Shohin Olive

misfit11

Omono
Messages
1,327
Reaction score
2,246
Location
Petaluma CA -Zone 9b
USDA Zone
9b
Here's a tree that I've had for a while but have never posted. I originally had it growing in the ground for a few years making chops every once in a while. I'd never worked with Olives before and quickly realized that although it was trunking up relatively fast, it wasn't rolling over the cuts at all. Anyway, after it's 4 years or whatever in the ground I dug it up and started training it as bonsai. It spent a couple more years in a training pot as I started working on the branch structure. Due to the few large cuts I'd done as trunk chops, I had always intended on doing some carving to add some interest and hide the large cut wounds. In 2015 or so it made it into it's first bonsai pot.

Flash forward a few years of neglect to 2019 and I finally decided to give my bonsai hobby some attention. The other day I did some trimming and branch selection. Today I did some further work on the tree and as I was doing so I stumbled on some rotted wood in the back of the tree where some of the trunk chops and sacrifice branches had been. I began removing some of this rotten material and soon realized a good portion of the back of the tree was completely rotten!! I carved out as much of the soft, pulpy wood that I could and applied wood hardner in order to preserve the rest of the deadwood. I then repotted him.

When life gives you lemons. Make lemonade.
 

Attachments

  • olive.jpg
    olive.jpg
    166.2 KB · Views: 165
  • olive2.jpg
    olive2.jpg
    188.6 KB · Views: 161

Bonsai Nut

Nuttier than your average Nut
Messages
12,420
Reaction score
27,871
Location
Charlotte area, North Carolina
USDA Zone
8a
With olives, it is not unusual for inner dead wood to rot out. I'm not sure there's anything that can be done about it save applying an epoxy based wood preserver as you have. If you want to heal over large pruning scars remember that you have to let the foliage mass run free. The foliage mass is what drives vascular demand and the development of truck caliper.
 

misfit11

Omono
Messages
1,327
Reaction score
2,246
Location
Petaluma CA -Zone 9b
USDA Zone
9b
With olives, it is not unusual for inner dead wood to rot out. I'm not sure there's anything that can be done about it save applying an epoxy based wood preserver as you have. If you want to heal over large pruning scars remember that you have to let the foliage mass run free. The foliage mass is what drives vascular demand and the development of truck caliper.
Thanks a bunch for this information. As I recall, you live in SoCal and probably have quite a bit of experience with Olives. This was originally a seedling that my Mother-in-law gave me which had been a volunteer in her backyard. She lives in Upland, CA.
 

Shibui

Imperial Masterpiece
Messages
7,545
Reaction score
15,223
Location
Yackandandah, Australia
USDA Zone
9?
I think dead wood suits olives. They live such a long time and natural habitat is relatively harsh that is natural for them to survive drought, fire and grazing and those elements eventually take a toll and kill some parts of the tree but they just recover and continue. Check some ancient olive pictures online and see how many have hollow trunks and dead wood. Maybe we should be featuring dead wood on olives as often as the Japanese do on junipers.
 

misfit11

Omono
Messages
1,327
Reaction score
2,246
Location
Petaluma CA -Zone 9b
USDA Zone
9b
I think dead wood suits olives. They live such a long time and natural habitat is relatively harsh that is natural for them to survive drought, fire and grazing and those elements eventually take a toll and kill some parts of the tree but they just recover and continue. Check some ancient olive pictures online and see how many have hollow trunks and dead wood. Maybe we should be featuring dead wood on olives as often as the Japanese do on junipers.
Thanks for your comment, Shibui. Dan Robinson says that "every tree deserves Deadwood.". I don't know if that's exactly true but I sure like it on my trees! :)
 

misfit11

Omono
Messages
1,327
Reaction score
2,246
Location
Petaluma CA -Zone 9b
USDA Zone
9b
I think the hole improves the look of this tree but why is the photo taken with the pot on that angle?
Thanks Shibui. I took it at an angle because I had planned in making this my front on the next repot. I'll post another picture with the current front to see if people agree with my decision.
 
Messages
225
Reaction score
228
Location
Italy
USDA Zone
9b
It looks pretty good from all angles, as far as I am concerned.
 

misfit11

Omono
Messages
1,327
Reaction score
2,246
Location
Petaluma CA -Zone 9b
USDA Zone
9b
It looks pretty good from all angles, as far as I am concerned.
Thanks. I need to fill in the empty space behind the apex. Hopefully, I can get some backbudding to start building those branches. Other than that, I'm pleased with how it's coming along. It will look nicer when it fills out and you can see more clearly defined pads. The basic structure is getting there though. Bonsai is definitely a marathon, not a sprint.
 

Shibui

Imperial Masterpiece
Messages
7,545
Reaction score
15,223
Location
Yackandandah, Australia
USDA Zone
9?
Hard to really tel how the trunk looks from 2D images but the trunk does look better with the bulge of the left branch hidden. I usually try not to have the main feature right in front (in this case the new hollows) rather partly hidden to give the viewer something to wonder about but in this case it looks like trunk taper wins over partly hidden hollows.
The current back with all the dead wood and hollows also has a lot of interest and could possibly be featured at some stage in the future.
I have branch development and density quite slow on my olives so I think you are correct about that part taking longer than expected but this is still a great little olive.
 

Eckhoffw

Masterpiece
Messages
2,937
Reaction score
4,754
Location
St. Paul Mn.
USDA Zone
4b
The front looks nice. The back looks interesting.
Very cool!!!
 

Leo in N E Illinois

The Professor
Messages
11,337
Reaction score
23,254
Location
on the IL-WI border, a mile from ''da Lake''
USDA Zone
5b
I really like the back, but I'm looking at a small image. If it were mine, I would try to grow out the canopy so the cloud of foliage came toward the viewer on the back side also. Then put it in a round pot and display it from either side. It is okay to have more than one front, and displaying the tree at various angles.

Round pot. Go for it.
 

misfit11

Omono
Messages
1,327
Reaction score
2,246
Location
Petaluma CA -Zone 9b
USDA Zone
9b
Repotted this little Olive into a better sized pot. A few of the folks at the workshop agreed with the thoughts on here that the back could make a better front. I'm going to start developing the back so it can function as a front as well.
0507221447.jpg
0507221448.jpg
 
Top Bottom