I whack 'em with an ax sometimes. If you have a solid mass of roots it has to be pruned off. I routinely use the shovel, when planting, to prune off the bottom inch or two or four of the rootball to remove wadded up roots, then slice down the sides, or shave them off entirely. The only roots that pick up water and nutrients are the tiny young rootlets; all that other stuff is just mechanical support. That's for extreme cases. If it's a mild case, then you can just tickle them loose, or make a few scores down the sides and along the bottom. Whatever roots come loose, spread out in the hole. I once read an article in a nursery trade journal where the author recommended pruning all roots of all woody nursery stock back to just a few inches, so the plant can grow new roots in its new soil, rather than have it sitting in container mix or field clay while planted in a different soil type, and to remove any circling or girdling roots. Poor root structure is a serious problem with nursery stock. Having roots growing in two soil types is also a serious problem. But you can't plant this way in summer! and I don't know anyone who does it, it just goes against everything we were taught. I come close when I whack back the rootball with a shovel or ax. Now I've dug extra big holes for bare roots with beautiful root structure. I once got a La Ville de Bruxelles with huge, long, straight roots that spread symmetrically for a diameter of 4 feet. I dug a hole big enough to get all those roots into! they were gorgeous! and man did that plant explode out of the ground its first spring. And it was very drought tolerant its first summer too. I attribute both to having all those roots spread symmetrically through the native soil. But, an unusual case. Most roots aren't in good enough shape to do that with.

Sorry it took so long to get back. I found a large box of roses at the front door. They were own root bare root Took all day to get them planted. Just wanted to say make sure you plant your graft at least 4 inches under ground. Can be a bit of a trick sometimes. But you can plant it at an angle so that the branches are pointed up. Then just point end ends of the roots down. As others have said trim off the brown tips before planting. Even if your rose ends up under ground it will be fine as it will not survive winter if the graft is not buried. Mine that came today had a lot of damage to the canes that had to be trimmed off. So by the time they were planted some only stuck out of the ground a inch. With some of the canes (branches) totally buried. Best wishes for a happy rose season.

I over winter them in my z4 area by digging a trench in my veg. garden a couple inches wider & deeper than the diameter of the pot they're in, lay them in the trench on their sides & cover them up with the soil I dug out to make the trench. Have very good results using this method. NOTE...I use plastic pots & they can stay in the pot over winter but if you use clay or ceramic pots, take them out of the pots because these materials can't take freezing.

Ben... I know what you mean... these days for practical purposes I use lightweight resin pots... they are not glamour pots like the ceramic ones, but they suit my purposes.. they are all straight sided, no curves or bulbous shapes... if I had those I would have to use a shovel and get right in there and dig it out... with straight sides they should pull out easily enough... although my 'Marie Pavie' shown above is in a rounded pot but the sides are straight within.. and that rose will be going in the ground this winter.. ..another trick with these types of plastic pots is that I can cut out the base... here's an example of a climbing rose 'Ballerina' planted in one of these... I did not want to dig a hole here, so the pot was necessary.. obviously I planted it up in situ because the base was removed... so the roots if they want can get out the bottom into the ground below... but again I may not keep the rose that long, but if those roots have gone down into the ground and I want to discard the rose, I would just tilt the pot, sever any roots going into the soil, lay the pot on one side, and pull Ballerina out of it... then start again with another rose... but I reckon this rose could be kept going in this pot, this way, indefinitely... ...this is my Lichfield Angel trough just after I planted it... my Benjamin Britten was in this for 5 years and I noticed signs of deterioration.. it wasn't flushing so well or so often.. I used to get 4 or 5 flushes a season from that rose... so I used a shovel and dug it out... very easy to do.. then replanted with LA... ...some pots I have I think will only serve for 2 seasons, but by then I shall just remove the rose completely... and move on to something else... ...it's the regular watering I dislike the most... I never have enough rain water, and they hate my tap water... that's my biggest issue with pots really...