jrp red pine transplant field grown

I haven't posted in years, given all of my interesting material has been and still is in the ground in upstate NY at my parents' house. I moved this spring to northern VA and I decided, for a number of reasons, to take 2 trees with me. I potted them in bonsai soil and wood chips in terracotta...

I just dug my first Japanese Red Pine, a nursery field grown tree with a good root ball of feeder roots. What is the consensus on reducing stress and energy loss as it adjusts to life in a pot? I already cut off a 3ft leader, but it didn't have many needles relative to the lower mass of...