Bonsai Design Choices: Styling an Olive Bonsai

Styling a bonsai can be a lengthy process and for some.. Anxious times. Learn more about design choices when styling an Olive bonsai, and I show you in a one year timelapse how this olive was put on track towards a bonsai.

[@jasonhall169]

Your videos are always very educational. I especially like this format where you show the progress of a tree through time, how it responds to pruning, and the additional work you do.

[@GrowingBonsai]

So nice of you! I realized that most YT channels just show an action and IF you are lucky, a year later there MIGHT be an update. So I deicded to merge action & updates!

[@Dannysbirdshed]

Stunning, love it how you do the videos over a few month so you can see the trees response

[@GrowingBonsai]

Glad you like them! I found myself annoyed with videos that showed something and then never any updates. So decided to do this format!.

[@johnholloway691]

You should be justifiably proud of this tree because it's destined to be one of your best. Nice job illustrating the sequence of actions you took over time to get to this point.

[@GrowingBonsai]

Thank you for the vote of confidence. I am not sure this will land in the top segment though.

[@baldyeti]

Daggum, that’s one heck of a trunk! I’m diggin your vision and how you’re making it happen, good sir.

[@GrowingBonsai]

Thanks 👍

[@k.s.l3w158]

Another great video! I love learning about styling and how to bolster your tree's strength and vitality. I've noticed that the same back budding technique works with willow trees very well, also.

[@bejkee]

Lovely format with the video spanning multiple seasons again! Also appreciate you sharing the wire type and diameter when working. I think it is important to start to develop the feeling of what to use when.

[@Adam5Taylor]

I am so happy I came across your channel. Your patience truly shows and your end result is phenomenal and i think this tree deserves to be in a show! Keep up the amazing work. 👌🏼

[@GrowingBonsai]

Thanks so much! Have you discovered the follow-up on this tree year? The progression in another year is really cool

[@FrostBiteBonsai]

Great video! I love the look of olive trees! The two expensive small twigs I found are still alive! I have been leaving them alone in hopes they take off. Hopefully they thicken up nice in my lifetime! Hahaha!

[@GrowingBonsai]

Oh wow! Good luck!

[@Heather-kz7tn]

Just remembering how I always got bonsai kits as a kid and never got anywhere either due to moving or my little dirt pots getting thrown out before it had time to grow... Definitely getting a tree to start ❤ love your videos.

[@jaiprakashpathak8974]

Wonderful to watch the seasonal progress of the plant. You satisfy the viewers' craving to be a witness to plant's seasonal transformation . 👌

[@DikaBonsai23]

Styling an olive bonsai. Good material bonsai sir👍

[@cordinolongiotti]

Tree looks great, nice video

[@GrowingBonsai]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@ravaginggoatman]

Jelle, Thank you for this video, I love olives, they are just an amazing tree for bonsai, small leaves and very strong. I would to see more video content on development of pads. Thanks for all the work that you put into your videos,

[@GrowingBonsai]

Have you seen the follow-up video of this tree? Glad you liked it!

[@ravaginggoatman]

@GrowingBonsai I will definitely look for it, thanks 🙏

[@XaviersBonsaiRetreat]

This was an excellent video and I was interested about the tip you gave regarding removing alternate leaves and the growing tip. Did that work well? I am developing three smaller olives so it is interesting to see how you approach this. Good stuff and you should definitely let 'your' growing tips continue to push out and give you a nice canopy for your head :)

[@CarlBridge58]

Andres Bicocca style carving, like the one you MCed at the last Trophy demos. Great work Jelle...

[@GrowingBonsai]

Thank you very much!

[@ChillGuyBonsai]

Great video, so far!! This is going to help me a lot later on. I have a massive olive cutting that has rooted no foliage yet, but hopefully, buds start showing up so I can apply your tips. Once again, great video 🌳

[@GrowingBonsai]

Sounds great! Do alow it to grow for 2 years so the tree can build a good rootball!

[@ChillGuyBonsai]

@@GrowingBonsai sure thing

[@phillipwaterman5721]

Nice looking tree love this one thanks jelle keep up the good work mate thanks

[@GrowingBonsai]

Thanks, will do! Good to see you here as always Philip

[@rtregear]

Love the time sequence videos. Must be a lot more work for you. Many thanks.

[@GrowingBonsai]

Glad you like them! Mainly keeping track of the different projects is dificult!

[@clintnett9202]

Awesome!

