Root Pruning For Olive Trees

[richardandrewparedes]

Hi everyone. I would just like to ask for some advice about root pruning of olive roots. I have dug up an olive tree from my pot and have found out that it was already root pot bound. From what I have discovered, it already had some really big roots, some looking like pinkie fingers. Is it ok to prune such roots safely?
Also, I have done root pruning on my other trees and I have only removed about 1/3 of the roots and placed them in a place out of direct sun for 2 weeks. However, I have not pruned the foliage. Then after 3-4 weeks, the foliage is drying up/having branch dieback. Will they still recover? Am just a novice to bonsai. Thanks a lot in advance.

 

[sorce]

Part one is a yes, but timing dependant. Now is probly not the time.

Part 2 will be better answered with pics!

Welcome to Crazy!

Sorce

 

[richardandrewparedes]

Hi, here are the pics for reference. The leaves seem to have wilted after I pruned them. I placed them under shade for a period of 10 days. Thanks in advance

 

[Shibui]

We can root prune olives real hard down here. It is common to cut through the widest part of collected olive trunk with a chainsaw. Sometimes that leaves them with no roots at all but they still survive. I don't think taking 1/3 of roots would worry an olive.
I would normally suggest warm weather for olive root pruning. We collect in late spring and Autumn but I have seen others digging any time of year with success. You always have warm weather in Phillipines so should be OK to root prune any time of year.
Sometimes olives will drop all leaves if they are not happy but they usually grow new shoots after a few weeks- months.
It is possible that the cut roots cannot supply enough water for all the leaves on top now so the tree is trying to get rid of some to survive. Normally it is good to have plenty of leaves to provide food for new roots but if you think those leaves are in trouble you could trim most of the new shoots to help the tree save water until it has new roots.