Direction with this olive

[QuintinBonsai]

I bought this about a week ago. A 1 gallon olive. I thought it was a good buy considering the size. The pot is very compacted with soil, and fine roots to check for nebari. How much root work can be done on olives in winter? What do you guys think? Is it a potential candidate?

 

[JudyB]

Olives are one of the best trees to do large root reductions on. Meaning that they don't seem to mind. BUT, you need to wait as olive roots are particularly sensitive to cold. I would suggest not to even do it in spring, but to wait till you see active growth in late spring - early summer.

You can pull this tree out of the container at this time, and basically saw off a large percentage of the soil. I've done 3/4 reduction with no ill effects. And if you look at this website, you'll see even more drastic reductions!! I wouldn't go that far in my climate...make sure you click on the pic at the bottom of the page.
http://www.dugzbonsai.com/olivehead.htm

 

[bonsaibp]

We do all our olive work from late May through mid September- then you could whack top and bottom to whatever you want and 99.9% they come back like gangbusters. Nothing in the winter months though.