olive styling

I got this olive last year in a workshop.

It's been cut back once (last year) about three inches. As you can see the trunk has no taper and slants sharply.
It has a large base and I would like to develop this tree into a small sumo type tree because I can't get my head around the slanting style.
I am willing to invest a lot of time and patience into this tree because I love it and because I think it has great potential.

Any thoughts you could provide or virts would be greatly appreciated.

Dave

https://servimg.com/view/17569344/11

I would go for the sumo approach and take it down to the first branch and see what develops from there. Or you could keep some of the straight trunk for carving of driftwood. Sorry no good with virtuals!

Dave,

Olive trees take years to develop into a credible piece. Of course. if you train them in the pine style, you may achieve pleasing effect in a shorter time. Unfortunately and considering the species, the pine style does not emulate the natural characteristics of the species.

Below, an olive from my collection. It has been under training for over 40 years, started as a pencil thin cutting purchased in Bonsai Farm (Texas) by my first teaches, Puerto Rico Bonsai pioneer Adán Montalvo in the 70's:

KoPiSan wrote:... ...I am willing to invest a lot of time and patience into this tree because I love it and because I think it has great potential.

With patience and vision you can achieve some decent results but it will take some years though....
Carefully carving the straight trunk you can disguise the lack of taper and give the tree a lot of character, in my personal opinion.

Look for instance at this old olive tree
I am used to see lots of such wonderful trees all around the Mediterranean

This tree is quite large and has beautiful flacky bark up to the branch tips. The long branch is a sacrificial limb. Now, a side view:

A Close up of the branch structure. This tree is planted in 100% mountain sand. I now have collected olive from Mallorca, currently being trained in a different style.

A picture of the tree, 40 years ago:

jrodriguez wrote:... ...The long branch is a sacrificial limb... ...

I would suggest that you apply the same to your olive, KoPiSan. This way the thin branches will get thicker.

Any updates?

WOW, JL, what a beauty.

Collecting an old tree from a mountainside and turning it into a bonsai over the course of a few months or years is one thing, and no doubt takes certain skill. But to take a stick in a pot and turn it into a tree like this over 40 years is the true measure of talent, imho.

R