Why is there inverse taper in so many pre-bonsai black pines?

[Mame-Mo]

I figured this would be best suited here since it's sort of a general question/discussion topic. Sorry if it's been thoroughly explained somewhere else and I just haven't found it, but I've been really curious for a while now. Why do SO many JBP pre-bonsai have such horrible inverse taper? I don't want to put any particular seller on blast, but if you just check ebay or anywhere else where young stock gets sold regularly, there are always many tress that have tiny little bases followed by a huge swell in the trunk. The best way I can think to describe it is like the knot in a balloon. Does anyone else notice this? Could it just be selection bias (people only want to sell the trees that are flawed and keep their good stock)? Some bad wiring practice when the trees were younger? Hell is that how they're supposed to look and I just don't understand why?

 

[Wilson]

I haven't noticed this problem, but are the trees you are looking at grafted? If they are ordinary jbp and have obvious inverse taper, I would chalk it up to poor cultivation. @Eric Schrader is one of the best producers of jbp material I have seen, so if I was in the US that's who I would be buying material from.

 

[Mame-Mo]

He did a demo at our club last night! Lost $20 on a raffle trying to get one of his trees. He also diagnosed my JBP’s foliage I was worried about. Turns out it was a Japanese red pine . I’m not currently shopping per se, I just keep an eye out to see what’s available and look for good deals. I got an amazing shimpaku (at least to my standards just hunting eBay) but I see those pines with such frequency I just wondered if it was a known problem. It’s such a specific look it almost looks like it’s done on purpose.

 

[cheap_walmart_art]

He did a demo at our club last night! Lost $20 on a raffle trying to get one of his trees. He also diagnosed my JBP’s foliage I was worried about. Turns out it was a Japanese red pine . I’m not currently shopping per se, I just keep an eye out to see what’s available and look for good deals. I got an amazing shimpaku (at least to my standards just hunting eBay) but I see those pines with such frequency I just wondered if it was a known problem. It’s such a specific look it almost looks like it’s done on purpose.

I've noticed as well - you aren't crazy! I know it is a popular technique to wire a young JBP then let the bark grow over the wire. Mass producers use this technique for quick trunk thickening and gnarly bark. My guess is that when you see them with bad inverse taper it's because soil has been pulled away or washed away revealing the natural trunk below where they started wiring.

 

[WNC Bonsai]

The more important question is how do you get rid of it? Will keeping branches around it as sacrifice do it? Can it be carved down and allowed to callous over?