AusBonsai

Hi people,

i received this little olive today from chris in adelaide, it is quite a nice little tree for the flat cut option. i plan on getting a rather small tree from this one eventually, maybe no more than 4-5 inches tall. the base was rather large under the soils so i for the finished sizee of the tree i didnt use the entire ligno-tuber, just a small section of it that will give the tree nice flare and a good root spread, once roots strike and establish then i will go to work on the top, so it will be a bit, but i am hoping by then it will have plenty of choice to cut back too, which i am quite sure it will
as for the left over base i havent thrown that out either, i am going to use that for something else, i will show you as soon as i find the pic of the similar thing i want to work to with the left over bit
as for the little stump thats been flat cut, it is soaking in seasol, superthrive and water mox, this will help re energize it a little so it will remain in there for a day or two, i know its not much to look at but it will be in a couple of years.

jamie

this is where i want to go with the base that was cut of this one, the base is also soaking in the superthrive/seasol mix.
i beleive something along these lines will be acheivable as olive send up suckers easy and tthe base although not as interesting and weathered as this one iit will still look different as it is not often seen for one and two it is a stunning piece of work i reckon

jamie

Good stuff jamie i'm glad it arrived. as for bases i can sort you out with a few more if need be for the slab .

sounds good mate look forward to it, i love that elm that i posted, i want the olive to turn out similar, well the base of the olive, we know how well they sucker up so it should be very possible

that's a nice flare at the base of the cut jamie. My aunty has 2 reasonable tree on her farm, if your takes roots, I'll do some thick cuttings. You must have done some research about the species. Is this a good time for thick cuttings?

gday DK, being that olives have lignotubers most of the time they have a lot of stored energy in that base, so when they are flat base cut like this they are just about a guarantee to strike, i havent had any luck in getting them to strike from any branch cuttings, thick or thin, i did manage to get a 1 and a half inch thick branch to air layer with a good set of roots on it, i removed it from the parent tree and potted it into a grow pot, kept it pretty moist keeping an eye on it and it started looking ill bout two weeks ago, then it died about a week ago. it had been going strong for bout 3-4 months then up and went, dont know why.

most of what i have done is through research, i know they will take when cut at the tuber due to all that stored energy

if you have a couple that you can did up mate i definately say go get em, olives can make wicked trees and can give great results in a relativly short time


jamie

Jamie wrote:gday DK, being that olives have lignotubers most of the time they have a lot of stored energy in that base, so when they are flat base cut like this they are just about a guarantee to strike, i havent had any luck in getting them to strike from any branch cuttings, thick or thin, i did manage to get a 1 and a half inch thick branch to air layer with a good set of roots on it, i removed it from the parent tree and potted it into a grow pot, kept it pretty moist keeping an eye on it and it started looking ill bout two weeks ago, then it died about a week ago. it had been going strong for bout 3-4 months then up and went, dont know why.

most of what i have done is through research, i know they will take when cut at the tuber due to all that stored energy

if you have a couple that you can did up mate i definately say go get em, olives can make wicked trees and can give great results in a relativly short time


jamie

I'm learning something new today. About the two big trees I mentioned, I need to pursuade my aunty well as they are croping very heavily at the moment and she doesn't have time to pick them. It will also be a big digging job as the tree are quite big.

they sound quite large mate and if they are fruiting aswell your aunty might not want them to be gone, but what you can actually do is basically chainsaw off all the beanches to a basic trunk line and manageable height and then cut straight through the ligno tuber with the chainsaw at the point you like, where it gives you a nice flare and taper, then soak and pot up into diatomite and into a green house if you have one if not try and keep the humidity up around it as much as possible

jamie

Hope the base that you cut off does send up suckers cuz that would be awsome if you could create somehong like the pic you showed us, it's a really impressive tree.
Good luck wiu them both.

Hugh

cheers hugh

there isnt any reason why it wont send up suckers, the ligno is full of energy, and it will respond the the chop it has had i used that pic up the top as an example of the style i would be going for with the base, i would dare say it is basically a raft style


jamie

I flat cut an olive with a base about 10cm. Couldn't get it to strike so took it to an enthusiast's place with a heat tray and within two months roots were coming out the bottom of the pot. A few days to gradually adapt to full sun and it hasn't looked back. Someone advised me to just put it on brickwork as the heat in bricks will do the same. I've seen huge olives that Kingston Wang has imported from SA, simply potted up in silty soil and left to sun themselves... it worked.

thanks for the info mel

i have mine that i cut in a diatomite mix and it is in a nice sunny spot now actually sitting on cement that will warm up in the morning, i am hoping between that and my climate being humid will help get it to strike i want this little fella to strike for sure but i am also very keen to get base to throw suckers aswell even though it is my second priority to this tree, i am hoping to get a rather short mame/shohin tree out of the flat cut trunk

jamie

jamie, that pic you posted there is very inspirational. I hope you get your stump close to that.

kvan64 wrote:jamie, that pic you posted there is very inspirational. I hope you get your stump close to that.

i am hoping so to mate the base is actually a ligno tuber i have which is different to that elm in the insipration pic, i feel i will be able to create something similar in terms of style and will try my damndest to get it right, i have also noticed that the area that is exposed is quite a hard wood so it should be ine, when it heals up which will probably take forever it should have something coming from it, if not i will carve it out to mimic a little pool of sorts and have a few trees growing around it, its all speculation at the moment while i am waiting for the base to throw suckers, it has a couple on it from before the chop so thats a good start, when it throws more it will be a good amount to make choices of what is kept and what gets culled in the process to direct energy to the ones i want, this is how i am also growing my other olive, i remove any new shoots and buds that arent of use as to direct all energy to the branches


jamie

Humm, what is a ligno tuber? Anyway, I can picture where you are heading. Love to see the end results in a couple years time.