I never thought about having to look up any research. Many years ago, I reasoned through the physiology part, then looking at the results of the thousands of plants I've root pruned in containers and in the ground confirmed how it all works. This is on a smaller scale, but here's a plant I initially air layered off a trident maple: Getting into the root pruning here Root pruning complete Top quality trees for bonsai require a perfect root base. We either have to graft roots onto the plant or create a perfect root base some other way or the tree is just 'eh'. Note the tourniquet, which blocks the downward movement of auxin and photosynthate through phloem tissues where it accumulates in the tissue above the tourniquet. I drilled 7 holes through the phloem and vascular cambium, filled the holes with rooting gel, repotted the plant. You can see the result. Trees in the ground are no different than trees in pots. I manipulate them in the same fashion, but rather than using a root cutter I'll use a lopper or very sharp spade to sever roots in fall & lift the tree in the spring. Of course, there is an advantage in the timing I use, seldom going longer than 2 years w/o root pruning trees in the ground, which helps to keep fine rootage close to the trunk. I also collect (from the wild) yamadori, which are specimens taken to be trained as bonsai. Often, you'll find a specimen with only 1 primary root, and no fine roots for many feet from the trunk, especially in rocky terrain. If you want to collect those trees, you need to be inventive in forcing the tree to produce roots close enough to the trunk that you can collect the tree. Sometimes it's a process that takes up to 3 years to get the tree to where it's collectable. I don't want to jinx myself by saying it, but I haven't lost a wild tree yet. I guess the whole point is, this in-ground root pruning stuff is a valuable aid when it comes to easing the plant's transition to a transplant site. An interesting aside: I at a dinner 2 weeks ago with a past president of the Michigan Nurseryman's Association. We were talking about "something new", I don't even remember what it was. He said, "You know, Al, we don't do ANYTHING (his emphasis) the same way that we did 30 years ago. Everything has changed, and we had to relearn everything we thought we knew along the way". The man is almost 90 years old, and I was surprised that what he attributes the largest change of all to is the advent of plastic. Anyway, the point is, what was considered a good and reasonable practice in 1987 has probably been improved upon considerably since. Take care. Al

Agreed, Dracaena fragrans cultivar (synonym D. deremensis.) You are absolutely entitled to your opinion, but you may discover there aren't many in agreement about it getting too tall. At 18 inches, it's still a toddler. It looks absolutely perfect to me, but you have my full support in manipulating it to achieve the look you want. Yes, it can be propagated, but the new top(s) that the stump will grow will come from the stump at an angle from the side - like a corn plant. If you've noticed corn plants before, those are the same species, and that's usually the resulting look for the stump portion post-beheading. There's always a little nub of naked stump. After pruning, it's never a straight-up entity again, but a branched one, or at least one with a 'kink' in the middle where the growth angle changes. To have a shorter version of this plant with a straight trunk, you'll probably be most interested in having the removed top take root. There are no guarantees, but these plants are expected to do that when cut/propagated. Devote at least 2 inches to submerging into the soil, and remove any leaves along that part of the stem. Use a soil/mix without fertilizer added to it. There are many discussions/pics about Dracaena plants in the house plant forum. Some of them like various amounts of light, but are all otherwise similar, especially in regard to propagation. Here's a similar cultivar re-growing after being beheaded.

I have a couple of roses that I do a "snow tip pruning" on every year because they have stiff canes and if we have a heavy snow are liable to breakage from the weight of the snow. The goal is to remove as little plant material as possible, but also to open up the canopy so that it doesn't catch a lot of snow and cause breakage. In a way, you could call it "lacing" the top of the rose. We had an early snow this year and I hadn't done my snow tip pruning and one plant was bent over to where the top of the plant was almost touching the ground. I went out and shook the snow off at 10 pm and hoped we would not have more snow that night. The next day I did the very light snow tip pruning and I doubt if I will have any problems with breakage. I never take the rose down to where I would prune it in spring. I'd just rather decide how far down to prune it than to allow nature decide for me. Watching for when the forsythias bloom is a great rule of thumb. Growing roses in my area is complicated by microclimates and I've found that the forsythias bloom across town at least two weeks before my forsythia blooms. So, I wait for mine to show color before I do my real pruning. Smiles, Lyn

Okay, so just clarifying for myself here since some folks are saying 'smaller batches' and some are saying 'smaller jars.' If I want to PC in smaller jars than are listed in the tables, I can do so and simply follow the same timing as for larger jars, is that correct? I know that in general that's the procedure, but I wasn't sure if there was any reason a very small jar shouldn't be used. (I called my county extension about this question and was told that if the jar size wasn't listed in the tables, they could give advice. That's the gov't.) For context, what I want to do is can peppers into 4-oz jars. I use a lot of this product in various final recipes that call for a 4-oz jar of commercially-canned chiles, and I don't want leftovers if I don't have to. OTOH, if very small jars aren't a good idea, I'll just go with half-pints and either double the final recipe or use a few extra peppers in it if I think it won't make the recipe too hot. Is there any reason I =wouldn't= want to go to a jar this small? Other than that they might end up overprocessed mush, that is? Should I leave the headspace at 1" (which is what's called for in both pints and half-pints) even though I'm going to a very small jar? Thanks for any advice! Val Here is a link that might be useful: the commercial product I'm trying to replace with my own home-canned product