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

[ludwig]

Sorry - wrong category - I meant to put this in science.

[jno]

ah, that explains my bonsai redwood. It should have been 250ft tall by now.

[jno]

it is in science?

[ludwig]

^ yes it is. Apologies again, I'm losing the plot.

[ChuckFickens]

WOW, shocking...

Next up, a report telling us that fish kept in small bowls don't grow as large as they would in the wild.

[jno]

that also explains the 15ft goldfish in the North Atlantic, then

[Robinia]

oh tut, why didn't they come up with this 20 years ago? I could have saved a fortune by not paying tree surgeons to prune them.

[ludwig]

Maybe I should take my youngest child out of his cage. This could be why he's small for a teenager.

[Robinia]

:o)

[LoftyLottie]

I think I would love to receive a large grant for researching the absolute obvious................................. But am apparently not qualified enough!!!

[tonyav]

Well thats because you are to obvious, Lottie.

[jno]

actually, I'm getting the oak tree pruned this month. Maybe I could save on future bills by asking him to pop it in a pot for me while he's here.

[LoftyLottie]

Just build a swimming pool around it jno!

[jno]

good thinking, and I could put the goldfish in it to encourage them to expand

[LoftyLottie]

Very True!!

[ludwig]

Update on my son - he refuses to come out. He says he'd miss going round in the wheel and running through the plastic tunnels too much.

[LoftyLottie]

LOL!!

[jake-the-peg]

You're not getting the point are you?

I'm guessing you came to that conclusion after reading what 2 maybe 3 sentences?

Firstly they're looking at the signalling technique - How do the roots signal to the rest of the plant they're restricted? it's not just limited roots therefore limited nutrients - there's probably hormonal signalling going on here.

Secondly the way the roots then behave is interesting:

"When they reach the edge, they send some kind of signal to the shoots to say, 'there's a problem - stop growing'."

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.

*"The inside of the pot is hardly used,"* explained Dr Poorter.//


Thirdly this happens even in very large pots:

//"Even the largest pot was not large enough not to limit growth."//




You really ought to think about stuff a bit more before jumping to the conclusion that scientists are there doing stupid waste of time experiments


Think "Is it even remotely possibly they might know more about it than I do?"

[woofgang]

I think it was just a good excuse to show off their new expensive whizzy toy. What i don't get is how size=happiness. Bonsais live longer, will flower and fruit like their full size counterparts...so how can they say the plant is unhappier?

[ludwig]

Jake - lighten up for F*s sake. It's a deliberately jokey question, not a serious critique of scientific reasearch methodology.

Sorry to have committed the sin of appearing to make light of your esteemed colleagues in the scientific community.