[@GrowingBonsai]

Thanks!

[@thenaturecreater8906]

I wish my olive had that trunk😅 great work Dr. Jelle

[@GrowingBonsai]

:) Sorry :)

[@suer666]

It amazes me how simple you make styling look. I think we have all lost trees during the process of learning the craft of bonsai. Last year I lost an elm that i was very proud of. My fault as I didn't protect it from the heat and sun after repotting. Lesson learned. Your approach to sharing is great. Love the way you are doing your videos showing the development of your trees

[@GrowingBonsai]

Thank you so much! I do think a little about a tree before I start recording to be honest! BUt I try to repeat my thought process so it might be ore easy for others to do this on their trees!

[@josemoreira-]

Loved this one. Please more like this

[@GrowingBonsai]

Have you seen part two?

[@josemoreira-]

@@GrowingBonsai Yes, I have, thanks for the heads up

[@harrietb2141]

Such a beatiful olivtree! Love it❤

[@GrowingBonsai]

Thx!

[@NgocLinhVo-Thienthong8428]

Chơi cây vững kiến thức sẽ rất tốt, yếu tố kỹ năng quyết định tác phẩm đẹp , sucess for you

[@GrowingBonsai]

Thank you so much!

[@buhaybukid-mixvlog7066]

Thanks for sharing sir

[@GrowingBonsai]

gladly!

[@sueb1317]

Very interesting progression. Enjoyed your instructions on hand carving. Would love to see this tree in another year's time to check branch thickening and further selection. Great vid!

[@GrowingBonsai]

Me too. Can't wait!

[@Bonsaicrazy]

It’s looking brilliant Jelle 👊👊

[@GrowingBonsai]

Thanks! I am hoping for even better looks in a few years!

[@LoveBonsai902]

Thankyou for a fascinating video. I loved your explanation of every step & for the special olive tip. It taught me how to study a tree & plan it’s styling carefully branch by branch, instead of pruning just for a triangular shape only. 😎👍

[@1marcelo]

Beautiful tree and great video. I really appreciate the effort you put in following up the evolution of the tree over time. I had a couple of thoughts while watching the video. It looks to me that the problem with the original branch going towards the back was that it was too straight and didn't have any taper. I might have cut the branch half way through to generate taper. In that way, you would have a tapered branch that goes towards the back and generates perspective and depth. My other thought is that I wouldn't bend all the branches downward. This way, olive trees end up looking like junipers. Still beautiful but different from the normal growth habit. I would spread the branches like a fan, with different angles depending on their position along the trunk.

[@GrowingBonsai]

Do you know where I could see some examples of the natural growth habit? In bonsai we have drifted into certain shapes and forms (like with trident maples) and it is sometimes dificult to find out how these really grow if they are not local

[@1marcelo]

@@GrowingBonsai If you google old olive tree, you will some pictures that look relatively natural. However, many old olive trees are heavily trimmed unfortunately. Anyway, we can assume that higher branches grow upwards and out, middle and lower branches closer to horizontal. I'm not sure if old branches bend downwards. I think they micht brak under their weight.

[@danielkosta3134]

Here in the midwest USA olives for bonsai are not easy to find and also expensive. I have only one. It is a rounded stump about 3 inches across. I have used 3 sprouts to form 3 trunks in a sort of clump style. Not the greatest but it is what i could find. I want to increase the fullness of the branches. Your tip of removing the growing tip and alternate leaves is very interesting. I will do that tomorrow. Thank you for such an excellent video.

[@GrowingBonsai]

and.. did it help?

[@piotrdziadczyk8598]

Piękne drzewo. Ciekawe video. Peter

[@GrowingBonsai]

danke dir.

[@BenshobbyStuff]

saving this vid mate, its perfect for what i need for my acer though the trunk is probs a few inches thicker pn my acer palmatum.. some fantastic ideas :) and sorry im binge watching your vids lol :)

[@GrowingBonsai]

Glad I could help :) Have you seen kzbin.info/www/bejne/pprQZmqKgK6Nd8Usi=sRKiDBciAbzgyGOy ?

