Shohin Olive

[Brian Van Fleet]

I bought this olive on eBay in summer of 2019. It’s basically a chunk of wood with a living portion. Old olive stumps have an ability to grow roots where they’re in contact with soil and shoots from living areas above the soil. The back side looks like a piece of firewood, but from this front, it has decent taper and movement, and some interest. Here are shots from as-received, and as it grew over the next couple months. As the leaders stretched out, I added a little wire to get some movement in the flexible new branches.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

In 2020, I slip-potted it into this Shibakatsu pot. It had started growing some roots, which was encouraging. Later in the summer, it was pruned and wired back again.

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

I continued to work on it over the next couple years.
Not sure why, but I expected it to develop a little faster. Maybe I didn’t have it sited just right. 2021-2022:

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Late 2023, after a spring repot:

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

2024, after mostly ignoring it, before and after fall pruning and wiring:

 

[misfit11]

Nice, Brian. I think Olives make fantastic shohin, and they develop relatively quickly. How tall is this?

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Nice, Brian. I think Olives make fantastic shohin, and they develop relatively quickly. How tall is this?

9.5” from the rim.

 

[Colorado]

Looks great, Brian. I have seen some similar olives on eBay and thought about getting one. This thread makes me want one!

Do you treat it like a tropical over the winter?

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Do you treat it like a tropical over the winter?

Not quite, I’ll let it get cold, down in the upper 20sF, and then it will go back out when the cold snap breaks. Supposedly they’re hardy in zones 8-10, and the USDA says we are 8 now. So far the leaves have never shown any signs of damage.

 

[Michael P]

Not quite, I’ll let it get cold, down in the upper 20sF, and then it will go back out when the cold snap breaks. Supposedly they’re hardy in zones 8-10, and the USDA says we are 8 now. So far the leaves have never shown any signs of damage.

For what it's worth, I do the same.