Kev’s “this is not a contest tree” - olive

It's Kev

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This is not a contest stick-in-a-pot
My olive seeds didn’t take, so I found one online. This was seriously hard to find because they only have lollipop style trees. Luckily I found this lil guy which I believe has good branches.

Just a recap on my situation, it’s apartment/nomadic lifestyle for me so field growing is not an option. However I did plant this on an upside down drip tray just below the surface to make the roots help encourage a thicker trunk sooner.

Here are a few angles, I’m tempted to bend the branches horizontally, but I think it’s too soon for that.
CCAFF7BA-837D-4144-A9C4-AC22261A9D17.jpeg8F5A3B73-E05A-442E-A350-E8CD645CC9CB.jpeg
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KiwiPlantGuy

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This is not a contest stick-in-a-pot
My olive seeds didn’t take, so I found one online. This was seriously hard to find because they only have lollipop style trees. Luckily I found this lil guy which I believe has good branches.

Just a recap on my situation, it’s apartment/nomadic lifestyle for me so field growing is not an option. However I did plant this on an upside down drip tray just below the surface to make the roots help encourage a thicker trunk sooner.

Here are a few angles, I’m tempted to bend the branches horizontally, but I think it’s too soon for that.
View attachment 186419View attachment 186420
View attachment 186421

Hi Kevin,
Good luck with this, as you have quite a challenging tree.

You may have to let it grow for a year or 3, to get a bigger established rootball and tree to work with.
Tough gig sorry, avoid bar branches, choose a trunkline, and have fun with this.
Charles
 

It's Kev

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avoid bar branches

Yeah, I did notice them, but I can’t do too much about that now, because that’s where all my vigour is at the moment, but so far, I’ve figured this...
B24A81AF-D4C6-4A8C-B03E-00E9BBB8D6D1.jpeg
I do want to bend a couple of branches horizontally, that 2nd branch should correct the bar branch appearance if the new leader goes straight up (that’s the theory anyway). Then I’ll just have to correct that second bar in the other direction later on, same story, leader straight and branch at 90 degrees. Let’s just hope I don’t get reverse taper at all the joints.

I hope I’m making sense here.
 

It's Kev

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Well shit, this was unexpected...
No idea how this happened, it limped the moment I got it and it all went downhill from there
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So anyway, if at first you don’t succeed, spend double your money and get something twice the size
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So this is olive 2.0
I have no idea what I did wrong, hope this one goes better
 

It's Kev

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Olives like full sun 24 hours a day! Lol!!!
All my trees are on my south facing balcony, and judging by the surroundings, my friend who received it also put it on her south side.

How much organic is in that soil? Olives like a dry sandy soil
I give it the same mix as you would give a rosemary,dryish and sandy. I figured they grow under the same conditions.
 

Tycoss

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I have two olives that have to stay inside under lights 8 months of the year because of my Canadian climate. I've had them for four or five years and ever time I move them in or out, they loose all their old leaves and replace them with more adaptive ones. Big and floppy indoors, small and firm outdoors. They are very tough once established. I love them, but they demand a lot of light
 

It's Kev

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I have two olives that have to stay inside under lights 8 months of the year because of my Canadian climate. I've had them for four or five years and ever time I move them in or out, they loose all their old leaves and replace them with more adaptive ones. Big and floppy indoors, small and firm outdoors. They are very tough once established. I love them, but they demand a lot of light
I know olives are tough, that’s why I’m so flabbergasted that this one keeled over
 

It's Kev

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Finally... I’ve just arrived home and got to inspect what I’ve bought.
0C8D63AD-67AB-4A8C-B5F1-A626E0A31652.jpeg
Trunk has some movement, it’s a big relief because the photo I got from my friend who received it took that photo from the most unspectacular angle they could find.
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And the overall shape looks good, let’s try to keep this one alive for longer than a week.
 

Estonio

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Good luck with it. I will follow this thread closely as I have one growing on the ground and planning to put my hands on it next year. I hope to learn reading your evolution in the meantime. Thanks
 

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JosephCooper

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Remember when you wire, remove any leaves that point down after bending.
 

It's Kev

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Remember when you wire, remove any leaves that point down after bending.
I wanna make this into a shohin size, so I’m gonna need branches lower down. For now I’ll open it up a bit, if I bend that big branch down, and wire the small one on the right. That should open the tree up a bit, that red line looks like the new leader, pretty vigorous in that direction.
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I’ll see where my leaves are pointing after that, but I want it to backbud way further down to reduce its height, since I’m not gonna get much more girth in a pot.
 

It's Kev

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@Gustavo Martins had his awesome post about chopping his olive. It looked so awesome but I checked his timeline and it took almost 2 months for new growth to bud out. Then came curious me and whacked the top of my tree anyway without doing the heavy fertilising before hand.
Fast forward to today, just over 2 weeks since my chop and I’ve got 5 new buds. Probably could’ve chopped it further down, too late. But I’m happy anyway.
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Looks good. Now give it as much sun as possible and fertilize in order to grow strong. You can always cut it lower to a bud later if you find the need.

Did you try to root the part above the cut? I managed to root 4 pieces of trunk.
 
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