[@BenshobbyStuff]

​@@GrowingBonsai thankyou very much mate i just watched that video very helpful and i love seeing your technique on different trees especially your acers. really wish i could get a picture to you as my acer is a cross between your olive and the acer in this video. nebari is similar to the olive and has 2 dead uprights wich im going to carve like you did the olive tree. it has 2 fresh leaders from growth since i harvested the tree. hope to be able to make the 2 dead trunks into something unique and grow the leaders as a twin trunk if you get me :) im still waiting for it to drop leaves as its intent on keeping them going lol really would love a mentor to look at it and throw a bunch of ideas to me.. nice work on both the olive and on the acer in this video. great content my friend :)

[@pansepot1490]

Great start of a tree you have there! Seems to me you are going for the conifer look, with triangular shape(s) and sparse flat pads. I have watched many videos on olive bonsai and the ones I like best are those styled to resemble actual olive trees (more rounded shape, rounded pads) rather than pine trees. No judgment, just personal preference.

[@GrowingBonsai]

I have been looking for other routes to styling. But I could not find good examples. Would you have one?

[@peterfransen5561]

Hi Jelle. Great tree and great video. What kind of Olive is this? It has lovely small leaves. Mine seems to have much bigger leaves.

[@BonsaiForRoman]

Hi Jelle, good video. 👍 In my experience the deep cuts on Olives do not heal, if I prune brunches to the base I prune it flat and I do not prune bumps of suckers I just breaking them with a fingers. Do you have successful experience with deep wound healing ?

[@GrowingBonsai]

Agreed. Olive is a poor healer of wounds! Which makes the suckers all the more annoying!

[@rollmop99]

great looking tree- does it survive the winter outside in NL? Or you need to greenhouse it?

[@GrowingBonsai]

I would suspect it would easily survive in the Netherlands. Here in Germany it lives outside most of the time. Only with continued frost does it get some shelter.

[@dianasmithkurtz109]

I live in Iowa and we are a zone 5b. I just got 3 new olives and wondering if I can leave them outside until what temperature? I am fairly new to bonsai but already have 50 or more trees! Your videos have been very helpful to somebody like me who knows nothing. There are so many opinions out there that I am not sure what is right. I have newly acquired cotoneaster, azalea, the olives, Japanese maples and not sure when to bring them in. The rest of my trees I have wintered over outside with not too many deaths. We had a very mild winter last year and the ones that died were ones that I am sure that I overwatered. Any information you could give me would be greatly appreciated. You are fantastic!!!

[@GrowingBonsai]

I typically avoid under -10c / below 10F for most of my trees. Olives however should not get fully frozen; A few frosty periods is fine with you know, 28F. BUt when it really drops.. Protect the roots. kzbin.info/www/bejne/haqrqZ5rZr6oeJY

[@rudolferdei3685]

Love your videos and I have a quick question: the cutting/snipping of leaves to trigger branching works on any type of tree, or just olives?

[@GrowingBonsai]

it works on some, and for olive distinctly

[@JodyGrogu]

Hoi Jelle, ik heb een olijf in een tuincentrum gekocht is het nu de juiste tijd om te verpotten. Het wordt komende week warm (28°). De boom is gezond en groeit goed.

[@GrowingBonsai]

Of het de juiste tijd is weet ik niet. Ik weet wel dat het bij mij verpot tijd voor olijven is. Ik heb gisteren een hele goede Yamadori olijf verpot.

[@pesoverwatch9324]

When you where at the end of hammering the big stump, you used a torch, was that just to check if it would look nice, or was it an other reason (or just for show :D) ?

[@TalkingLoon]

I also use a torch on all my freshly carved wood, it burns off the little burrs and shavings for a more natural weathered look. I don't have any lime sulphur but my understanding is the burning does a similar job of preserving the wood.

[@jesters1gamble201]

I was bending a young Japanese dwarf white pine and the trunk broke below the branch line but not all the way through. I was able to bend it back together and used wire and a wooden rode to hold together tightly will it die or will it recover

[@BonsaikelapaBambuApusTangsel]

Thanks

[@GrowingBonsai]

Welcome!

[@RICKDIED]

Tip: if you make a big cut on a field grown let the cuts heal when its stil in the ground healing and growth wil be faster then healing big chops in a pot you just have to maintain unwanted growth only remove tree when cuts are closed or almost close leave it for a few seasons to heal and work on wounds

[@Ficusforev]

What type of olive tree is this?

[@GrowingBonsai]

It is a wild olive, not sure of the exact species, will need to look it up

[@theoschmitt3037]

Klasse Entwicklung

[@brucedeacon28]

👍👌🙂

[@gratalau]

To me it looks like a boxwood.

[@GrowingBonsai]

That might be. But it is an olive.