Chinese Elm Root

[Shamino]

Attached is a photo of my Chinese Elm. Can I safely take out the large protruding root that reaches for the front of the pot?

 

[penumbra]

You can definitely do it, but repotting time late winter is the ideal time. That will also give you the opportunity to see how extensive that root is. If the rest of the root system is sufficient, it could be done now, but it is not a race and waiting would be more prudent.

 

[Dabbler]

I pretty brutal with my elms and they just bonce back BUT wait until the last freeze in winter then do it

 

[Shibui]

There's obviously plenty of other roots so I'd remove it without any problem.
Is the plan to remove it right at the trunk? Shorten it and get better root ramification? shift it to one side?

It is getting quite late in your growing season now but I still think a complete chop could be done now - or at spring repot. If you just cut that root but leave it in the soil you'll almost certainly get a new Chinese elm growing from the cut end.

If the plan is to shorten it to get better ramification that would probably be better at a repot so you can see exactly what's going on. The root can still be used as a root cutting.

The only scale in the photo is leaves which can vary quite a lot in size but I'm guessing that root will be just a bit too thick to reposition. I've found they usually break when moved too much, especially any that are exposed. Deeper roots seem to be more pliable.

 

[WNC Bonsai]

My slippery elm had a gnarly surface root so instead of trying to fix the roots I just ground layered it and created an all new root system. Only took a couple of months and now I have a nice radial root system.