Should I cut this crossing root on my Ukigumo sometime late winter / early Spring? I assume as the tree gets larger, the root will cause problems with the trunk.
I would. New plant ? If new plant. I would consider doing some sort of bare rooting : root correction before replanting ..... IME sometimes with plant stock you get from the nursery, the top root may be a advantageous root and the root flare is below it You should have seen what I did to my poor conifer....it hasn't died and has set new buds though This spring, I cleaned it up......and removed 3 tiers:sets:levels of roots above the root flare. I was scared I might have shocked it...even though this was dormant season.
I don't want to be the one that screams it's planted too deep as the usual answer...... I'd start with maybe just pulling back some of the mulch just to expose the roots a bit more to see where the crossing beings and then let guide you from there
Here is the conifer I mentioned earlier.....I killed the 1st same cultivar the same season I got it. So I was a bit squeamish on messing with the replacement I bought until 2 years later, when I worked up the ## to check out the roots. I cut 6 roots after doing discovery. Conifers are picky so I knew there might be a 50:50 I shocked it. Luckily she's sent new needles ..... https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/s71i...ey=7qr6l4frqli23edoz386hkafd&st=t4llq7pk&dl=0 Just goes to show you....expect anything and everything from the nursery...
I would simply cut it where it emerges from the ground and then, if it doesn't easily pull out, cut it at the other end. I would do this simply because it is ugly. It does not pose any threat to the health of your tree. The "girdling roots" that one should worry about are ones that circle around (girdle) the trunk. Maple roots and shoots become quite stiff in fairly short order, so once the trunk thickens enough, the girdling root acts like a tourniquet cutting off the flow of carbohydrates to the other roots. Consequently the roots die and the tree dies. The 'bridging' root in your photo is entirely on one side of the tree and hence, is not a girdling root. Eventually it would just fuse with the roots it is crossing (just as one may see crossing branches fuse if allowed to remain). Again, that root poses no threats to the health of the tree (because there are other roots). It is just ugly and will just get uglier. If it remained underground you wouldn't see it and needn't worry. But, it is on the surface ... On the other hand, if you want to dig it for some reason, I recommend that you wait until spring.
Yes, cut the root, on both sides., dig into the ground a little. You can do it whenever, it's pretty small.
It does add character, won't hurt anything regarding the root system of the tree. Personally I would just leave it alone.
