I found this here http://bonsainut.com/forums/showthread. ... nt-Project
I came across these on http://www.bonsainut.com when I stumbled across colander growing and "air pruning" which I believe Vance Wood introduce to the U.S.
Has anyone had any success with either the air pruning (By allowing roots to escape the colander allowing formation of a fine root system which dies from sun exposure and therefore ramifies and maintains a denser root-mass close to the trunk) or the "escape method"
The escape method is when you put a container, not a bonsai pot but a nursery container, grow box, "anderson flat" etc, on the ground and let the roots escape from the container into the ground. When you get the trunks size and growth that you want you just cut the escaped roots that are in the ground and what you have left is a good root-ball in a container. This works great for a few reasons, 1) you get most of the benefits of ground growing while maintaining a good root-ball when it comes time to dig it up and 2) you get an accelerated growth rate while still in a pot. This is the fastest way to grow without putting the whole thing in the ground.
My concern using the colander method in Australia would be the need of almost constant watering during summer. I imagine with the extra air circulation, and the already course substrate most of us use, watering could become a full-time jobA lot of times trees are grown in a colander or strainer NOT to produce a small root system but to get the maximum amount of oxygen to the roots. This in turn allows the tree to thicken much faster then in a normal container. The Japanese have mastered this technique, something that us Americans haven't figured out yet. We tend to only use them to work with roots, which is only a small part of what can be done with them when you use multiple colanders.
on further investigation, looks like someone found a kind of solution http://bonsainut.com/forums/showthread. ... a-colander please forgive me if this sharing of another bonsai forum is frowned upon, I am just trying to gain and share knowledge and help improve bonsai in Australia.
