Shohin olive progression...attempt...thing

[It's Kev]

Got this olive a while back and want to reduce it in the future. I looked at photos of ancient olive trees to come up with a design idea, I’ll have to let it grow for as long as it’s space allows and chop down very low, that’s why I chose one that already has low growing branches.
So here goes, for those who don’t know me, the rules are simple, all the space I will ever have is the pot that the tree is in. There’s no yard, no field, and there are no bigger pots.
Here’s the tree today:

And here’s what I plan to have approximately 750-800 years from now:

What do you all think? Yay or nay? Or do some different design with it?

 

[Adair M]

That’s a great image for the future, but you have to let it GROW, to get some trunk. You will NOT get a fat trunk by chopping it!

Don’t worry about keeping low branches. Olives pop buds like crazy on old wood. In fact, I’m often having to remove suckers and new little branches on my olives. Z

I don’t want to burst your fantasy, but to get a decent sized trunk, it will have to have a larger pot, and be allowed to grow, unchecked, for a decade. At that time, you can chop it back to any height you want, remove all the existing branches, and THEN develop the tree.

Of course the faster way is just buy a little stump, and then develop branches out of the buds that pop.

In case you don’t believe me, here is a before and after of a stump olive I made:

 

[Cypress187]

Or do some different design with it?

Nice sketch! The only problem is that side branch will probably be sacrificed before you reach that trunk thickness.

 

[BonsaiNaga13]

Can olives be grown indoors during winter for someone who doesn't live in a tropical climate?

 

[Gustavo Martins]

Can olives be grown indoors during winter for someone who doesn't live in a tropical climate?

A lot of people have olives here as indoor plants but they need to be on a south facing late window. Don’t know about long term success though. Anyways, olives are not tropical. They are temperate species and can withstand some freezing.

 

[It's Kev]

@Adair M i looked at larger trees, but they were all lollipop style and as straight as friggin railway beams.

@Cypress187 I’ll hang on to any branch as long as there are leaves on it

@BonsaiNaga olives are tough and will handle temperatures down to 0 degrees C. If it gets a whole lot colder, I reckon you can give it a spot in the house that gets a whole lot of sun. Just shove it back outside as soon as your snow starts melting (I don’t know, never seen real snow) but that’s just my logic.

 

[BonsaiNaga13]

@Gustavo Martins @kevinlovett86 thanks, olive are one of my favorite trees and I wanted to give one a try. Think I'll get some in spring.

 

[It's Kev]

@Gustavo Martins @kevinlovett86 thanks, olive are one of my favorite trees and I wanted to give one a try. Think I'll get some in spring.

I love olive trees for what they symbolise: Christianity and peace. Here there are only money trees which I think are the ugliest things I’ve ever seen

 

[It's Kev]

New growth popping out all over. This tree got shipped from about 1000km north from me, so maybe it thinks it’s suddenly summer. We’ll see later if that was such a good idea or not

 

[Potawatomi13]

And here’s what I plan to have approximately 750-800 years from now:

What do you all think? Yay or nay? Or do some different design with it?

USDA Zone 10

Yea! Should not take over 150-200 years. Live long and prosper.

 

[Gustavo Martins]

New growth popping out all over. This tree got shipped from about 1000km north from me, so maybe it thinks it’s suddenly summer. We’ll see later if that was such a good idea or not
View attachment 217146View attachment 217147

Mine are still growing too. They only seem to stop growing between January and February here.

 

[Adair M]

And here’s what I plan to have approximately 750-800 years from now:

What do you all think? Yay or nay? Or do some different design with it?

USDA Zone 10

Yea! Should not take over 150-200 years. Live long and prosper.

Well, if you want the trunk to grow, put it in something bigger, and just let the branches grow long. Olives backbud easily, so there’s no need to worry about maintaining low branches. When you chop it back, you will be able to pick and choose which buds to grow out into branches.

Let. It, Grow.

 

[Pads]

If you are in zone 10 just put it in the ground and forget about it for a few years.

 

[It's Kev]

Alright chaps, I acquired a big gigantic pot for this tree. The roof of one of the school buildings has a courtyard where it can get plenty of sun too. It can chill out here and grow for a couple of years.

 

[It's Kev]

Aaaaawwww yiiisssss, new bud broke out, I like that. Coffee grounds seem to be working.

 

[leatherback]

Why are you using coffeegrounds? I would take some stronger fertilizer. You want growth don't you?

 

[It's Kev]

Why are you using coffeegrounds? I would take some stronger fertilizer. You want growth don't you?

I have 2 others, one is a granulated thing you mix in the soil, the other gets mixed with water. Coffee grounds are just a little extra

 

[Lou T]

I’ve been working on layering this olive for three months. Something I’ve noticed is that olives will throw root primordia vigoroisly and will create a sort of pseudo-nebari very quickly with callous tissue in an effort to heal up the wound. If you look at really old olives, you’ll likely notice very bumpy, gnarled growth towards the basal portion of the tree. This is the same root primordial tissue that has hardened over time when exposed to air after erosion events etc. So every couple of weeks I’ve opened up the layer and introduced a new wound, forcing the tree to respond by creating more root primordia and thus fattening the layer site. When will the tree throw roots? I don’t know. Pretty interesting response to this treatment nonetheless. Also, the tree is alive and doing fine but definitely not growing very much.




New wound I created this morning. The tree wants to throw roots from a dormant bud here so I figured I’d try higher.

 

[leatherback]

New wound I created this morning. The tree wants to throw roots from a dormant bud here so I figured I’d try higher.

hm.. Not sure I understand your resoning. Why did you not iclude the callus, and just also wrap the branch? Now you have lost the wonderfull basal thickening and pre-rooting tissue?

 

[Lou T]

hm.. Not sure I understand your resoning. Why did you not iclude the callus, and just also wrap the branch? Now you have lost the wonderfull basal thickening and pre-rooting tissue?

I’m hoping more callous will form at the new wound site as it has been quite quickly and will develop some taper into the existing lower root tissue. When it does throw roots hopefully from this new site, they will run over the old callous and fatten up, the area at the lowest branch, smoothing the seam. Also, since that branch is wrapped in spaghum, root primordia will form on the bark as well around the branch helping with the transition. Also, this is an experiment and I essentially have no idea what I’m doing.