Where are you located?

a full repot would be best in late June of next year. That would mean remove ALL of the old soil and possibly pruning problematic roots.

No plants like to be root bound. But I found these don't take as well to repotting as everything else I grow.

Thanks, Dave. I'm in Northern Virginia. Zone 7a. What are some of the pitfalls you've encountered when repotting?

I noticed some yellowing and shedding of some lower branches after repotting.

Nothing that was much of a setback, but I've never lost even a single leaf when repotting other Tropicals.

Thanks. I'll keep that in mind!

I was just impressed with the solidity of the root system when I got it out--it seemed like the potting medium was really compacted, or something, because it really was difficult even to scratch a little of it away to make it small enough to get into an equal-sized pot with a bit of fresh potting mix at the bottom.

So one way or the other, I'll be dealing with it next year. I appreciate hearing about your experience.

No plant likes to be rootbound. IDK why people say that. Think, its a TREE, it likes soil with lots of nutrients, and it likes room to grow. It likes sun, wind, rain, grows in the regular dirt outside. Just my 2cents, take it with a grain of salt, but i am an avid tree lover, not much into houseplants, some are cool but mostly, those belong to my wife and kids. Im into trees. Especially trees that are grown and sold as house plants.

I would repot it now. A 6" pot is way too small for 3 Norfolks to be in now, let alone wait until Spring to repot. It sounds like the roots are girdling which will eventually strangle the plant. I would stick it in a bucket of water over night. You should be able to gentle tease the roots apart the next day.

Not a good time of year for that, Zzackey.

especially since they don't take as well to stress as some others.

I would not repot now.

Yeah, I don't know about it liking to be root bound. I thought maybe I was overstating what I read, but then I went back and looked and actually did see that exact phrase on at least one site.

I mean, what you all say makes sense to me--it seems as though any plant would do best when it has room to grow its roots, but maybe some plants put out more above-the-soil growth when its roots are a little constricted? I don't know. I guess that's what these sites are trying to say? They're not really explicit about it, however. Personally, I have very little experience with anything related to plants (obviously, I'm trying to learn!), so I can only guess.

I think it's probably fine for now in its current pot. It's pretty healthy, and it probably doesn't have much growth left in it for this year. I did do a little bit of root work on it when I had it out--just removing some of the encircling roots, mostly. But I guess I'll see!

The reason you should wait until June is because that's when the tree will have the most stored energy and growth due to daylight hours.

Days are getting shorter and the tree doesn't have the same stored energy it would have in the late spring.

Stored energy means it can handle the root work and repot. Lack or stored energy this time of year could cause more issues that it can't recover from.

I think some sites claim plants like to be rootbound simply to get people to not put them in too large of pots, because the particular tree/plants are prone to root rot. Just speculation on my part tho...