AusBonsai

Hi all,

I have a recalcitrant large olive stump that refuses to back bud in the areas I want it to. I have a number of shoots that could be used to thread graft but I am unsure when the right season is?

cheers

Adrian

Defoliate any foliage towards the end of winter/start of spring as the terminal buds begin to swell (not too much because you want to fit it through the hole). Then feeeeeeeeeeeeeed for some serious growth. Once the exit side of the branch is 3 times or more the thickness of the entry side of the branch, you're good to go . Thread grafts can be done pretty much any time but you want to do it during the most active period for quicker growth hence, quicker graft. Olives can grow very well sort of early to mid spring if treated well . Just ask Olive Crazy =D

+1. Avoid damaging the bud at the end of the thread. Rather drill a too-large hole than a too-small hole.

Hi guys, thanks for the reply. I'll wait and see what happens. it might decide to bud back.

ADO wrote:Hi guys, thanks for the reply. I'll wait and see what happens. it might decide to bud back.

Give it lots of sun on that side - olives will bud towards the sun heavily.

Good luck with the graft Adrian. I have attempted around 8 to 12 thread grafts on Olives so far and none have taken. Grafted branches have all grown gangbusters, right up to the time I cut them off, couple days later = dead branch. I know Olives can be grafted, as a lot of the commercial Olives in SA were being grafted onto the SA wild Olive root stock. Damned if I can work out why the thread grafts aren't taking.

Graeme wrote:Good luck with the graft Adrian. I have attempted around 8 to 12 thread grafts on Olives so far and none have taken. Grafted branches have all grown gangbusters, right up to the time I cut them off, couple days later = dead branch. I know Olives can be grafted, as a lot of the commercial Olives in SA were being grafted onto the SA wild Olive root stock. Damned if I can work out why the thread grafts aren't taking.

Apparently, for an olive, it would take around 2-3 years.

Addz...You might get lucky with lots of sun , feeding AND pruning the tops back to force it to pop buds lower down, also a subtle rethink on selecting a front and/or potting angle can do the trick. never discount a sneaky bit of wiring to position a branch from elsewhere to fill areas. ....Dog

hi mate, good advice. ive got DL in there and its in full sun. might prune a little bit to force growth. i just need some more branches toward the apex.
catch ya next meeting!

take care

ADZ

You'll probably notice a bit more growth happening now the peak of summer has gone,I find they slow off a bit in the really hot part of the year...and I don't blame em! ....Dog.

I didn't know that! Probably explains why have slowed down too

I gave the olive a good prune which it probably needed anyway. hopefully this will induce budding

take it easy

Adrian

Yes,

The Olives at the collection are also putting on growth now after a slow summer.

Grant

How about this? If you've done a graft and are worried about it having taken, then ring-bark the source branch in small sections bit by bit. This has the effect of slowly reducing the sap flow from the source branch and transferring it to the graft point. If the graft has not taken, then in theory you will start to get wilting of the graft branch when the ring barking reaches a point of little sap flow. If this happens, you can stop the ring-barking and hopefully save the branch for another period of time. Should work - never tried it though. I recently cut the source from a thread graft on an elm here, and the graft died back. Thinking back, I should have done it like this instead. I cut it a bit early as the blasted tree sent out a nice new shoot exactly where I needed it. (I had the graft slightly wrong)

Andrew, that is how I have been dealing with my juniper approach grafts. Have had some die after cutting the source trunk so now, when I'm reasonably confident the graft has started to unite, debark about half of the source trunk and leave for a few months. I figure if any connection exists the tree will put more effort into it if it feels the original source is compromised. Maybe debark a but more then and leave for longer but if it looks well healed just cut it off at that stage.