Hi Ray,
I have seen the two articles, and tried to read some more to understand it...since it answered a small portion of my questions.
This is what I found and maybe understood or misunderstood
But for sure it confuses me a lot.Maybe if I new what the objective of the colander method is it will be more understood. Is it for nebari or trunk thickening, or maybe for easy transplanting/ relocating of trees that handle large root reduction with difficulties?:
Trees have different type of roots, and the root system of different trees might be different.
most feeder roots are at the surface, some distance from the trunk and grow upwards from the lateral roots, towards the surface.
Cutting the roots stresses the tree.
new roots mostly emerge from the cut surface of the root, and does not promote much/ or none emergence of fine roots nearer to the trunk.
Feeder roots are situated at the tips of larger roots.
I quote some of the things I found:
Established trees that have been growing in the ground have roots that reach out far beyond the branches or drip line. These long branches are used by the tree to anchor and support it. However most of the small feeder roots, which bring in food and nutrients to the tree, are likely to be found growing off the main roots at some distance from the tree itself.
However in a pinch, 2-3 months should allow enough time for the tree to overcome the stress of root pruning and to start the process of developing new feeder roots.
Link:
http://gardening.about.com/od/gardenpri ... runing.htm
Root pruning does not stimulate root branching all the way back to the trunk. Roots are often pruned before moving a tree in hopes of creating a denser root ball. However most root growth after root pruning occurs at the end of the root just behind the root pruning cut, not back toward the trunk. Therefore, dig the root ball of a recently root pruned tree several inches beyond the location of the root pruning. Root pruning should be conducted 6 to 10 weeks before moving the tree. Root pruning more than 10 weeks before moving the tree may reduce the advantages of pruning, because regenerated roots will quickly grow outside of the root ball.
Most roots are in the top 3 of soil. The finer roots are concentrated in the top several inches of soil. Most tree roots are located within the top 3' of soil. However, because the majority of the fine roots are concentrated in the top several inches of soil, minor soil disturbances can injure or remove a large portion of the absorbing roots on a tree. This often happens in landscapes surrounding recently constructed buildings.
Trees are often weakened by root damage caused by soil disturbances such as construction related activities. Because these trees are under stress, they often loose many leaves allowing more light to penetrate the branches.
Absorbing Roots feed into long, thin Conducting Roots, which carry water and minerals back toward the
trunk. In undisturbed forest soils the conducting roots may extend outward as much as 2 or more times the
height of the tree, mostly in the top 1-2 feet of soil. These conducting roots gradually converge into thick
lateral Brace Roots, which provide most of the tree's support.
And roots suffer the same loss of stored
energy when they must react to injury and contain decay.
Now here they dont talk about advantages of bonsai media that promotes development of finer roots within the colander...and I think that is an advantage.
If new roots emerge from the cut surface mostly...then those new roots will be always outside the colander...if feeder roots are mostly at the end of those roots, what is the point of cutting them many times? Why not leave them for the tree to grow rapidly?
If all feeder roots are within 20-30 cm from the surface...some will develop inside the colander... (though they say that they develop away from the trunk at the tips of the roots.)
Will it not be better for the creation of better nebari and more feeder roots in the colander...to cut some (not all) large roots in the colander, since the new feeder/fine roots will develop at the tips? This way, the root will branch close to the trunk...and develop feeder roots inside the colander, and make better nebari? After 2 month during warm weather additional roots can be cut, till all are sorted out...
Some of this roots will escape still and help develop the trunk/nebari, but that way larger portion of fine roots will be in the colander, and by allowing some roots to grow outside the colander/or packet, without cutting them, will make the roots of the nebari will thicken much better.
That is what I think...but obviously there must me much more factors that I am not aware of...Just very simple amateurish thinking, and reasoning without proper in depth knowledge.
but were big fans of just growing in colanders for development. Somebody posted this video and I thought I would share. I have no affiliation with the product and I'm not endorsing it as I've never even tried it, but the theory behind the video should be the same as growing in a colander.
so I want to plant a couple in to the ground, to thicken them up a bit. I thought this might be a good way to get some extra growth on them.
