I recently tried that “bonsai” mother plant technique (branch and root pruning). It worked very well. Plant(s) bounced back nicely. I just wanted to see how well it worked. The coco rootball was so…tight and compact water would pool up on the surface ( 1.5gal pot I think) and take forever to seep through. I hate when that happens. Seems to always happen to me with coco. Rootbound to the point that it’s rock hard.
Edit: Didn’t realize the original bonsai mom thread was from here (it’s reproduced/updated in a couple articles online too):