How is taper achieved with upright conifers?

[Bp1313]

Hey guys,

I’m a little confused on how taper is achieved with formal upright conifers like an incense cedar.

If I grow it out in the ground and then chop the main trunk and wait for a new leader to form, wouldn’t that leader come out off to the side so it wouldn’t look formal upright anymore?

Thanks

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

You are correct. That's why it's so difficult to do well.
Ideally, you develop the branches all at the same time and let the plant put most energy in the lower half while restricting growth up top. This fattens the trunk on the lower side, while the top develops slower and stays tapered.
In theory you can use an escape branch on the bottom, on a side, or somewhere where it's easy to hide the cut site. With the aim to thicken the trunk. But the swelling can cause movement you don't want.

Letting the apex grow wild, and hacking it back, is just one way to do it, but you can let any branch do that with more or less the same effects.

 

[Shibui]

Agree that new leaders tend to make a kink in the trunk and that formal upright is extremely difficult to do well.
Trees tend to thicken on inside bends more than outside so kinks usually disappear slowly as the tree thickens.
New leaders for formal upright style need to be wired up as close to the existing trunk as possible. One strategy is to leave the trunk longer and tie the new leader tightly to the remaining stub until it sets then make the final chop.
Another strategy is to reduce the top of the old trunk enough to bend it back to make the new line straighter. I haven't tried that. Not sure how callus healing the larger chop site will look long term.
Final strategy is to wire new leaders up as best as possible as seen from the front and not worry about the forward kinks. If it can't be seen from the front it doesn't exist!