Dwarf Alberta Root ?

[WaywardSol]

Just doing some initial work on a dwarf alberta spruce, thinning junk branches and working my way down to find the actual base and found this weird knob of a root growing at the base. It roughly an oblong flattish globe shape going to a depth a bit more than the exposed front part. The mark on the top is from cutting a root that had been growing straight up.

I didn't do any extensive work to the root ball, just worked the surface down and teased the sides and bottom to loosen it up before slipping it into a larger pot. IOW I didn't get deep into the root ball, but all other roots looked normal. Overall the tree looked to be very healthy, just verging on being a bit pot bound.

Is this normal and something fine to leave on these? Just an oddly giant or fused together root? Or is it something these are known for and needs to be removed?

 

[pandacular]

It’s definitely unsightly, but I would say it’s nothing to be worried about for the health of the tree. Personally, I would be doing some work to remove it, a little bit each time the tree is repotted.

 

[Shibui]

Looks like some small roots got twisted together at some stage and have fused as they grew. That's reasonably common with commercial trees as the growers don't take any care when potting small plants on into larger containers.
Provided it is not too intrusive it's not a problem.

 

[rockm]

Welcome to container grown Alberta Spruce. It's just an ugly nebari. I've had similar on Alberta Spruce I've worked on. One of the reasons I stopped working on the species.