new wild olive, first work(olea europea var africana)

[YukiShiro]

Hi guys,

I acquired this tree from a friend of mine a few weeks ago, it is a yamadori. It has e very nice base, but only from a limited angle on one side. the front will probably be around there

Chose the main branches and removed the rest, now it's up to the tree to bounce back and grow like mad next season. the work has been done a lil on the late side, but there is still enough time for the tree to get ready for winter

pics to follow


Best regards
Herman

 

[YukiShiro]

before aka bush stage:

 

[YukiShiro]

the base of the tree from different sides:



as you guys can see, there is a lot of carving work to be done on the back side.

Best regards
Herman

 

[YukiShiro]

and the after image and front I have chosen

as I said the tree will be left to grow now



best regards
Herman

 

[Adair M]

Hi Herman!

Olives grow like weeds! And develop really quickly. You'll have fun with this one!

 

[sorce]

Lemme bum a Starship!

Nice!

How's little she Herman?

Sorce

 

[YukiShiro]

Lemme bum a Starship!

Nice!

How's little she Herman?

Sorce

Hi Sorce man,

little one is doing fine! me and the Fiance split up, so she lives with her mom atm.

How you doing?

Hi Adair!

that fat lil trunk is pure pleasure to work on. I did the work a lil late, but I got struck by the plan...wanted to execute it before I changed my mind...

best regards guys
Herman

 

[sorce]

little one is doing fine! me and the Fiance split up, so she lives with her mom atm.

Lemme get her Grey Owl!

Good to hear little one is well!

Sorce

 

[YukiShiro]

LOL !!!

 

[YukiShiro]

update time.

after the last time I trimmed this tree; I had a friend do a rough carving on the dead portions on the back.
That still needs to be refined some time in the future, as the design comes along.

after that...

I left the tree to grow about 3 years give or take?

PS I want to try and practice clip and grow on this tree, instead of wiring it.

this is how it looked before cutting back yesterday morning.


Current front:


like this more:


right side:

left side:

and the back side:


really happy with how much the apex thickened up. looks way more realistic now.

from here I will probably work on it more frequently. will probably cut it back twice more this season to develop the branching more

any advice, comments and/or critique welcome

best regards
Herman

 

[Adair M]

Herman, the new growth on olives tends to grow straight up. A bit of wire here and there will really speed things up while you’re still developing primary and secondary branches. Once you “set the bones”, clip and grow works well.

This is one where the primary and secondaries were wired in the early part of training, but now that it’s ramified, I just clip it:

 

[YAN]

Very nice taper,

I don’t mind right side as front if you can continue that shari all the way down to the end of that thick root and shortning it by carving for more tapered root.

 

[YukiShiro]

Herman, the new growth on olives tends to grow straight up. A bit of wire here and there will really speed things up while you’re still developing primary and secondary branches. Once you “set the bones”, clip and grow works well.

This is one where the primary and secondaries were wired in the early part of training, but now that it’s ramified, I just clip it:

View attachment 327885

Hi sir,

thanks for the reply

Yeah I kinda missed out on wiring some of those thicker lowest branches, specifically those two on the back of the tree. will have to wait for the new set of buds to push and select the best horizontal bud to grow out. I have a feeling the resulting branch will stay horizontal in its growth habit, if I look at how a lot of its branches has grown these past 3 years.

Rinse and repeat for secondary and tertiary branches. I will probably have to wire some of the branches sometime. but I want to keep it to the minimum.

PS this tree has never been wired, so those horizontal branches was it's own doing.

one thing is for certain, I will have to refine the carving on this soonish

best regards
Herman

 

[YukiShiro]

Very nice taper,

I don’t mind right side as front if you can continue that shari all the way down to the end of that thick root and shortning it by carving for more tapered root.

Hi YAN.

yeah I can see that working, gives me a nice back branch to work with. the front is going to prob change quite a few times as it goes along

will keep your suggestion in mind

best regards
Herman

 

[Adair M]

Hi sir,

thanks for the reply

Yeah I kinda missed out on wiring some of those thicker lowest branches, specifically those two on the back of the tree. will have to wait for the new set of buds to push and select the best horizontal bud to grow out. I have a feeling the resulting branch will stay horizontal in its growth habit, if I look at how a lot of its branches has grown these past 3 years.

