AusBonsai

Thanks I'm so happy with it, so glad it turned out how I'd hoped.
I spose if it didn't work I could always bury it in the ground and it'd still be nice.

I'm back!!
Been rather busy elsewhere.

You have had some good advice so leave it to grow for at least this season before touching it at all and, as Neal says, leave stubs when you cut back or you will loose roots on that side. When you do eventually cut back don't hollow out as you do with other species of tree but cut smooth and flush, apply sealer and it will be ok ( I use one of my violin making or a Japanese Grafting knife ). Usually you get some small shoots developing from the trunk when you leave a stub. This means sap flow is good and you can always use them as part of your design later. Remove ALL flowers and flower buds whilst you are getting your bonsai established. This could be for 3 or 6 years. You will divert all the strength and energy into green growth. Now when you prune make sure that you always have plenty of growth at the top. Azaleas are weak there and if you need to cut something or trim in the crown, cut the lower branches well back.
It should grow quite vigourously for 2 years or so and in the third year - about this time - you could repot again, making sure all the roots slope downwards - not horizontally - this will eventually give you excellent Nebari ( surface roots ).

When I have a plant like this I go by 3 things.
1 The root system.
2. The possible and interesting trunk line that can be developed and
3. The size and form of the flower. This helps with choosing a suitable style.
These really dictate what is possible and what will look best with your particular plant.

Just remember that although azaleas like a lot of water they hate the water to hang around and will die quickly if they have wet feet! Always use a very open and somewhat acid mix. Most of the Satsuki Society members are using Kanuma now - magic stuff!!
And by the way this advice comes directly from a Japanese Satsuki Nursery.
Oh! If you want to fertilise you can do so quite heavily if you have got rid of flower buds and have waited for at least 4 weeks after repotting. In the main though the Japanese say Water, Water, Water.

Hope this helps,

Akaruhi - Arthur Robinson

Thanks for that advice Arthur.

I have a problem, I pruned and potted this tree a month or so ago (?? I think) and it's really gone no where since then. I flowered nicely, better then it had before actually. Usually they would open and then go brown and gross. It goes 3-4 nice pink flowers but hasn't had any lead buds, and just last week the few leaves it had on it wilted and about half dried and fell off. I also noticed a white powdery look on the base of the trunk and sitting around the roots.
I decided to bare root it and then to soak it in a seasol solution for a few hours to see if there were any bugs in the soil and I figured the seasol wouldn't hurt. I didn't actually prune any of the roots or anything, but did find some small white things buried in the very middle of the root ball. They looked kinda like tiny styrofoam balls but I couldn't get them all out without destroying the roots.

Any ideas what it needs? It's sitting in part sun at the moment (morning sun/arvo shade), gets misted with a Seasol solution every second day and seems to be draining pretty well.