I believe it does help promote bigger caudex, but more over it produces a void with no roots for future raising of the plant to have a lifted/stilt appearance as a mature plant. This process would take many years and they are quite something.
Rick
"Many times a day I realize how much my own outer and inner life is built upon the labors of my fellow men, both living and dead, and how earnestly I must exert myself in order to give in return as much as I received"