Rinse and repeat for secondary and tertiary branches. I will probably have to wire some of the branches sometime. but I want to keep it to the minimum.

PS this tree has never been wired, so those horizontal branches was it's own doing.

one thing is for certain, I will have to refine the carving on this soonish

best regards
Herman

The branches don’t have to have wire on very long. Maybe 6 weeks. Young shoots lignify pretty quickly. The trick is getting the timing right. Just when they’re firm enough to make curves easily, but not so firm that they snap!

 

[YukiShiro]

The branches don’t have to have wire on very long. Maybe 6 weeks. Young shoots lignify pretty quickly. The trick is getting the timing right. Just when they’re firm enough to make curves easily, but not so firm that they snap!

what kind of olive do you guys use? is it native to North America, or is it the same as the European wild olive? the snap you are talking of makes me wonder. I have a European wild olive seedling and I can bend a branch as thick as my thumb with minimal effort, not the same with my native wild olive, a branch as thick as my thumb will not snap, it just won't take severe bends, you usually end up with ruined cambium and a dead branch. they will however tear out of the trunk though

best regards
Herman

 

[Adair M]

what kind of olive do you guys use? is it native to North America, or is it the same as the European wild olive? the snap you are talking of makes me wonder. I have a European wild olive seedling and I can bend a branch as thick as my thumb with minimal effort, not the same with my native wild olive, a branch as thick as my thumb will not snap, it just won't take severe bends, you usually end up with ruined cambium and a dead branch. they will however tear out of the trunk though

best regards
Herman

My olives are “Mission Olives” from California. They are European Olives. They were planted all over California by Spanish Missionaries, thus the name, “Mission Olive”. No one knows what particular cultivar they were.

A lot of those old groves are getting dug up these days. The land they’re on is either being converted to subdivisions, or in some cases vineyards. They’ll take the stumps, split up the nebari and make bonsai out of the chunks of olive wood.

In bonsai training, the leaves reduce and the internodes shorten. Once you get branches in the right places, development proceeds quickly.

 

[YukiShiro]

My olives are “Mission Olives” from California. They are European Olives. They were planted all over California by Spanish Missionaries, thus the name, “Mission Olive”. No one knows what particular cultivar they were.

A lot of those old groves are getting dug up these days. The land they’re on is either being converted to subdivisions, or in some cases vineyards. They’ll take the stumps, split up the nebari and make bonsai out of the chunks of olive wood.

In bonsai training, the leaves reduce and the internodes shorten. Once you get branches in the right places, development proceeds quickly.

aaaaaaah, so it's not European wild olive, but "domesticated" olives that was actually planted in groves. that's awesome. I see a lot of nurseries sell domesticated olives around here as olea euopea "mission". so it might well be a cultivar nowadays
the European wild olive I have came from Portugal. The most interesting thing about it is that it's leaves are really small, they don't get bigger than 1.5 cm in length and the internodes are extremely short. This is in a growing pot, has never been cut by me at all. It's a bit of a slow grower though, compared to my native wild olives.

here is a pic of one of the bigger leaves from my Euro wild olive:



Best regards
Herman

 

[leatherback]

the European wild olive I have came from Portugal. The most interesting thing about it is that it's leaves are really small, they don't get bigger than 1.5 cm in length and the internodes are extremely short. This is in a growing pot, has never been cut by me at all. It's a bit of a slow grower though, compared to my native wild olives.

Wait untill you start building ramification. They drop to a third of what you have now
They should be fast growers given enough light water and fertilizer and make long runners everwhere..
Once in a bonsai pot they stop doing that and start to behave

I have the wild and the cultivated olives for a few years now. They seem to be quite different in their responses. I have yet to find the perfect treatment to get optimal development, unfortunately. (Having a bad olive growing year this year, uncertain why)

 

[leatherback]

Just ran out..

Sigle leaf: Normal fruiting olive, as 2+m tall patio plant
Leaves on the right, fruiting olive under bonsai cultivation
Leaves on the left, wild olive under bonsai cultivation (But slightly unhappy this year)