I often suggest considering our only job as growers is to identify what cultural condition(s) is/are limiting our green friends and to the greatest degree possible, eliminate the limitations. The better we become at that, the more it benefits our plants. Root congestion beyond a certain point (about the point in time where the root/soil mass can be lifted from the pot intact) is always limiting. If you have the wherewithal to eliminate root congestion by fully repotting a plant, which includes bare-rooting, root pruning, and a change of soil (and hopefully the soil holds very little excess water), it makes little sense not to eliminate the limitation. Most hobby growers harbor an almost inherent belief roots are relatively untouchable, and surely the plant must die if you treat them indelicately. That is very far from true. I'll provide a couple of additional image sequences to illustrate just how far I go when I prune.
Acer palmatum:
An aside: Did you note the wire around the base of the tree. It had an ugly root system so I layered off the top just above the old roots. The wire was removed before the plant was repotted.
Ficus benjamina "Too Little"
Most growers intuitively recognize a healthy root system when they see one. These plants definitely have healthy root systems with a heavy emphasis on fine roots, which do all the plant's heavy lifting. Consistently removing large roots that do little more than take up space, results in a substrate full of very productive roots:
Notice the substrate these plants are in, too:
This medium holds no perched water, so the plant realizes much more of its genetic potential by not having to go through the incessant death and regeneration of roots other plants in water-retentive substrates suffer.
Al
