Several decades ago when I was teaching bonsai at Cornell my
plant
physiology professor took my Introductory Bonsai course. He
corrected
all my mistakes after class, including this myth. Once when
talking
about forests I mentioned what John said about removing
branches and
roots on the same side of the tree. He said there IS cross
movement
within a tree, and a root on the right side of the tree may
help to
feed branches on the left side. I tend to believe my professor,
rather
than bonsai myths which have been going around for ages.

By the way, I passed my plant physiology class and my professor
passed
my bonsai course....

I don't think this can be stressed too much.

Bonsai books (and demonstrations or workshops) are NOT where you
go to learn botany.

They teach the craft (or art, if you will) of bonsai design. As
often as not, the science is dead wrong.

Leave teaching how plants grow and why they grow as they do to
the scientists -- or at least to the horticulturalists. ;-)

This is NOT to say that experience doesn't leave you with
perfectly valid anecdotal knowledge about plant _behavior_ under
certain conditions (light, fertilizer, water, etc.); but HOW they
do what they do is best left to the docs. (And for many bonsai
situations, you don't really _need_ to know that stuff. It's
just interesting, and it is always nice to learn something new.)

Jim Lewis - - Tallahassee, FL - The phrase
'sustainable growth' is an oxymoron. - Stephen Viederman

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