Doug Phillips’ Olive Demo

Doug Phillips gave a demonstration at the July meeting on how to develop olives from cuttings. His talk covered how to develop excellent root and branch ramification. These techniques can be used on many different types of trees. The tree?s branches mirror the tree root system. For a tree to have nicely developed branches the root system needs to have the same ramification.

When selecting the base cut of the olive ensure that it maximizes the taper or flair right above the cut. Right after collecting the olive do your base cut. The base cut will stimulate more root growth since it exposes the maximum amount of cambium. But if you plant the olive as shown in the first picture
in figure 1 the root would grow straight down from the cambium level. The most desirable root development is to have the root project out horizontally. If you bevel the edge as in the center diagram in figure 1 the top edge of the bevel is where the cambium layer is and its direction is almost level. When you bevel the edge, it will help the styling of the roots if you enhance the indentations so the base at the bottom does not look like a circle. The next step is to cut a piece of plywood (1/4 ? thickness for small base and 3/8? for larger base) about a 1/2 inch larger than the base on all sides. Screw the plywood base into the base of the olive as shown in the rightmost diagram in figure 1. The board forces the roots to grow out horizontally for the first critical ? inch which on your developed tree will be the primary exposed roots.

Figure 1 Initial Preparation after the base cut

Doug demonstrating the initial preparation of an olive cutting

When you pot the olive with the plywood board be sure to have 2 to 3 inches of soil above the base cut. The additional soil will help prevent the new tender roots from drying out. In the demo, Doug secured the trunk by tying down the top of the trunk to 3 places on the plastic pot. It is critical that the base is secure so that the tender new roots that develop do not break if the pot moves.

Doug then described the process of developing the roots off the prepared cutting. The whole process of developing the roots takes 3 to 4 years with possibly more than one repotting each year in the first two years. At the first repotting there should be plenty of roots around the trunk. At this time, eliminate ? the number of roots. Keep the roots that are attached to the trunk from where the cambium was exposed in the initial preparation by removing all the roots above it. Further reduce down the number of roots by choosing roots so that they are evenly spread around and extend from the bumps on the trunk.

The next repotting the roots that you left in the previous repotting should have grown thicker. Remove other roots off the base unless they are desired location. Trim back slightly the remaining roots. Now is the time to start developing secondary roots. The process of generating new secondary roots continues where at each repotting you trim back the roots back to strong secondary roots closer to the base. This forces the tree to develop many new feeder roots closer to the trunk.

Figure 2 Initial Root Development

Root Development after 4 to 5 years

Doug finished the demonstration talking about general styling and branch development. He stated that for olives he prefers basically two styles that are broom style and informal upright. In the demonstration, the second tree he worked on he was developing it into a broom style. The tree is pictured above as he is working on the root base. The demo was the first time that he was starting to develop the major branches. For the 2? trunk he cut back to 5 major branches and curved groves between the branches to help increase the taper of the trunk.

Styling the second demonstration tree

Doug talked that when he wires a branch that he does not wire it to the end but leaves the end free of wire to allow the branch to be stronger. If the branch is stronger it will hold the bends in the wire faster.

Wiring a branch up to create a new top and heal the back cut scar

Thanks Doug for a wonderful and informative talk.

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