Does removing branches really fatten the caudex?
I know many will disagree, and I used to be one of them, however I have been testing it out and here's what I got. The first couple pictures are 2 plants I sprouted 2 years ago. I cut all the long branches off the one on the right last August and left the other alone. I chose these 2 because they were very similar in size and the seeds came from the same seed pod as you can see the uncut one has grown much bigger and fatter.
The next picture is of last year's seedlings. I cut the top off one a month and a half ago and it had branched out nicely but the caudex is the same as the others.
The last pics are one I chopped last year. On this one I cut the main stem off which included all the foliage and it has only grown maybe 10% in a whole year and the caudex is still very skinny.
So my results tell me that when you cut the branches off the growth will slow dramatically. And, in my experiments, the caudex does not fatten up in any measurable amount. I will continue cutting mine because I prefer then to be short and bushy. Had anyone else tried a similar experiment? What were your results?