Olea - Olive - Advice/Guidance

[rollwithak]

Hey All. Local bonsai club tipped us off to some nice 2 inch Olives at a local nursery. After going through the stock in 103 degree temps, this is the shrub I went with.

That being said, I know this isn’t a perfect specimen and many of you would pass or not waste your time. Looking for some constructive criticisms as well as some possible ideas for this olive.

I know that the roots and trunk aren’t beautiful, but I’ve seen many gnarled and contorted pictures of olives before, so I figured I’d try my hand.

@Smoke do you have any olives here in the No?

 

[Smoke]

nope....hate ummm

 

[Smoke]

I do have this mini...I don't even count this....

 

[rollwithak]

I do have this mini...I don't even count this....

View attachment 322321

Pretty good looking Olea Bonsai for hating them and nearly forgetting you had it

 

[Adair M]

There’s lots of threads about olives on the forum. Use the search feature.

 

[rollwithak]

There’s lots of threads about olives on the forum. Use the search feature.

I’m asking about THIS specific tree so I’m not too sure how informative forums about different trees will be..... I’d understand your post if I were asking about general olive care.

 

[Adair M]

I’m asking about THIS specific tree so I’m not too sure how informative forums about different trees will be..... I’d understand your post if I were asking about general olive care.

Alright, what I can see from you pictures are a lot of too long branches with no taper and no secondary branches with foliage out at the ends. They all seem to be the same thickness. Which means they all started growing off the trunk at the same time.

I suspect that at one time, This was a stump with no branches. Then, it popped shoots all over, and no selectionwas ever done to pick and choose which are keepers, and which should be removed.You need to do that. Eliminate the redundant branches. The remaining branches, the keepers, need to be shortened, drastically, to where they are only about an inch, maybe two inches, long. Rebuild from there. They will start to have taper. When choosing which branches to keep and which to remove, keep in mind that branches up in the apex should be thinner than lower branches. You may or may not find suitable choices. I suspect that when you have performed thus structural pruning, you won’t have any foliage left on the tree.

it’s getting kinda late in the growing season for this kind of work, but if you do it NOW, it will have a chance to pop new growth before winter.

is that the kind of thing you were asking for?

 

[rollwithak]

Alright, what I can see from you pictures are a lot of too long branches with no taper and no secondary branches with foliage out at the ends. They all seem to be the same thickness. Which means they all started growing off the trunk at the same time.

I suspect that at one time, This was a stump with no branches. Then, it popped shoots all over, and no selectionwas ever done to pick and choose which are keepers, and which should be removed.You need to do that. Eliminate the redundant branches. The remaining branches, the keepers, need to be shortened, drastically, to where they are only about an inch, maybe two inches, long. Rebuild from there. They will start to have taper. When choosing which branches to keep and which to remove, keep in mind that branches up in the apex should be thinner than lower branches. You may or may not find suitable choices. I suspect that when you have performed thus structural pruning, you won’t have any foliage left on the tree.

it’s getting kinda late in the growing season for this kind of work, but if you do it NOW, it will have a chance to pop new growth before winter.

is that the kind of thing you were asking for?

Yes! Thank you for the ideas! First time working on an olive so was curious what someone with experience saw in this tree. Thanks for taking the time.

 

[rollwithak]

Alright, what I can see from you pictures are a lot of too long branches with no taper and no secondary branches with foliage out at the ends. They all seem to be the same thickness. Which means they all started growing off the trunk at the same time.

I suspect that at one time, This was a stump with no branches. Then, it popped shoots all over, and no selectionwas ever done to pick and choose which are keepers, and which should be removed.You need to do that. Eliminate the redundant branches. The remaining branches, the keepers, need to be shortened, drastically, to where they are only about an inch, maybe two inches, long. Rebuild from there. They will start to have taper. When choosing which branches to keep and which to remove, keep in mind that branches up in the apex should be thinner than lower branches. You may or may not find suitable choices. I suspect that when you have performed thus structural pruning, you won’t have any foliage left on the tree.

it’s getting kinda late in the growing season for this kind of work, but if you do it NOW, it will have a chance to pop new growth before winter.

is that the kind of thing you were asking for?

Hi Adair,

So I took a little lunch break today and went outside and sat in the 100 degree weather outside and did some work. I didn’t quite go down as low as you suggested just yet as I figured I’d let the professional (YOU) take a look see first.

Feel free to be honest, I’m here to learn. That’s what this tree was purchased for!

Respectfully,

Ryan

 

[Adair M]

Ok, now chop those remaining branches back to about 2 inches. Seal all the cuts.

 

[rollwithak]

Ok, now chop those remaining branches back to about 2 inches. Seal all the cuts.

Something like this???

 

[Adair M]

Something like this??? View attachment 322550

Yep!

try to make the cuts that were completely off at the trunk a little cleaner, then apply cut paste for faster healing.

 

[rollwithak]

Yep!

try to make the cuts that were completely off at the trunk a little cleaner, then apply cut paste for faster healing.

Yah I wasn’t really sure about die back on these guys, first Olive I’ve worked on. Thanks a lot for the advice.

ryan