Olive tree

Melvinello

Seedling
Messages
12
Reaction score
6
Location
Malta
Hi , i just bought this olive tree that i want to train for bonsai and i want some tips and help please ..
Can anyone tell me ,
#1 when is the ideal time of the year to change the soil ? (it is in a really bad soil)
#2 the ideal mixing soil ?
#3 what type of fertilizer needed ?
#4 when i can start trimming ?
Thanks in advance
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20170719_163005_01.jpg
    IMG_20170719_163005_01.jpg
    477.6 KB · Views: 126
  • IMG_20170719_163042.jpg
    IMG_20170719_163042.jpg
    232.9 KB · Views: 131

sp1tf1re

Seedling
Messages
19
Reaction score
16
Location
North Indianapolis
USDA Zone
5b
I don't really have any experience at this point. But I can see that the soil you have going there is very caked and hard. I can't provide a ton of advice. However based on those questions it seems you need to really get in some YouTube video investigations and learning. I am still doing the same thing. There are a lot of great resources on the tube. There are also a lot of great people on this forum. I do like your little olive tree.
 

Ryan H

Mame
Messages
120
Reaction score
127
Location
Pheonix AZ
Hi , i just bought this olive tree that i want to train for bonsai and i want some tips and help please ..
Can anyone tell me ,
#1 when is the ideal time of the year to change the soil ? (it is in a really bad soil)
#2 the ideal mixing soil ?
#3 what type of fertilizer needed ?
#4 when i can start trimming ?
Thanks in advance
I am not 100% but I think your climate is going to be pretty similar to mine (Phoenix Az). You probably just have it a bit nicer with the coastal humidity.

Anyway, right now my olives are still putting out quite a bit of growth. Which IMO means you can emergency repot if totally necessary. Ideal time I would say is late "winter". That said If you are going to repot, I would not attempt to trim roots (or foliage), rake the roots or remove all of the old soil. I would try to remove only enough to restore good drainage maybe 50% of the soil.

As for mix, inorganic only. it's a good bit your preference on the blend. I use 50%akadama, 40% lava 10% shale.

I would fertilize with a very light solution maybe once every 3+ weeks during the summer. I over dilute my bonsai pro fert in the summer.

Cheers
 

Melvinello

Seedling
Messages
12
Reaction score
6
Location
Malta
Thanks for the replays guys .. I am going to take your advice and nake an amergence repot without doing noting on the roots .. Can you tell me What kind of fertilizer do you use please ?
 

Adair M

Pinus Envy
Messages
14,402
Reaction score
34,873
Location
NEGeorgia
USDA Zone
7a
The time to repot olives is when they're actively growing. You can cutback on the roots pretty hard. They like a well draining soil.
 

Melvinello

Seedling
Messages
12
Reaction score
6
Location
Malta
Thanks for the replay mates ..

@Adair M so when YOU SAY actively growing yOU mean in spring ?

@JudyB any tips from your side please ?
 

Adair M

Pinus Envy
Messages
14,402
Reaction score
34,873
Location
NEGeorgia
USDA Zone
7a
Whenever the tree is pushing new growth. I've repotted in January, I've repotted in June. As long as there is active growth, you can repot.
 

Ryan H

Mame
Messages
120
Reaction score
127
Location
Pheonix AZ
I was wondering about the difference in cultivar of the standard euro olive. My favorite is the one I posted before but I also have these.. Does anyone know the actual formal names of these?

@Adair M any thoughts?

Thanks!

@Taka
 

Attachments

  • IMG_2292.PNG
    IMG_2292.PNG
    351.8 KB · Views: 107

my nellie

Masterpiece
Messages
2,288
Reaction score
2,631
Location
Athens, Greece
USDA Zone
9a
Welcome! :)
You only need to use the "Search" function and lots of info you will get, just as @sorce has already suggested above.

... ...Olives are wicked tough.
Yes, of course they are! However, there are times that they might stay inactive and sulking, between existence and non-existence... I have seen this twice in my experience.
 

