What to do about inverse taper in bonsai? One clever trick to fix it fast

Bonsai is nature in miniature, and a good bonsai must have a trunk with a natural taper from thick to thin, just like a large tree in nature. Natural taper is also one of the essential qualities of an excellent bonsai.

To cultivate a trunk with beautiful form and natural taper, you often need to build up the trunk section by section. This method works well, but it is extremely time-consuming. After years of growing it out, a trunk chop may leave you with only a few cm. When the bonsai is finally finished, it takes at least three to five years, or as many as ten-plus years.

Is there a way to achieve results quickly? Today we will talk about a method to rapidly improve taper.

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This collected juniper has been in a pot for one year. After a year of revitalization, it is growing well. Because the foliage is rather loose, after revitalizing it, I began gradually cutting back to force back budding, hoping to make the foliage more compact.

The large cut on the lower trunk near the left side is what remains after removing a large branch. Below the cut, the trunk has an inverse taper that is thick at the top and thin at the bottom, which hurts the appearance. The entire trunk is fairly straight with no obvious taper, and together with the inverse taper at the base, this tree lacks a sense of stability.

After much thought, I decided to split the trunk from the bottom to solve the taper problem.

Of course, this method carries great risk. One careless move and the tree is dead. Still, I would rather die gloriously than live an ordinary life. So I made up my mind and went for it.

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That same year, I created a shari at the cut on the base of the trunk to prepare for the split. By the time the photo above was taken, the shari had been made for some time and the wounds had already healed.

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Remove the tree from the pot and clear away the soil, ready to begin. I planned to saw upward along the direction of the shari.

In the photo above you can see the roots are well developed, with many fine feeder roots. The whole process lasted about 1 hour, during which I frequently sprayed the roots with water to keep them moist and prevent dehydration.

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An electric saw works faster and more accurately.

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The cut was soon finished. Note that there is a large root on each side of the cut. This ensures the supply of live veins on both sides of the cut, so that one side will not die back.

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Insert a piece of bamboo into the cut to spread the two sides of the trunk apart. When inserting it, be very careful to avoid splitting the trunk further.

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After treating it, replant it back into the pot (the bamboo piece was not removed).

Next, I further developed the shari, extending the shari section to the middle of the trunk, connecting it to another cut on the middle of the trunk. At the same time, I carved the cut and the shari to remove artificial traces. The middle of the trunk was carved into an irregular hollow. After turning the first branch on the right into a shari, the whole tree looked lighter and more spirited.

Over the following weeks, I brushed the shari several times with lime sulfur to preserve it, and also blackened the shari section to enhance the visual effect of the hollow.

At this point, all the follow-up work was done. Next, it will rest for a period to help it recover its strength. Future care will focus mainly on the branches, foliage and canopy.

Through a period of follow-up observation, the tree quickly recovered its strength, with no signs of weakening.

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A before-and-after comparison: an unremarkable little stump instantly became much more dignified.

After the split treatment, the trunk has a very obvious and natural taper, giving it the bearing of an old tree. The hollow in the trunk is the crowning touch: it not only improves the taper but also adds a sense of age and mystery to the trunk, truly killing two birds with one stone!

Bonsai creation is exactly where such ingenious ideas are needed!

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