Help style my olive bonsais.

[maroun.c]

Jin is the Japanese term for dead branches and trunk that are left to tell the story of tough times and survival. Rather than just cutting a redundant branch right off we strip the bark off to kill it then cut back to the desired length. The dead wood can be worked with carving tools or fibres stripped with pliers to make it look like it has weathered and maybe partly rotted - as natural as possible which does take a little practice.
Shari is the term for dead areas on the trunk of the tree. In the clumsy virt I have painted the dead areas white as old dead wood bleached by the sun. Note the dead part (jin) on the left trunk continues down the trunk some way (shari) to include one or both of those lumps. This should disguise one or both. To reinforce the theme of struggle and survival I have also jinned the top of the remaining right trunk above the branch I left to grow the new canopy. you might even connect the 2 dead jins with more shari to tell the story of massive damage at one time but the tree has survived and grown back from one branch on the remaining live trunk.
View attachment 245258
Shari is useful to disguise thickened areas on trunks. When the wood is white our eyes take less notice so the reverse taper, while still there, does not sand out to the viewers. If the reverse taper problem still persists the thickened areas can be carved and hollowed as if they have rotted away naturally - problem solved.
On this tree, other branches might be formed from any new shoots which will surely grow when an olive is cut back severely, such as the yellow area I've added lower on the right side.
Note that I've also tilted the tree a little to bring the new apex above the base and balance the new design a bit.

All these ideas will need to be modified depending on the actual shape of the tree and what grows well after pruning. Apex may very well be larger than drawn, more branches added as they sprout or in different locations, etc. Lots of possibilities and no one answer is correct.

Thanks for taking the time and the great suggestions. I will proceed as suggested an u believe it'll make a very interesting tree but also woyld be great learning for me. Do you think it's better to cut and him at same time or cut now and wait a few months to see where i get new growth and jin accordingly ?

 

[AaronThomas]

I would go into Google images and look for inspiration. Remember we are wanting to create an apex. I recommended this book.
View attachment 244893

Excellent suggestion! Going to pick this up myself!
Love that the last name of the author is Groot... yep comic nerd ?

 

[Shibui]

Do you think it's better to cut and him at same time or cut now and wait a few months to see where i get new growth and jin accordingly ?

You can do any of this work at any time of the year. It is far easier to strip bark while the tree is actively growing though. When dormant the bark is stuck on very tight and every scrap needs to be scraped off. While trees are active the bark will peel off easily.

Your new jin will not depend on any new shoots on this tree. They are defined by the natural shape of branches that have died back to a lower healthy branch. Shari also needs to follow natural pattern of dieback between sections of the tree so you can do all of that as soon as you like. Far easier to show than to explain in text.......

Here's an olive I have used these techniques on recently.


The middle trunk was too tall and straight to fit into the design so it was stripped but looked a little out of place on the otherwise healthy tree. I added the shari below more recently and I think it has helped. More carving to be done on the middle jin to make it look old and partly decayed but the dremel stopped working before I could complete the work.

 

[maroun.c]

Spent some time working on those three trees today.
Tree 1







Might have found a better front after the cut but will decide afterwards.

And with cut paste

 

[maroun.c]

Tree 2
Went as suggested but not sure if I should have kept some of the branches. Was a bit tricky to make the jin so guess I'll train some more on some bad branches of some trees in the future. Should I apply cut paste or just let the wood rot without paste?







And tree 3

 

[maroun.c]

A quick one month update after the cuts.
Tree 1


Many new branches emerged even from.under the cut paste


Tree 2




Limited new growth but I see 1-2 new branches appearing on trunk

Tree 3




Existing branches grew and I see 1 new branch appearing on trunk.

Do I fertilise now (weekly ?) To encourage new growth.
Do I remove branches clearly in bad position yet?
Cut back the new growth already or wore to try to get some branches in positions I need.

For tree two the cuts for dead wood are still very evident do i work those with metallic brush or what to make them less visible? Thanks

 

[Shibui]

Tree 2 has been slow to sprout. Need to leave it alone for a long time to grow and recover some strength. Doing anything now will risk breaking those few fragile new shoots. see what it looks like next summer. Hopefully you will still get some more buds grow on that one.
You should be feeding now. Every week or 2 weeks will be good through summer.
I would hold off removing anything, even those clearly in wrong spots. These trees now need plenty of leaves to harvest sun to make food. Maybe later in summer you can cut any that might cause problems. I think it might be too early to wire as well but if you want to try be very careful. Experience shows that new shoots like these are now well attached and it is very easy to break them off while wiring or bending.

 

[maroun.c]

Thanks for all the Info. Will.start feeding and let them be for 1-2 months and check back. One not growing still I'll leave till next year.

 

[BubblePopScott]

You can do any of this work at any time of the year. It is far easier to strip bark while the tree is actively growing though. When dormant the bark is stuck on very tight and every scrap needs to be scraped off. While trees are active the bark will peel off easily.

Your new jin will not depend on any new shoots on this tree. They are defined by the natural shape of branches that have died back to a lower healthy branch. Shari also needs to follow natural pattern of dieback between sections of the tree so you can do all of that as soon as you like. Far easier to show than to explain in text.......

