Projects with wild olives

By David Benavente

Versión en español this occasion this is a rather atypical article. The idea is to show the importance of planning the work carried out on wild olives in the initial phases of styling.

At the stage of cultivation in which these trees can be seen, spectacular transformations aren't considered. In reality, in the majority of the cases, styling is reduced to finding the front, the planting position and the principal lines of each tree. The rest of the work will come in later phases, when cultivation starts giving its fruit.

In order to get a better impression of the work carried out I've made some drawings with the image which is looked for in each specimen, and which will gradually be achieved with a few years of cultivation.

In the other part of the article, another olive is taken as an example in which you can see the evolution from the first tasks to an advanced stage of styling.

Process of styling and cultivation of a wild olive.

Unfortunately I don't have a photo of this tree when it was recuperated. It was a long trunk without branches which was reduced in length until it reached the stage that can be seen in the first photo.

After shooting for the first time, two buds were selected to become the apex and the cascading branch. From there on it was left to grow until these gained the required thickness. After a while the tree gained the aspect that can be seen in the first photo.

The more vigorous the tree, the sooner the branches can be created.

Vigour is achieved with a lot of sunlight, fertiliser and by leaving the tree to grow freely after recuperation.

After an initial thinning prune and some work on the wood.

What I was looking for at this stage was to create the basic structure of the branches and the trunk. It can't be seen in the previous photo, but the trunk was cylindrical after the first curve. For this reason I started to create dead wood in order to add interest and eliminate the problem.

This is what was left after the initial shaping.

The straight branch in the zone of the apex is a sacrifice branch used to draw sap, the objective is to thicken the first third of the branch which will form the apex. This will be left to grow until the branch gains the required diameter. It will then be eliminated at the base.

Some time after repotting and with a more evolved crown.

Now the new shoots should be wired in order to encourage the tree to branch in an organised manner. It's important that the primary branches reach a diameter in proportion with the trunk, for this reason it's essential to use sacrifice and fattening branches.

After wiring the new shoots.

It's still necessary to gain a lot of density and to make the crown slightly larger and with a more rounded profile, as is expected with a tree of this species. The tree is now entering into the refining phase.

Other projects in their first stages.

1

First styling (left). Project (right)

2

After styling (left). Project (right)

3

Before work

After styling (left). Project (right)

4

After styling (left). Project (right)

5

Before work

After styling (left). Project (right)

6

Before styling

After the work (left). Project (right)

7

Before

After (left). Project (right)

8

Before work

After styling (left). Project (right)

9

Before

After pruning and changing the planting position. It's still necessary to wire and carve the lower left part of the trunk in order to lighten it (left). Project (right).

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