How to thicken 'Little Ollie' trunk?

[Guns286]

I just picked up an Olea Europea (Little Ollie) pre-bonsai. I want to grow the gnarled, irregular, thick trunk that Olives are famous for. Being still new to the art of Bonsai I've been doing a lot of research and would like to verify my plans with you.
It is in a 1 gallon nursery pot and I have it sitting on my deck, outside. As the weather gets cooler (I'm in New York) I will bring it inside the house and keep it near a window.
The plan is to trim the roots and repot it next spring, into a 2 gallon pot. Let it grow out and then trim it back the following spring. Just keep growing and trimming until the trunk reaches a certain thickness.
I know this is very basic. Maybe someone can help me with a more specific plan. If you could, I would really appreciate it.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

I kept an olive potted for several years but I tried to give it a partial dormancy in the shed during the fall and it think I let it freeze or dry out in there unfortunately. But to your question, they will thicken slowly using the methods you described, but there are a couple methods to hasten the process of thickening a non temperate plant in a temperate land. One is judicious use of sacrifice branches. You can place them up and down the trunk to help contribute to taper, but you really want to let them run out as long as possible. Inside there is not always space, so trim back when you have to, but the more leaves, the more the trunk will thicken. The other trick is to allow the plant to escape over the summer. If you can plant in a pond basket next spring and sink it into the ground slightly, and don't move it until fall, the roots will run into the ground contributing to the vigor of the plant. I will say that I never tried this with olive and that the ficus probably have more vigerous roots to take advantage of this technique, but I bet it would speed the thickening if to a lesser degree. If you had another pot you could slip the pond basket into when it was indoors, that would probably look a little prettier and be easier to water.

 

[edprocoat]

Guns, the more you let it grow unhindered the quicker it will grow a thick and gnarly trunk.

I bet if you put it in a large tub and keep it healthy in about 40-50 years it will have that thick and gnarly trunk you envision.

If you are not very young look into buying or collecting a thick trunked specimen, chopping it down and regrowing the canopy, that could be accomplished in 5-10 years !

ed

 

[MrFancyPlants]

Ed does have a point. I retread your post and wanted to mention that if you have space for a two gallon, you might try an Anderson flat with the escape method I mentioned.

 

[Guns286]

Only 60 years! Jeez! Well, I'll do my best, but maybe I'll look into getting a slightly more mature tree too. I'll check out the escape method also. Thanks.

 

[Txhorticulture]

Hardiness

There is a small but growing olive industry here in parts of texas. Your little tree, even planted in the ground is only cold hardy down to about 10 degrees Fahrenheit and less hardy in a container. it also has to get pretty hot to grow well.

You mentioned bringing it inside so obviously you know its tender but even so, it will have a short growing season for you. Might take a very long time to get that trunk!

I dont one understand how the escape method will help you. It involves letting the tree grow out of bottom of container into native soil. Problem being if its outside it will die the first winter....

In many event good luck. I would like to try an olive tree myself. Keep us posted

 

[Guns286]

Yea, it looks like its going to be a loooooong road ahead! But that's part of the enjoyment, right? I also have a couple of Willows that I started from cutting and a Japanese Maple that I'm trying to start. I would, eventually, like to get an old Olive. I love the way the trunks look on them.

 

[Poink88]

I am also a newbie but older so I cannot wait 20 years or more on any tree unless it is just to be passed to the next generation. I am also on a budget so cannot afford expensive finished trees or even yamadori. My solution (and I advise you the same) is to get as big/old a tree I can for cheap and work them down. I bought a few olive from nurseries for $20-$60 IIRC and they are far along enough for me to just work on them..i.e. they already have the trunk I need and just develop the branches like this one...
http://bonsainut.com/forums/showthread.php?10940-Olive-from-Lowe-s

Note that I will be "destroying" this next year and remove (air layer) most of the top and just retain the lowest branch and rebuild it...just because I believe it can be a better tree and I do not mind starting over.

I was also gifted this olive by a forum mate from California, which is just a wedge from a big old tree...
http://bonsainut.com/forums/showthread.php?15429-Excited-about-my-new-olive

Good luck!

 

[Guns286]

I am also a newbie but older so I cannot wait 20 years or more on any tree unless it is just to be passed to the next generation. I am also on a budget so cannot afford expensive finished trees or even yamadori. My solution (and I advise you the same) is to get as big/old a tree I can for cheap and work them down. I bought a few olive from nurseries for $20-$60 IIRC and they are far along enough for me to just work on them..i.e. they already have the trunk I need and just develop the branches like this one...
http://bonsainut.com/forums/showthread.php?10940-Olive-from-Lowe-s

Note that I will be "destroying" this next year and remove (air layer) most of the top and just retain the lowest branch and rebuild it...just because I believe it can be a better tree and I do not mind starting over.

I was also gifted this olive by a forum mate from California, which is just a wedge from a big old tree...
http://bonsainut.com/forums/showthread.php?15429-Excited-about-my-new-olive

Good luck!

Thank you. As you can imagine, its not to easy to find Olives around here. I actually had to order the one I have. I'll keep working on it and also keep looking for an older one. By the way, if your buddy has any more wedges to get rid of, hook me up! That one looks awesome!