AusBonsai

Hi all,
I've got an upcoming dig of olive and some camelia's. No access to power so wish me luck. Apparently an abundance of olives to dig up.

All the best for it. Our digging season will start soon (as long as we get some rain) so I too am looking forward to that.

thanks, the olives are on a farm not in the wild. so hopefully they will be quicker/easier to pull out.

Make sure to get good roots on the Camellia’s. Otherwise your wasting your time with them.
Good luck
Cheers
Kirky

Make sure to get good roots on the Camellia’s. Otherwise your wasting your time with them.

That's a good point. Don't treat anything like we treat our Olives! Be discerning too. Olives are pretty common so there's no need to dig mediocre stuff.

Matt.

Unfortunately most of the olives will have tall, straight stems with no taper. Hopefully there are some that have not grown according to plan and have a few low branches or tapered trunks.
I have seen a lot of poor olive trunks dug so you won't be on your own with whatever you get here. At the very least you will have gained some experience in how to excavate trees.
For what it is worth I don't waste time digging all the way under olives to get them out. A trench around the perimeter and a good hard yank on the trunk sideways and the vertical roots usually break off quite cleanly.
Camellias are a different ball game. Usually quite a few very strong vertical roots so take a saw or axe. Roots are very hard. You will probably need to dig a trench about twice as wide as anticipated in order to swing the shovel or axe to cut vertical roots. Battery powered reciprocating saw is invaluable when collecting as it can get into tighter spaces and cuts hard roots quite easy. Get a spare battery too.

Much appreciated on the advice given. I will definitely be mindful with the camellia when it comes time to collect. I've learnt that a pick axe is in invaluable tool. I don't have a portable reciprocating saw so thats a shame - I hope the pick axe will suffice. As for the olives, I think they are destined to be stumps and if there is potential in a few months/years in terms of a leader branch growing then great. Otherwise, it will be a lesson learnt to not bother collecting olives - these ones are a good 1hrs drive away.

Camellia dig fell through as the owner decided to keep it. And from your advice, I’ve decided against digging the olives due to the straight trunks. Greg on here did point me into the direction of some nice wild olives so when I get time I’ll dig those up and post. Cheers


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Had opportunity for another camellia dig.

Here is pic of the tree at the start.



3 hrs later and I’ve only managed to get a nice root ball going. FYI I think I’ll pass on future digs of these trees, they are so time consuming to dig.



And now here it is in my backyard.



It looks like two trees.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Haha you work fast, saw that pop up on Marketplace this morning. for survival.

Wife gave me a free pass - didn’t have to look after the kids.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

On thing that sucks about having no space in your garden is having to make a grow box.

Add on a couple hours to the dig itself, and this is my almost finished box.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Here are some pics of the outcome of my digs. They all seem to be alive which is a good sign.

Pomegranate



Camellia (blurry but you can see the red shoot)


Wisteria




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Congrats

Wisteria in full bloom. Not sure what to do with it once the flush of growth is done.



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk