I got that Ficus two years ago in that same container, it already has that caudex. Just growing new leaves all this time. Have never repotted it, seems no need for it. The white container is just for weighted support, I remove it when I have to water the plant, so the inner container can drain.
The Adenium, I have repotted three times, since I got it in summer of 2010. Each time raising the caudex a few inches, you can clearly see the difference in the color of the caudex, the lighter lower side was the part under the soil before.
Well, so far I am not training any of the branches to grow in a particular direction like typical bonsai, just keeping them in shallow but wide enough container, got to make it really fast draining, otherwise it will kill the roots.
