In article ,
Jaques d'Alltrades writes:
| The message
| from "Arthur" contains these words:
|
| But the roots will keep growing ...
|
| No they won't, not if you keep the tree trimmed. They have no need to.
|
| Not so. Even trees that have been regularly pollarded will grow massive
| root structures over the years. The trunk increases in girth every year,
| and so do the roots supporting it.
|
| We were talking of coppicing not polling. Root growth expands to match
| needs above ground.

It's not quite that simple. The roots of coppiced plants do keep
growing, though not usually as fast, because the plant has to put
more energy into regrowing the shoots. You can see that on old
ones, including Cornus (which is often grown that way).


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.