1st Bonsai any tips?

[Suhmeer]

My gf bought me this ficus retusa about 2 weeks ago and I was wondering what I should do with this root sticking out of the pot? I was thinking of just cutting it or repotting it but I’m not sure if that would hurt the plant?

 

[Gabler]

My gf bought me this ficus retusa about 2 weeks ago and I was wondering what I should do with this root sticking out of the pot? I was thinking of just cutting it or repotting it but I’m not sure if that would hurt the plant?

It would be safe to chop off that root.

If it's summer in your part of the world, put that ficus outside.

Also, it's a Ficus microcarpa, not a Ficus retusa. They're commonly mislabelled. It's actually two different cultivars of F. microcarpa grafted together.

If you really want to take this tree to the next level, move the tree to a bigger pot and surround the trunk and branches with moist (not wet) sphagnum moss. That should trigger it to produce roots all around the trunk and branches, and you can turn this into a banyan style with lots of aerial roots. From there, move it into a wide, shallow bonsai pot, and you should have pretty nice tree.

 

[Gabler]

Also, you should add your location to your profile. We don't even know whether it's late spring or late fall in your neck of the woods.

 

[Shibui]

Either option will be OK. Remove the root if you think it looks bad. That will not hurt the tree.
Repot into a larger pot if you think the root looks OK. Now should be a good time to repot Ficus in Pa and repotting ficus in summer won't hurt the tree either. If repotting I would probably remove most or all of the old soil and replace with something uniform rather than adding some new to some old.