Olive stump
- Thread starter ConorDash
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- europaea european olive olea olive
You do need to live in a suitable climate.
my nellie
Masterpiece
Ah I see... 
Hardiness zone at the personal data makes more sense for me than the name of the place...
Hardiness zone at the personal data makes more sense for me than the name of the place...
I never really liked the stump style olive. I just never thought they were very realistic until I saw the pictures of the actual olive in nature in this thread. Amazing. I guess my landscape olive bubble is the unrealistic one! Will have to take another look at my olives.
Some updated pictures, looking to see what front I like best, although I am by no means a believer in a tree having 1 front.
DSC_0055 by Conor Dashwood, on Flickr
DSC_0058 by Conor Dashwood, on Flickr
DSC_0054 by Conor Dashwood, on Flickr
That big thick primary branch...
Late winter, spring pruning will look like this:
DSC_0058 - Editted by Conor Dashwood, on Flickr
It has built up a lot of vigor and health, nice and established in that pot (will be 2 years next Spring), so a hard prune should yield some great results.
These are close ups of some notable parts of the tree:
DSC_0063 by Conor Dashwood, on Flickr
DSC_0062 by Conor Dashwood, on Flickr
DSC_0059 by Conor Dashwood, on Flickr
DSC_0061 by Conor Dashwood, on Flickr
DSC_0055 by Conor Dashwood, on FlickrDSC_0058 by Conor Dashwood, on FlickrDSC_0054 by Conor Dashwood, on FlickrThat big thick primary branch...
Late winter, spring pruning will look like this:
DSC_0058 - Editted by Conor Dashwood, on FlickrIt has built up a lot of vigor and health, nice and established in that pot (will be 2 years next Spring), so a hard prune should yield some great results.
These are close ups of some notable parts of the tree:
DSC_0063 by Conor Dashwood, on FlickrDSC_0062 by Conor Dashwood, on FlickrDSC_0059 by Conor Dashwood, on FlickrDSC_0061 by Conor Dashwood, on FlickrAnd now look at it... Only 2 high level pics, unsure how to get better pics of such a large mess!
DSC_0038 by Conor Dashwood, on Flickr
DSC_0039 by Conor Dashwood, on Flickr
Sorry, bad pics. Focus was unclear and not in the right place.
But it has certainly grown very well and fattening. I CANNOT wait to cut this thing back. It fell over 4-5 times this year in the winds cos of all that bush of branches.
I forgot my best timing for heavy pruning, but I believe for Olive's its during active growth, which puts this at summer-mid summer for me. They are late starters in my climate.
Ill go back through this thread to remind myself.
DSC_0038 by Conor Dashwood, on FlickrDSC_0039 by Conor Dashwood, on FlickrSorry, bad pics. Focus was unclear and not in the right place.
But it has certainly grown very well and fattening. I CANNOT wait to cut this thing back. It fell over 4-5 times this year in the winds cos of all that bush of branches.
I forgot my best timing for heavy pruning, but I believe for Olive's its during active growth, which puts this at summer-mid summer for me. They are late starters in my climate.
Ill go back through this thread to remind myself.
Cristian D.
Mame
In Spain, for the field grown olive trees, the time for pruning is after harvesting the olives, which is now. Usually the trees are pruned between November to February, but you have to make sure the tree won't suffer from frost after pruning, the new growth won't be hardy enough.
Anyways, it seems the pruning is ddone before growing season, this way all the energy available in the spring will go into the branches you want to keep.
When olive trees are actively growing it is a good time for transplant.
Anyways, it seems the pruning is ddone before growing season, this way all the energy available in the spring will go into the branches you want to keep.
When olive trees are actively growing it is a good time for transplant.
Lol!!!found some more images of what i had in mind, but didnt go to plan, but i think the canopy can still be achieved, all boils down to what you like and what the material is better suited to........
the next step of carving would of been to hollow the tree from the top down, similar to the image fourth tree down.
For bonsai, we’re not concerned about the fruit.
Cut them back hard during the growing season, and they will respond with lots of buds and suckers. Everywhere!
So, the OP can cut those long branches back to an inch or so if he wants to create taper.
Once new shoots are 4 to 6 inches long is a great time to wire them into position, as well as put in little curves. Olives tend to grow straight branches, so wiring early to induce curves is important. You will need to remove the wire in about two months. The twigs lignify quickly during the growing season and will hold the curves.
As you develop branches, remove any growth on the bottom of branches going down. Or straight up.
Cristian D.
Mame
Of course we aren't, I didn't implied that.
Is just an wasy way to tell when is a good moment for pruning. Is done like this for hundreds of years. Sometimes a tree is pruned like this for hundreds of years, so it must be working.
Yes, it works for fruit production!
I leave my olives alone in the winter. And prune during the growing season.
If the olives grown for fruit were pruned during the growing season, there would be no fruit to pick!
So, in this particular example, the methods used “for hundreds of years” are not appropriate for making bonsai, nor are the methods for making bonsai appropriate for growing olives for fruit production.
Cristian D.
Mame
Adair, do you have an explanation for why you reccomend pruning in the growing season?
atlarsenal
Omono
He doesn’t like olive fruit!
Cristian D.
Mame
Haha, maybe you are right, but I will wait for @Adair M to respond. I suppose he has a good explanation, better than "I always did that and it worked". From my point of view, a tree that sets lot of fruits, year after year, sometimes for hundred of years is a healthy tree. And with a strong tree you can then make any bonsai you want.
That was my plan, based off your previous advice and a convo we have had.
The growing season for olives in U.K. is short and starts late.. takes a long time for UK to warm up. I feel once we start hitting 15-20c consistently then the Olive really wakes up and starts going. It’s around June-July. Maybe gross for 2-3 months then starts winding down.
So I think, first sign of growth, I’ll cut back hard. Hopefully a week or 2 it’ll respond with shoots. Few weeks later, remove unwanted, few weeks later, remove more and wire.
Sounds like a plan to me! Approve @Adair M ?
Short period of time to get it all in. It starts growing late but when it grows, it grows fast! It’s very comfortable in its current pot, established. I’ll get fed heavily this coming season.
Interesting, I’ll look in to it. I should repot to something proper at end of next year maybe, once work is all done for the season. At the moment it’s pot is deep and odd shaped.
Repot when it’s actively growing.
Oh interesting...
Well this tree has been in this pot and substrate since Feb 2017. It’s been fed each year with organic fert. So by mid 2019... I’d say it’ll have built up a lot of vigour and health, but enough to stand the hard cut back, wire and repot (with minimal root pruning) all within the space of 3-4 months?
