I think the best starting point is to find your local club. Can't tell if the photo was taken the same day as potting or if has had time to get over the shock. I see big leaves on top growth and longs spaces between nodes (and no browning leaves). Best time to repot would have been spring, just as buds open. But I'd leave it for now unless you think a *lot* of roots were damaged -- in which case I would clip the long branches now. Come spring, you'll replace the heavy 'ground-soil' with gritty bonsai soil and remove 1/3 to 2/3 of top growth and roots at the same time, to keep it in balance and encourage side branches. You'll want to decide on a style -- Look through lots of books for inspiration and ask your tree what it thinks about that. Not sure why, but I never tried a Japnese maple until two years ago, given seedlings a fellow at work pulled from his lawn -- weeds to him. One died immediately, two more over the winter. (Pots too shallow (?) I think they like deeper ones.) And the two that remain are not quite ready to start shaping. Growing in the ground is the fastest way I know to fatten up the trunk and I should have done that -- again, I don't know why I didn't. I am told the leaves will reduce greatly but there is a trick to it -- I need to consult my own club gurus... Have fun with it.

Kicked off a baby? Are you sure your plant isn't grafted and the (I'm assuming it's a) basal sprout isn't from the root stock? Obviously, trees in nature branch just fine w/o our help, so if you wait, the tree will develop secondary branching on its own. You CAN force it to branch by removing the terminal bud on the leader (or cutting back harder), which contains the apical meristem. This removes the source of the growth regulator/hormone (auxin) that suppresses secondary growth. IF you do that, you need to take steps to train one of the branches that emerge to the vertical as the new leader, or risk changing the trunk line from straight to something with a crook/bend/curves in it. Al

"We also learned that the potting mix the JM's arrived in was heavy on the bark side.This is commonplace with all growers and grafters of JM's. It ROTS within 6-12 months, so the bark must be removed from the JM's whenever you up-pot...... Remember this: Growers don't ship plants with sustainable soil. It only lasts 6 months." I am going to disagree with this :-) While I don't do it commercially, I grow all my JM's in containers and have for many years.......my oldest is approaching 30 y.o. And my potting mix is and has always been heavily barked-based as it produces a very freely draining, textural and extremely durable media. With this barked based mix (the 5-1-1 discussed intensively on the Container Gardening forum), I do not need to repot or refresh the soil for 3-5 years depending on the container and the size of the tree. Even at that point the soil is still in reasonably good condition. The location and depth of the perched water table is entirely dependent on the soil media being used, not the size/depth of the container. It is quite possible to maintain a small seedling or 1 year graft in a 4" pot or a larger, 7" deep trade gallon for as long as necessary before up-potting provided you are using a highly textural soil that allows for fast drainage. Due to the vagaries of soil physics and water movement, there will always be a PWT in the base of the container but the better the potting mix, the lower/thinner the PWT will be. The reason growers focus on bark-based mixes is for this very reason. They hold up well long term yet provide the aeration and very necessary fast drainage but the degree of moisture retention JM's are happiest in. And also maintain a low PWT. Although it would not be my first choice, your perlite based mix should offer a similar situation. However, I would encourage you to disavow yourself of the notion that a barked based potting mix deteriorates rapidly. 30+ years of using it and growing a large collection of containerized trees (a variety but primarily JM's) has adequately proven that to be inaccurate :-) I would also encourage you to read this thread on container soils and water movement thoroughly to educate yourself on the many qualities of a bark-based mix.

You are right, there should have been two pictures. First, here is a photo of the entire tree related to the picture I posted above: Here's a closer look: Next, here is the little tree that I described above, but the photo didn't show. I'm wondering what I should do with the shoots here: I actually have another question about a third tree in my backyard - Here's a picture of it: Im finding all these little things coming up within a four foot radius of that tree. I wonder if they are offshoots of that tree and whether I should pull them. (sorry for the sideways picture) Thanks!