Did you know this?

[ludwig]

News just in from researchers at the university of the bleedin' obvious.
..Pot-bound plants don't grow as big as they might otherwise do.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/18612661

[woofgang]

research shows that 97.333 recurring of researchers get pizzed off and grumpy when their colleagues are laughed at.

[jno]

[i] Each plant appeared to be trying to escape its pot; more than three quarters of the root system was in the outer half of the container. [i]

But as Ludwig asked: is this news? Isn't that what roots do? They grow down and they grow out, and in pots they can't.

The actual mechanism whereby they communicate all this among themselves may be interesting, but it doesn't seem to be the point of the research. Instead, the researchers seem just as stunned as I was:

<<Lead researcher Hendrik Poorter, from the Julich research institute in Germany, told BBC Nature that as soon as he saw the results, he re-potted all of his houseplants.>>

[woofgang]

I wonder if the images would be different if a reservoir of water and nutrition was placed in the centre of the pot?

[Robinia]

lol...It's being discussed with humour on many sites. Thousands of miserable plants all over the country are being liberated from cramped conditions as we speak...look out for a rush of posts on garden law about overhanging aspidistras blocking the light.

[wildwood]

It is well known that plants in smallish pots will flower/set seed/fruit earlier so maybe this new root growth knowledge will enable us to stagger crops so fresh broad beans are available the whole year through.

[shoota]

All they had to do was ask someone who knows about Bonsai - I read this in 'How to' books when I first started keeping Bonsai yonks ago............

[gness]

Now I know why I have size 2 feet.

[askyourgran]

I wish my neighbour had grown his lleylandii in pots, instead of all around his bungalow 40' tall.

[jno]

gness walks around with her feet in flower pots... that explains such a lot

[ChuckFickens]

One of my neighbours used to grow pot in his lleylandii