olives will survive nicely for weeks without being potted up. A story I was told once was how a friend of mine had gone up to a vineyard owned by another friend in SA to collect Olives that were destined to be bulldozed. When they arrived they discovered the paddock had been cleared 6 weeks before and the Olive heaps burnt. Undetired the hapless collectors found a few tree stumps in the burnt heaps and took them home. Those burnt stumps are now well on the way to becoming fine Bonsai.
No, if the opportunity presents itself go for it. You will even be able to compensate yourself for the aches and pains of collecting stock by selling of all the stock you dont want yourself - wish I was in NSW, I'd come give you a hand for a couple of weeks.