Hitech origami

[52midnight]

I've just joined this forum in order to explore an idea that applies modern technology to origami. I'm a (very) amateur gardener, though happily successful, and have been taking odd inexpensive seedlings, shoots and sprouts from the local multinational "garden" outlet for purposes of experimentation. OK, so I'm a predator on an establishment child orphanage, but there may be something interesting here.

The latest is an Impatiens that looked very strong. When I got it home it seemed to be a short cutting from a stout stem about a quarter inch diameter. It brightened nicely until I repotted it from the three-inch plastic to a ten-inch by ten-inch terracotta with rich soil. It's now sprung a bright new stem, brought a budding flower into very colourful single bloom on the old stem for a few days, and now leaves on the old stem have died with new buds appearing all over.

The interesting thing is this. As I was repotting, I noticed that the roots had badly overgrown: thick and twisted within the limits of the three-inch pot. Didn't think much about it at the time, but on reflection I probably should have washed and straightened them carefully.

This got me thinking about the whole process of origami, which in one view is controlling the growth of a plant by controlling its roots, which are very delicate organisms. Say I had tried to straighten the "hunch-back" roots of this plant, I would probably have damaged them. In the new pot it is still stuck with its old pattern of root growth, and will need to grow new roots around the old ones. But what if I had a "vibrating table"? Say I was able to temporarily repot it in a large pot with loose, sandy soil, and vibrate it regularly for a few minutes every hour or so? Would the old roots be able to "stretch their legs" into the open freedom of the new loose soil?

I say this because the accepted mental image of origami is a picturesque dwarf tree, but closely twisted. Let's say this new technique worked. Could we then grow miniature tall, straight spruce pines by allowing their roots freedom to "vibrate down" into a tall straight pot and cut them to fit instead of just constraining them within a shallow bowl?

Over to others in all ignorance of what value might be in this.

[Edg]

Sorry if I'm mistaken but are you confusing origami (the art of paper folding) with bonsai (the art of growing artificially dwarfed ornamental trees and shrubs)?
As far as I know, bonsai trees are kept small by pruning/restriction of the roots, but I probably shouldn't get into horticulture here! Sorry if I've misunderstood your post

[52midnight]

Opps! Yes I have. Very sorry, done in a hurry and should have checked. Will quietly disappear.

[Brimstone]

C'mon you've gotta be trolling us!

[origami_8]

Oh Brimstone, don't be mean. Origami, Bonsai, Ikebana, ... all those Italian herbs are really hard to distinguish.