AusBonsai

Hi All,

I thought I would share my first olive that I have just aquired in the last couple of months. I dug it up and put it in this pot to recover. It is probably about 300mm across at the soil level. I only chopped the roots enough to get it into this pot.

One interesting (concerning) thing is that the bulbous vein on the right is alive but the rest of the trunk is dead. The vein goes up to that straight branch and also continues on up the trunk above the branch. I think this will be challenging but also has some built in character already.

Since this image was taken it has started budding quite a bit so I am confident it will recover over summer. I'm inclined to let it go until next year when I will have a look at the roots and probably chop off that branch. I'm considering growing that little twig on the left, and tying it hard up against the trunk to become a second vein to alow some branching on the left side.
What are your thoughts out there?

Epic trunk.

With my excellent virt skills I have come up with a plan to do something like this. Fingers crossed. I"m still deciding whether to let it grow on this year or cut the base flat and then put it back in the post. How do olives like carving? Does the wood last a while or does it rot away?

Olives will take to carving very well
the wood in hard and only needs lime sulphur to preserve it

Ken

Thanks for the advice, Ken. Since it was christmas holidays and I had some spare time, I decided there was no time like the present. Time to CHOP it!
Now for some TLC.

Hi Thomo, nice one!
To stop transpiration you could pop a plastic bag over the tree and pot...I use dry cleaner bags as they work well (some size restrictions), but you get some funny looks when you ask nicely for a few bags from the local shop and you usually have to repeat the request a couple of times.
I have been researching a little on collecting olives and the info I have found usually says that when flat cutting it is best to remove all foliage as it can inhibit new roots forming. Now, this is only what I have read...am yet to collect an olive (but that will change in the next few days), so I am looking for clarification on this point.
Also, why didn't you flat cut it upon initial collection which it seems was only a couple of months ago?
Not having a go at all Thomo, just curious and trying to learn more!
All the best, Dario.

Hi Dario,

I too am learning and was conservative when I collected it. It only has one live vein covering about 1/8th of the circumference and a little shoot from the base a bit further around. It wasn't the healthiest tree in the world. I dug it up at my parents who then baby sat it for a month or two until it could be transported to my place. It was too big to fit in the car. By the time I got it here I thought I would wait to check whether it budded and had survived the move.

This is the first olive I have collected, I'm just following my nose on this one. I think with a break from work, I had some spare time to "play" with my tree, I got impatient and decided chop the base flat. Olive seem to be pretty tough by all accounts so I think it was worth a try.

You can see from the pics that there is already good fine root growth from the two spots that are still alive. I'm comfortable that this will support the tree once it settles in after the repot. A bag would be great for the first two weeks, I use soft drink bottles for my cuttings. But, as you say, they are hard to come by this big.

Some others might be able to give you more information on what is typical for this species and the technique of cutting them off flat.

I'm happy for questions and comments, it is what makes this forum worthwhile.

Hi Thomo, I just re-read everything and I now realise that you tied back and kept some of the original roots when flat cutting trunk...missed that point first time around.
Anyway, thanks for the extra info and I reckon it will be fine!
Cheers, Dario.

Hey there Thomo, your collected olive looks great. I have a couple of collected olives of my own and I have done something very similiar to yours. Mine have been in a foam box now since it was collected and I have started to grow some structure into the branches. I have yet to use any wire on this olive and its working great. The old grow grow grow chop method. It looks very natural I think.
Anyways I think it should be fine in this heat.

Have a good one.
Archie

They look great, are they hard to find?
Could tell me where I could dig up a few in Melbourne area?
Regards Alan

Hey Thomo,

For what it's worth, there is a theory here is SA that it is best to let a collected olive grow unhindered for 2 to 3 years after digging. Then decide on your design and take it from there. Reason behind this thought is that if you preselect growth too soon you risk losing parts of the trunk, but if you allow the tree to grow unhindered it will develop even roots and get full vigour back. You can then slowly transition to your design points avoiding die-back on areas of the trunk that you want.

As I said, it is just a theory, but there may be merit in it. One of the problems that some of our growers here have is die-back of branches, and the thinking is that it may be caused by the tree shutting down sap lines because it has not had the chance to fully recover vigour.

PS, I flat-cut all my yamadori olives (6 so far), and I have definitely lost one, I'm still waiting for a second, and the rest are all going bonkers. The first one I dug was taken out in June 2009, and I have only re-potted once into a slightly more organic mix. The one that died took a real hammering, but intentionally, as I wanted to see what the limits are.

Cheers,

Andrew

Hi there i think Andrew leg is right about letting them recover for a bit till they are strong Ive all ways trained my olive when the shoots are about 10cm long or more which is very early but never repot until at least 2yrs.
The die back that Andrew leg has talked about i think is a survival thing with the olives but in saying that ive got one in the ground has been for a few yrs now and have noticed part of the base has died of don't no why really its growing well.

When you collect olives Thomo always flat cut them before potting in the past Ive done this a lot one tip is to cut below the first set of roots on the stump.