Garden center scots pine

[Quince]

Been lurking here for a couple weeks, saw the fall 2016 challenge and decided that it was now or never.
This is a "green penguin" scots pine that I picked up this morning. In the nursery, it seemed like there was potential, but now I have my doubts. I like the gentle curve of the longer trunk, the dark green needles and the presence of buds on the interior of the tree. Dissaponted by the section in the middle with little taper and the swelling at the graft. The roots seem to start about an inch under the collar.
Just wondering if any of you have experience with grafts like these. Is this something I could grow out and fix, or is th rootstock going to outpace the top in a grotesque and unnatural way?

 

[0soyoung]

Grafted Scots pine - blows my mind .
I really don't think your tree is grafted.

The basic routine for development is to let a branch run to thicken a trunk section. Then lop it off, wire up another branch and repeat until you've got the tapered trunk you want. Of course, you can also choose to wire movement into the new trunk section when it is thin. It just take time.

So, you can think about pruning off the reverse tapered part, but you'll need to consider what you've got to work with afterward and how long it is going to take to get there. Scots are known to strongly back bud, so you may be able to make a nice shohin in relatively short order. You may have had something else in mind when you bought it - if so, follow through on that idea if it still makes sense to do so.

 

[sorce]

Welcome to Crazy!

That could make a nice entry!

Good Skill my friend!

Sorce

 

[Quince]

Thanks for the feedback. I am familiar with baisics pine reduction techniques as described by Brent Walston, but I hesitate to do multiple major trunk chops on a dwarf cultivar. The shohin option is looking better all the time.