FWIW,
Maybe dig it back up and remove those roots, or at least part of them where they begin to turn back (leaving where they turn downward and before). It's small enough it would probable survive. This is of course if you decide the tree is ultimately destined to fail, at which point you would have little to lose.

JMHO,
Arktrees

in your zone.. in this crumby cold time called spring ..

dig it back up.. bare root it .. fix it.. and replant properly ...

you are so perfect in planting at the proper time of year.. and the tree is dormant... so go for it ...

oaks are usually late to bud out.. so there is plenty of time

ken

I'll dig it back up and if for some reason I'm at a loss, I'll post a pic.

I did bareroot and flopped the roots outware but there where roots that turned back at 90 degrees and weren't flexible.

Sounds like I can just prune those roots back to the angle and it will regenerate from that point?

I feel like I have this preconcived notion that I need to prune a root all the way back to the trunk/root flare.

Is there a rule as far as how much of the root system I can prune?

I guess in the end, I'm better off correcting with major root loss vs. investing 10 years in the tree and have it fail.

I personally think you will be fine if you prune back to the angle. Root to root graph readily, it's root to stem is where the problems happen for the most part. If you have a inch or two or more of root pointing away from the flare, then I don't see a reason to prune it all the way back to the flare. Others might disagree though. You might draw a diagram (in lue of digging the tree up again just yet) of what you saw, just help make sure we are all on the same page as to how things really are.

Arktrees

prune to the angle ... have no real fear with those TINY trees..

look what i did to a 6-8 foot cherry ..

ken
{{gwi:325678}}