This is my Little Olive tree that I started from an air later from another olive I am trying to grow as bonsai and I will be going through its progression below.
It is pretty small and is still young in its development, but I still think it’s a cool little tree.
If you want to watch it in video format, you can watch the YouTube playlist below. The videos show the progression every month throughout the year, sort of like a time lapse.
Just be aware some of my earlier videos are not the best quality, but just like my trees, the quality slowly improves over time, so stick with them and they both get a little better towards the end.
Olives are a very popular species for bonsai and they have a lot of great characteristics when they get a bit older. They are very tough and can take a lot of work. You can read more about growing them in my Olive Bonsai Care Guide
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2019
In the autumn of 2019 I started an air layer on olive. This is not the best time for this type of work, but I had been growing a branch out and it was pretty long. (This air layer was taken from my Olive Bonsai Progression)
I was going to remove this branch at the end of winters, so I thought, why not and air layer it now and see what happens. If it doesn’t work, I will just remove it in a few months as planned.
It’s not the best material to air layer. It’s just a small branch, but I really wanted another olive, so I just went for it. I had nothing to lose.
2020
In early 2020 as spring approached the air layer removed as it had rooted
I then broke all the rules and did everything you shouldn’t do when dealing with an air layer. I removed the ball of sphagnum moss that was around the new roots. I then pruned the roots, which is kinda crazy, but I knew the risks.
I then also shorted the tree. It was one long branch so I pruned it back to be pretty short.
After all this madness I then potted it up into a small pot. Just to add some extra stress to the tree I removed some of the older leaves.
It was then left to grow and recover. Being an olive it of course bounced back strongly, so I pruned back in late May.
My plan was to keep pruning it through the year, but for some reason I didn’t and so it ended up putting on some crazy long growth until the end of the year.
This tree has been growing under my grow light, so I over wintered it in the shed to give it a cool period.
2021
I started 2021 by pruning this tree back hard just before spring.
Then when spring came and the buds started to swell, I repotted it, trimming the roots quite a lot.
It shot out like crazy after this, so I pruned it back in mid spring.
Then one of the lower branches started taking off, so I let it go. The rest of the tree pretty much stopped growing and all the energy went into this one branch, which got extremely long
The tree was then left alone for the rest of the year.
2022
I started 2022 with a prune in later winter to get it ready for spring.
Once it started to show signs of growth I repotted in spring.
As usual it bounced right back from this and I ended up giving it a prune towards the end of spring. After this it was left lone and allowed to grow out.
The lower branch really took off.
2023
I started the year by pruning the tree back in late winter. Really it was just the lower branch that needed it. The rest of the tree was fine. It seems like all the energy went to this one branch, but that is okay as it will help develop the trunk.
Once the new growth started to push out in spring, I repotted the tree. It is in a small pot and is an aggressive grower, so it gets filled with roots quickly.
After this it grew out and was given a light prune in summer, it was then left alone for the rest of the year.
2024
and this is where we are now with this tree. It still young in its journey, but it’s doing well.
This olive grows fast and can handle my abuse, so hopefully this remains for many more years to come and we can all watch this develop into something interesting.
If you want to read more about their suitability you can read – Is An Olive A Good Tree For Bonsai?
Hi, I’m Ian. I have been doing bonsai since 2014. I created this site to spread all the knowledge I have acquired over the years. Don’t forget to check out my Youtube videos where I show the progress of my own Bonsai each week or connect with me on social media.
You can read more about me and how I got into Bonsai on the About Page
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