I'd saw through them. I see trees like this all the time, it's due to widespread careless container production practices.

I agree with bboy, the situation does need to be addressed, and the two smaller roots in the picture also look like they will eventually cause problems. If you do decide to saw through the larger girdling root, you'll probably have to carefully cut just beside the trunk on each side and leave the root section, that's already embedded, where it is. It doesn't look like it would be likely to come out easily. The tree will grow around the root section. I can't tell from the picture how far around the root goes behind the tree or exactly how the attached end of the root looks (behind the tree in the picture). All this makes me wonder what's just below the surface. This situation could have probably been taken care of when the tree was first planted.

Yes, that's a pretty clear case of girdling roots. You have nothing to loose by attempting to remedy the situation. And it SHOULD buy you some time with this tree. Be advised though, that the overwhelming tendency in these cases is for the tree to initiate new roots at the point where the girdling ones were cut. Due to position and orientation, these new roots almost always will in turn, become girdlers themselves. Still, there is nothing to be lost by cutting them.

+oM

Without a pot wall or other barrier present there is no reason to expect replacement roots to grow in the wrong direction.

A SGR I cut 4 years ago on a Kousa dogwood (Cornus kousa) :

{{gwi:348687}}

The replacement roots (two of them, left and right) apparently grew in the right direction.

Olivier.

Resin, I don't understand what you are talking about. Would you explain?

If you remove the outer bark where the girdling root touches the other roots, then their respective cambiums will be in contact and will graft together. The girdling root will them be incorporated within the main root, instead of constricting it.

Resin