Hey guys,
I have stewartia with a fugly old root sticking out towards the back of the tree. It’s been bugging me ever since I got it.
It looks like complete removal of the root could be quite disruptive. Are you considering initially just cutting the root from the trunk? This would allow the scar on the trunk some time to heal before the bulk of the roots are disturbed. The offensive root would then be removed at the time of the next repotting.
Or you could increase your moss coverage. 
Yup, my original plan was to just cut it at the base near the trunk and where it goes under the soil line, let the tree adapt without repotting it or disturbing the rest of the roots, letting it sit for a year or two as is, then remove the dead roots beneath the soil line at the next repot.
I am a bit concerned about leaving the detached root in the soil to rot. In addition, it prevents the other smaller roots from occupying the space. I would remove the root as part of a repot. Most of the work can be around the big root you are removing, but you might also find a few larger roots at the outer edges of the pad that can be trimmed.
You’ve got a point there with leaving big roots to rot.
Ok, last spring I cut it and pulled the root out of the soil mass, no issues at all.
Here it is a year and a half leter completely healed.
So, question. I just want to understand why you chose to make the cut between the pale forked roots. The third picture in the original post makes it look like your problem root starts on the left side of the tree, where it then makes a 90° turn to go under the other roots. Could you have instead made a near-horizontal cut behind the forked roots and thereby removed more of it? Basically just to the left of the wire hook in your newest photo? What am I missing?
There are a few reasons I didn’t go deeper with the cut.
I wasn’t sure how the tree would react and I was a bit cautious not to cause dieback at the base.
Second reason, the only way I could have gotten any deeper was if I bare rooted half of the entire rootbase and go in from the bottom to make the cut, which might have done more harm then good. It’s a well developed and 35+ years old rootsystem and I didn’t want to risk it.
Now it’s not visible from front at all and it’s possible that those smaller roots will eventually grow over it, fuse and hide it.
Here’s a better pic
Makes sense. I wondered what the roots underneath everything were doing. Aesthetically, I thought a cut further back made sense. But the tree’s health comes first. This is a wonderful tree and i’m looking forward to seeing it again.
Chad
