AusBonsai

Hi all
When I moved into my new house a few years ago, I also ot a large Olive tree that had been cut back to a stump and regrown many shoots. These are up to about 6 inches across and had been cut back severl times.

As i cut them again and knowing how nice they can be, I cut some with the intention of collecting. I have selected leaders and using clip[ and grow, sort of trined them to have som movement.

During my efforts today I decided to remove them and try to get them to shoot and be useful as trees.

I will pot them up this week and hope they will root sucessfully

I assume the best method will be to pot them up into a Growing medium and leave them on the bench in the shade? What about a Little green house over them?

Ken

gday mate

I would actually put them in a seasol/superthrive bath until you start to see some little white nodules where the cuttings were under water. this is the formation of new roots and practically guarantee's success. chris and ozzy use this method all the time, I have done this quite successfully too.

jamie

OK Cool
they are in a Seasol Bat ATM actually till I can get back to them

Will arranage a little tub for them to sit in..

Ken

Hi Jamie

Does it matter how long the plant stays in the seasol bath? What length of time would you expect for the small white nodes to emerge..... weeks /a month or two?

I'd assume that this is not just for olives but other thicker trees that have been heavily pruned?

I'd love to get an update Ken when the plants start to do their thing!

cheers

Stew

Any more advice on the seasol bath.... anyone??

How long can a stump be immersed in a seasol mix and what consistency would be optimum?

Once small white nodes appear would you plant into standard bonsai mix or more sandy cutting propagation mix?

cheers

Stew

I have mine sitting in Seasol
I will leave for as long as it takes, but i vuagely remember someone saying that Olives can take several months to root

Once rooted ( lumpy nodes) I will pot up into my normal mix of Zeolite / Diatomite. So long as tey stay moist then shodu be fine no matter what

I will post updates here when things happen
If you do likewise then we all learn

Ken

Hi Ken

I have my eye on some small celtis trees that are around the neighbourhood. Long and gangly but i'll dig out and then cut them down to get good trunk thickness. Then i'll try to select some thicker branches from the off cuttings to try this seasol soaking mix. Would it help to use some rooting compound as well i wonder?

Are your olives in any sun or full shade? What sort of strength have you used? Did you leave any leaves on the olives or would they drop off?

Cheers - you never know unless you ask!

Stew

Hi Ken,

Good luck with your cuttings. Olives are totally foreign to me. But I did see elsewhere that a guy in California, he collected nearly a dozen large stumps with no roots at all. And all survived. He did not described what he had done.

I am bookmarking this

Cheers.

I have them sitting on the benches in Filtered light ( under Eucalypt trees).
Recommended strength Seasol mix that I will change ever few weeks to stop going gooey

Ken

I was surprised to find my Olive cuttings did not work. Yet Olives cut off at the base with no roots had. That has me thinking it is the tuber at the base of Olives that allows them to grow new roots not so much an easy rooter like big willow cuttings left in water. But I could be wrong
Can we push ya further for the actual dilution you are using KC as there are several dilutions recommended for several applications with seasol.
I reckon you need to use the large stressed tree dilution for this application which is about 100ml per 9L or maybe even more?
I experimented with this dilution of seasol with some big potato vine cuttings. They rooted in a matter of days but then one left in just water took almost two weeks. Although the rest of my experiment was very hap hazard with different mixes and size pots I found the water one eventually over took the seasol

I do not usually measure the ration, just use the "that looks dark enought splash or 2"

Probably about 50 - 100 mls per 10l bucket

Ken

with all my collected olives that are flat cut at ground level, I just put them into pots with a good potting mix and keep them in the sun and the mix moist, I have had 100% success rate with over 20 odd flat cut olives, some can take weeks to show new shoots while others can take a couple of months

Hi baturb

Did you use any rooting hormone or other stump application prior to placing in potting mix?

no I didnt use any treatment on the flat cut stumps, just into some potting medium, in the sun and keep moist, I think olives are truly amazing, they can be mistreated and will still grow