Just bought a new house, and after a great deal of searching I finally found one of the sprinkler valves (manual) to the sprinklers I keep seeing around the yard. When I opened it up, I saw a very generous root ball around the valve. The box appears dry, but when I pulled back the roots it was a bit moist underneath, so I do think there's an active leak.
I tried pulling the root ball off, but it's very thick. What's the best way to remove these roots without damaging the pipes or wires?