Here's an olive I have used these techniques on recently.
View attachment 245331

The middle trunk was too tall and straight to fit into the design so it was stripped but looked a little out of place on the otherwise healthy tree. I added the shari below more recently and I think it has helped. More carving to be done on the middle jin to make it look old and partly decayed but the dremel stopped working before I could complete the work.

kinda looks like its giving a middle finger hehe

 

[BubblePopScott]

nice updates, trees look much better.

 

[maroun.c]

2 months post chop update






All three picking up branch growth even one that was slow a bit at first.
Yet it's mostly branches in bad positions and shooting straight.
Realize I need leaves to sustain the tree but wondering if I should cut those to encourage growth in better places while were still missing summer.
Thick trunk one I need couple branches where cut paste is and doubt itll grow from under the paste, anything i can do.


Here's a new tree I got a couple months ago and chopped the branches as they were very ugly. Had some dead wood already which looked interesting, unfortunately all new growth came out from front, nothing from back or top, how do u handle this ?

 

[Shibui]

Thick trunk one I need couple branches where cut paste is and doubt itll grow from under the paste, anything i can do.

You already have shoots growing close to the cut paste. New growth can only grow from healthy bark. They cannot come from the woody part inside the tree so you will never get shoots growing from the middle of a chop, only around the edges where the cambium is under the bark. How close to the cut the new shoots grow is just a lottery. normally, Healthy trunks will produce more shoots than weaker ones. That might explain why some of these are slow or have less new shoots. Olives are good at growing new shoots but they do need to be healthy and well fed to do it. There is nothing more you can do to make branches grow where you want then except graft. Cutting the leaves off again will only reduce the possibility of new shoots. I know it seems frustratingly slow but you really need to let these trees grow and regain health before making further cuts. You will need to learn to think on a tree timeline of years rather than a modern human timeline of days or weeks.
Straight new shoots can be wired and shaped if you can see where you want the new branches and trunks. but otherwise let them grow for a year at least. I hope you are feeding these trees regularly now to get the best growth rates.

Here's a new tree I got a couple months ago and chopped the branches as they were very ugly. Had some dead wood already which looked interesting, unfortunately all new growth came out from front, nothing from back or top, how do u handle this ?

The dead wood on this trunk does look good. As with the other trees, there is nothing more you can do for now. A healthy olive will usually grow new shoots all over the roots and base of the trunk when it is healthy and happy so just give it a bit longer. if that fails you could try grafting some new shoots where you want them. Approach grafting is quite simple and would probably be the best option. You will need some branches long enough to bend down and graft on the trunk so let them grow for now.

 

[maroun.c]

You already have shoots growing close to the cut paste. New growth can only grow from healthy bark. They cannot come from the woody part inside the tree so you will never get shoots growing from the middle of a chop, only around the edges where the cambium is under the bark. How close to the cut the new shoots grow is just a lottery. normally, Healthy trunks will produce more shoots than weaker ones. That might explain why some of these are slow or have less new shoots. Olives are good at growing new shoots but they do need to be healthy and well fed to do it. There is nothing more you can do to make branches grow where you want then except graft. Cutting the leaves off again will only reduce the possibility of new shoots. I know it seems frustratingly slow but you really need to let these trees grow and regain health before making further cuts. You will need to learn to think on a tree timeline of years rather than a modern human timeline of days or weeks.
Straight new shoots can be wired and shaped if you can see where you want the new branches and trunks. but otherwise let them grow for a year at least. I hope you are feeding these trees regularly now to get the best growth rates.


The dead wood on this trunk does look good. As with the other trees, there is nothing more you can do for now. A healthy olive will usually grow new shoots all over the roots and base of the trunk when it is healthy and happy so just give it a bit longer. if that fails you could try grafting some new shoots where you want them. Approach grafting is quite simple and would probably be the best option. You will need some branches long enough to bend down and graft on the trunk so let them grow for now.

Thanks for the info, guess I'll wait till next season before doing anything as u mention. Yes I'm feeding every 2 weeks now and might make it a bit more frequent. 1st month after chop infant sure if I should feed so i didn't, after 1st month update I was told I should be feeding g and I did and it made a huge difference.

 

[bluesky]

Hey Maroun.c,
Great thread. How do your olives look now?

 

[maroun.c]

Hey Maroun.c,
Great thread. How do your olives look now?

Thanks. Most but one are doing good. Still hoping for some new branches on most. We have a late.winter this year so I could still see some growth rowth till few weeks ago.

Tree 1

Tree 2 is doing the worse. It was late to sprout new branches after chop, and now the leaves look a bit dry. I'm hoping itll sprout some more branches next spring, but overall not optimistic about this one.

Tree 3 believe is doing the best


And the tree I got last with a bit of deadwood also going ok after the chop


Tempted to go look for few more trees to work on next season but struggling with an elbow injury so hoping I'll be able to work on my trees this year.

 

[bluesky]

Thanks for the update! Bad luck on the #2, but anyways that's the reason it's always good to get a few similar specimens for development and experimentation, like you did.