AusBonsai

Hello

This little conifer started growing out of nowhere next to another potted plant. Going to have to be patient to ID it, but judging from the region and seeing what grows nearby, it might be a stone, maritime, or aleppo pine. It appeared perhaps two years ago and is now about 15cm tall, in a 15cm diameter pot.
Here it was last year ^
And this weekend ^

It clearly needs to grow a few more years.
I don't know whether I should pot it up and/or do something with the roots.

I just took it out to have a look at the roots. There are a few starting to spiral around the bottom but it's no-where near being pot-bound. I'm sure it would keep growing in the same pot for at least another year, but would it grow faster/better if I put it in something slightly bigger with some fresh soil?

Just in between winter and spring here.

Cheers,
Josh

Hi Joshua, looks very much like an Aleppo pine, but as you said, still too early for a positive I.D. I would work towards flattening out the roots as soon as possible with consideration given to your weather conditions where you are, even if you only gently remove some soil from the bottom and lightly prune and spread them out, perhaps over an old CD. Then you won't have to do a drastic chop when they have filled the pot.

It’s a pine, that’s for sure... and heading into spring is a good time for work on pine roots as RB alludes to above. It’s really up to you though. It sounds like there is plenty of room in the pot so it most likely won’t get root bound in there given the rate of growth to date, but root pruning will encourage new finer roots back in closer to the trunk and that is key for bonsai success. If you leave the roots the plant will live but it will develop and elongate roots from the tips, and therefore the important/viable root mass extends further from the trunk. It’s only young so you have time, but I’m not sure it’s ever too early to start getting roots in order if you have a healthy tree (I think you do) and it’s the right time of year (which I think it is).

Slipping it into a larger pot will give more growth but the others are correct about getting better radial roots going early by root pruning.
I would root prune now as you are coming into spring and pop it into a larger pot for extra growth this summer. Root pruning does not stop growth. Sometimes it actually increases growth of younger trees.