I have this little Japanese maple thats root bound in a bonsai training pot. I live in zone 6, I cant repot it till feb, mar, but is there anything I can do now to remedy the situation? can I put it in the ground as is? or some bigger grow box? any info would be appreciated

Why do you think it must be repotted urgently? A picture would help

Because leaves are yellowing, browning, and dropping daily. and Im able to pull it out of the pot with soil and roots totally intact.

When was it pruned so heavily?
Does water still enter the soil? I would remove the moss so you can check the soil.
Has it been inside or was it out all the time?

hasn't been pruned, water does enter the soil, and drains through. Its always been outside. I feel like its gonna stop growing and leaves will continue to brown and crisp unless it gets some more room. its currently in 6" pot, Im about to just put it in an 8" with sphagnum moss till Im able to repot

Edit: Its currently in 8" pot. Thinking of putting it in 10" with moss till repot.

Those roots look really unhealthy. More a care issue than a too-small pot issue. With the right care, roots will just continue to grow at the bottom of the pot and push the tree out.

Note that pulling trees out of there pots is not a great idea.

what about the roots looks unhealthy? what steps would you take to properly care for it?

Hi Scott!

For anyone to give advice on what might be happening to your tree we need to know what work has been done to it recently (in the last 18 months or so) and how you currently care for the tree.

From the pictures you have posted it looks like the following:

Re-potted - spring 2020?? (maybe)
Heavy foliage prune - spring 2020
How often do you water the tree?

My thoughts:
From the pictures you've posted, and the description you give. It sounds like the roots aren't able to support the transpiration from the foliage. In my experience, this is unlikely to be because the tree is pot-bound. The picture you show of the roots confirms this, those roots are not particularly pot-bound.

What I do notice is that there is limited new root growth, new roots would be white (I've added pictures of the roots of a 6-month old sycamore for comparison, note: this was the only tree I was prepared to remove from a pot to photo, removing the tree from the pot like this will damage the roots). Secondly, the leaves look a little scorched, but not awfully so. If it has been very hot where you live, you might expect to see scorched leaves on a maple as they are prone to scorch if in strong direct light, especially so with the roots in this condition.

If this were my tree, I would put it straight away into a shady spot (eg. under an outside table). I would check the base of the tree daily (twice daily if I had the time) and water only if the soil is dry. Then I would leave the tree in it's current pot until the tree shows signs of strong foliage growth before attempting to re-pot once the tree has regained some health.

thx u so much for ur help, much appreciated