Starting the hobby with two olive trees from Greece

[avz10]

A friend just brought these two small olive trees from Greece as a gift (Greek name "Korone i ko". I have no experience with bonsai, but thought that this might be a nice way to start.)

I am starting to read up about the hobby, but need some extra advice:
1. We are in different hemispheres, and winter is starting here.I live in Johannesburg, average temperature could be zero at night, going up to max 20 degrees during the day.
2. Just basic advice on some pruning- he cut some roots off the bigger one.

I attach a photo of the plants in two pots. They are currently in an area with a window in the ceiling. If there is son through the window, should I put them in the sun?

Temperatures during winter will vary between 5 and 20 degrees Celsius. I suppose I just leave them inside till spring?

(They are going to have a long winter, starting in Greece, but by mid August it gets warmer)

Any advice or reference to more reading material? (I am not sure if the Greek name "Korone i ko is similar to the European olive that one reads about)

Thanks for any info

[Andrew Legg]

Are you a van Zyl by any chance?

Welcome to Ausbonsai from a fellow South African! I think the best thing you can do right now is get these little guys as much sun as possible. I'll find out about olives and frost tonight as I'll be at a club meeting. I'll frop in another respnse tomorrow. Please try to get some better/bigger photos of the trees as I am worried about that white stuff I see there.

At this stage don't worry too much about cutting and trimming and styling etc, just let them grow a bit and get their roots established.

Note that we are in the same season as Australia. Did you think this was Austria Bonsai? . That means that you can follow most of the seasonal advice about bonsai that you find here.

Cheers,

Andrew (from Cape Town)

[Petra]

hi Avz,
i have olives and the frost doesnt seem to effect them here. We get black frost and
no setback to the trees what so ever. Some frosts we get here are -3. If your trees
have just been potted, i would protect them through the night. Give them as much
sun as you can through the day and dont let them dry out. Looks like you have mealy
bug not too sure, but you need to treat with a soapy solution just for now or white oil.
hope this is of some help to you.

[avz10]

Hi

Thanks for the responses.

Yes, I'm Albie van Zyl, grew up in Bredasdorp and we lived in Aus from 1997-99 in Melbourne!

Dont worry about the white- we call it toilet paper!!

Currently, the temp for today will be 2 at night and 12 tomorrow. Should I leave them outside for the son and bring them in at night or just leave them there?

Kind regards
Albie

[Petra]

Bring them in under protection only if there is sign of frosts.

[Andrew Legg]

Hi

Dont worry about the white- we call it toilet paper!!

Kind regards
Albie

I'm not gonna ask where the bog roll comes from!

Do you want me to get some local bonsai club details to you?

Cheers,

Andrew

[avz10]

Hi Andrew

Yes, this will be good

Cheers