I picked up the original stock from Tien at Bonsai Sensation not long before I headed to Canberra so I can take no responsibility for the great quality of the tree beforehand ... Given that nothing terribly dramatic was performed during the workshop, I felt confident in repotting this tree into a (much) smaller pot the week I returned home ... in early September. I would say the root ball was reduced by maybe 70-75% ... a biggish reduction but the root system that remained was full of nice fine feeder roots and a good radial spread so I wasn't too concerned I had taken too much. The next month or so the tree was left to relax and recover before I began fertilisation in preparation for decandling later this year, assuming all goes well from here.
Since then the candles have all begun to extend nicely and the tree appears to be carrying on like nothing has happened - so all is on track. As I said, if all goes to plan I aim to decandle this year, I am thinking early December and then we'll see what happens from there.
Looks like it responded very well to the candle cutting!!!! 