Adair M

Pinus Envy
Messages
14,402
Reaction score
34,873
Location
NEGeorgia
USDA Zone
7a
I was wondering about the difference in cultivar of the standard euro olive. My favorite is the one I posted before but I also have these.. Does anyone know the actual formal names of these?

@Adair M any thoughts?

Thanks!

@Taka
I'm sorry, I don't know the various cultivars of Olives. Mine are cuttings or chunks of nebari taken off old fruit bearing European Olives from an orchard in California.
 

ConorDash

Masterpiece
Messages
2,699
Reaction score
3,154
Location
Essex, UK
USDA Zone
8b
Mine is a European olive, olea Europaea. Mines a bit of a fat stump, that needs a load of branch growth but won't back bud anymore.
I repotted in early spring, before growth started. Seems like I now repotted at the wrong time lol so there you go. It may have been the reason that mine only just started putting on new growth about a month ago or less than, whereas all my other trees started growing 2-3 months ago!
Once you repot, be prepared to leave it for a year. Give it time. Patience really is the greatest and worst thing in bonsai. Working on a healthy, strong tree is so much more rewarding and better for the tree, than working on a tree that is just trying to keep up!
 

ConorDash

Masterpiece
Messages
2,699
Reaction score
3,154
Location
Essex, UK
USDA Zone
8b
How much and what type of fertilizer you give ? @ConorDash

I use Green Dream organic pellet fertiliser on all my trees (ones that are being fertilised any way), a sprinkling of that as a thin top layer on their substrate around the pot. Then every weekend I water with liquid fertiliser (dosage is the guided amount it says on the bottle, for potted plants), I use all purpose miracle grow liquid fert (diluted in water), and also a cap full of seaweed extract (helps with a full green colour in leaves).
My fertilising schedule and which ones is fairly new, this year. I only started bonsai last year March, not been in it long, just over a year. So I can't speak to how well it is, but it's not killing anything... so that's a start!
This is my olive. You can see remnants of grown hard looking stuff sitting on the top of the substrate in the first pic, that the organic pellets. It could do with more being put on very soon but there will be a lot broken up in the pot and remember the trace nutrients it gains from fertiliser takes 6 weeks to move up in to the tree (if I remember that correctly).

19F23F40-22B2-48BB-8E9D-07A4D08D0E12.jpg 313DC414-1B24-46F8-923C-CF9D9BDC9077.jpg

For me, it's all about growth,branch development on this guy at the moment. Repotted this spring, it needs time and vigorous growth. Currently growing slowly and not much... but maybe that's cos I repotted at the wrong time (as pointed out by Adair M lol). I cannot get it to back bud and it desperately needs more branching from the trunk so at the moment, I am using 2 branches that are coming out of the same location as 2 others. Usually this is a bad thing but I am wiring them so they exit as far as possible to hopefully make it work in the future. Hopefully makes sense.
 

Melvinello

Seedling
Messages
12
Reaction score
6
Location
Malta
Today it was a hot day as usually in my country , and decided to change the soil for the olive coz it was really bad . I mixed 50/50 purlite / turface and 25% compost ... What do you think ?
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20170722_151020.jpg
    IMG_20170722_151020.jpg
    388.1 KB · Views: 66
  • IMG_20170722_154422.jpg
    IMG_20170722_154422.jpg
    238.7 KB · Views: 65
  • IMG_20170722_161304.jpg
    IMG_20170722_161304.jpg
    245.8 KB · Views: 67

Bonsai Nut

Nuttier than your average Nut
Messages
12,419
Reaction score
27,837
Location
Charlotte area, North Carolina
USDA Zone
8a
I mixed 50/50 purlite / turface and 25% compost ... What do you think ?

Looks good! Olives are native to your area, so you know the conditions they thrive in best. They don't like too much water, but an open soil mix will ensure that doesn't happen. I have olives in my landscaping here and they get zero rain for 9 months out of the year (or more).
 
Top Bottom