Within as little as two weeks of seeds being sown, the scientist explained, a
plant's roots would stretch to the edge of the pot and then, "the trouble
starts".
"When they reach the edge, they send some kind of signal to the shoots to
say, 'there's a problem - stop growing'."
Each plant appeared to be trying to escape its pot; more than three quarters
of the root system was in the outer half of the container.
"The inside of the pot is hardly used," explained Dr Poorter.
Research in this subject has, in the past, focused on pot size from the
perspective of how small a container plants can be grown in, as the aim is to
grow as many plants as possible per square metre in a commercial setting.