As long as it's not something that strongly objects to having its roots disturbed ( e.g. most tap-rooted plants...) I rip into it with a J-shaped crack-weeder tool that I find useful for many things. It does a great job of loosening and untangling pot-bound roots. A few of the roots might get ripped off by it, but I figure in most cases that just stimulates new root growth. That looks like a large pot and lots of roots so I'd be inclined to cut the very dense bit at the very bottom off completely! Plants have to be tough to survive in my garden!

:-)

I hack an X in the bottom. Sometimes I carry the slits up the sides, but that doesn't look necessary here.

I'd saw the bottom of that plant's root wad off with a serrated knife then slice 3 or 4 vertical cuts around the plant through the remaining visible roots, maybe heresy to some...

With very few exceptions, you want to disturb the rootball as much as possible. Depending on the size of the rootball, I either butterfly it (cut base in fourths almost up to the crown, then spread out the 4 quadrants nearly flat at planting), cut off the bottom inch to a third or the rootball and scrape or cut the sides, or soak in water and wash the soil out of the rootball to loosen the root system.

About the only time I wouldn't follow one of these methods is with a tap-rooted plant like a poppy or baptisia. But then, IME these seldom present as rootbound :-)

I do what gardengal says about washing the soil out of the rootball. I've found that transplants don't survive in my heavy clay soil if I leave that peat based media in the rootball. Once it's washed out, I can spread the root out. I think I learned that from Ken.

First, I get very angry about the state of life affairs.

Then I get in there and savagely rip, cut and pull apart all those confined and repressed roots with my bare hands and whatever tool speaks to me at the moment.

Freedom!

Thanks for the suggestion of using water to loosen up roots...I knew I would learn a tidbit or two in this thread.

Yea, I'm a ripper, grabber, puller, cutter, and shovel-hacker too - I just have at it. Some plants need rougher treatment, they're so root-bound. I figure it stimulates new root growth, and all is always fine. Timely topic - I planted a dwarf blue spruce the other day that had me huffing, puffing, grunting, and swearing before I finally got it out of the darn pot, and that calorie-burning was before I even took a shovel to the rootball LOL!

I cut the nursery pots off with scissors rather than pull on a root bound plant. I've got pots to spare LOL so it's no loss. In the above case, I'd cut off that mass at the bottom then gently loosen the rest with my fingers.

the fast way .....see that mat hanging out the bottom ... not really attached to the media above ... cut it all off ... and then butterfly the above with a giant X ... or just rip it apart ... make a cone of soil in the hole .. preferable at proper depth.. refill half way.. drown it.. refill the rest.. water once more.. and walk away ...

the slower method is the more surgical... spraying out all the media ... gently untangling it all.. until you get so fed up.. you just start ripping it all apart. . lol ..

its the right time of year.. that either option is probably viable ...

ken

Use a breadknife.

I use an old pruning saw I saved specifically for this purpose! But a bread knife or any serrated blade will work as well.

Use a breadknife.

Did that a few times but got in terrible trouble ;). But serendipitously these incidents led to me purchasing my go to garden tool...the Hori, Hori Knife.

For some curious reason a bread-knife or a fish knife is usually cheap at the nearest thrift store.

'albert', if I may ask, where are you located that puts you in a z2?

A "hori hori" knife, with one serrated edge, is excellent for sawing through tough root masses. Dividing clumps of tough roots/rhizomes became ever so much easier when I got one.

rouge - I am near the Carson City Nevada airport. USDA says it is a zone 7. Some locals say buy for USDA 4. I took my Sunset zone from an old Sunset book that says "ZONE 2. Second-coldest Western Climate. Growing season: early May through Sept. Winters are cold (lows run from -3 degrees to -34 degrees....''. We are near the Carson Sink so cold air puddles here at night. Most summers we get many days over 90 degrees. I've only seen several constitutive days below zero every five years or so.

ETA: it is a quite unnatural environment for growing anything.

Just this morning:

Cut off the bottom

"Butteflied" up from the bottom

looks just like what i would do ..

Great minds think alike Ken.

and if you lose them..

I will never lose my "hori hori'...I sleep with it under my pillow ;).

Ken - would that be a buck knife? (sorry)

I don't want to think of Ken losing large knives in his garden.

Older folks could perhaps make a pathetic joke about "...cold dead hands."