I was under the impression that the roots mimicking the top foliage was a myth like watering burning leaves in midday. Tap roots don't take up nutrients like fine feeder roots. They extend in search of water. It seems to me that extending thick roots wouldn't really create more top growth, but the fine feeder root mass would from all the nutrient uptake. Which makes me think of the reason bonsai soil is advised for developing trees. The more water, air, and nutrients the roots have access to the more healthy strong growth they will exhibit. In turn, it would seem to me that a vigorously fertilized and watered plant in a pond basket filled with bonsai soil would have more strong growth than one in nursery dirt. This isn't from experience, nor is it scientific, but it seems logical to me. I could be wrong.
I am not an expert in this field....
As previously mentioned, so I will try and explain in a somewhat
Logical manner... and I am sure somewhere I might get this wrong, and
Someone will jump all over me, but here goes...
Two things, the first being that obviously constant cutting is going to
Reduce size, branches or roots, and will continue to divert energy
making more roots, more branches, so this is going to play a major factor.
This is why we call this process growing out, For the tree is being allowed to run free...
The larger the roots grow the larger the trunk grows.
Second which address the soil question, Is that the more air within the soil the tree
Will produce more roots. The trees energy is now being drawn in from multiple
Locations, so the size of the roots will take longer to increase. The more roots, the more
Branches and foliage the tree will now be able to substain. Roots on a tree often are
Compartmentalize, where a specific root will help to feed a specific portion of the tree.
So, the new branches and foliage will draw energy from the new roots that has been created.
In the early days of a tree, the few roots that it has are compartmentalized to the top branch, to help it grow tall.
With the goal of helping push the tree higher and higher in order for the tree to now obtain more sun. So that
It may then begin to branch out. The make-up of a nursery soil usually will hold more moisture, which
As said before does not encourage new roots, but instead helps to feed the roots that have been
Assigned to the leader of the tree, to make it grow taller. The leader which is usually directed above
The trunk, will be quicker and a more direct path to pull nutrients up from
The soil, greatly increasing the trunks size in a short amount of time.
Once the desired size is obtained, and one now wants to begin developing the
Material into a bonsai, I would then suggest it be removed from the nursery soil and
Planted in a more traditional bonsai soil, which is better suited for the next step...
Development of more roots, more branches, more foliage.
I hope some of this makes some sense...
I know I am always told by folks here I don't know what I am talking
About... and it may be all BS... but, it seems logical, and seems to work !!!