Reverse Taper on Juniper

[Relknes]

Hi, everyone. I picked up this juniper from a garden center about 6 months ago and have been slowly reducing down the foliage. I like the trunk movement, and it has a decent start on a root system, but there is some unfortunate reverse taper between the soil and the first branch.

I know of three basic ways to treat this reverse taper: grow out the first branch so the trunk below it thickens (which is what I have been doing so far), thicken the base by wounding it and letting it callus over, or carve the overly thick part of the trunk into a shari.

I already plan to turn the second branch into a jin, and it wouldn't be too hard to extend that into a shari, but I like the idea of thickening the base into something more powerful if I can...

The long sweeping branch is going to be a sacrifice branch, by the way. I plan to air layer it off eventually, and am training a few interesting curves into it so that I have a head start on the new tree when I do.

What are people's thoughts? As the roots and sacrifice branch develop, will it sufficiently grow the base, or do I need to take one of the other actions?

Juniper Top View

• Relknes
• Oct 6, 2016

Juniper Front View

• Relknes
• Oct 6, 2016

Juniper Rear View

• Relknes
• Oct 6, 2016

 

[Bonsai Nut]

In this case, I don't think your primary branch is the solution as much as it is part of the problem. You have a lot of low branches, which are causing localized thickening of the trunk. The larger that primary branch gets, the larger the local knob will be where it joins the trunk, and the more obvious the reverse taper will be. I would personally remove that one branch right now. (I hear you about air-layering it but really, to what advantage when you can just go buy another nursery juniper like this for not much money). Once you jin it back to the trunk, you will find that a lot of the visual weight will be gone, and the tree will balance its strength across the rest of the tree. If you get really lucky, you might even get some low buds to pop.

Also, consider that as you repot, and remove deeper/lower root mass, those surface roots will thicken. Over time keep reducing / eliminating the downward growing roots and only keep the lateral ones (over years and several repottings). Don't go too fast... just keep that as your long-term objective as you work on the tree. You may find the nebari will naturally start to bulk up.

There are other things you can do, including root grafts and approach grafts, to generate more girth at the soil line, that will also translate into width up the tree (with time).

 

[sorce]

Nice spread!

Welcome to Crazy!

Sorce

 

[dirk hoorelbeke]

Inverse taper in junipers is not that uncommon. A shari might explain the reason why. Solving the problem will be difficult for the reasons stated above. Make a nice tree, add some shari and nobody might notice...

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Look at this post: Shimpaku Project And then the follow up: Shimpaku Project. If you can get past Vance's thread-dumping, it's a good progression thread that shows Kathy's technique of carving oval-shaped Shari into the trunk and branches.

One of the outcomes of carving the oval is swelling on either side. So if you identify the front of this tree, carve an oval into the back. It will swell the sides and in a short period of time, and help correct the appearance of reverse taper.