Hank Miller

Hi Rene
Thanks for the virtuals. I actually liked the first one you posted but for the reasons stated in my reply felt this olive should not be cut back. I also like the second but I think that the lower branches must thicken considerably to compensate for the heavy branch on the upper left hand side. (after looking at your second virtual I suppose this is the reason I chose to leave the lower branch). In any case it is certainly a good alternative. Thanks again for your time and efforts.

By the way it is possible to bend large olive branches (or trunks) and the bottom branch can be bent. The way I ususally do this is to split the branch (or trunk) with a branch splitter. I usually split a bit below the place where the bend is to take place. The splitting causes thickeneing of the wounded area and this helps perserve taper. After splitting bind the branch (or trunk) together with raffia (or Chinese string). Place some thick wire along the branch (or trunk) and bind again with raffia. The reason I bind twice is the following - the first binding keeps the split branch (or trunk) from shearing during the bending and insures that the cambium grows together nicely. The outer binding simply keeps the wire in place. For an olive of this size at least 2 other people will be needed - one to hold the pot and another to hold the trunk. Everybody must understand how the tree is to be bent because it should not be re-bent in a different direction. Once the bend is accomplished it can be held in place with guy wires. They usually heal in a growing season or less.
Hank