You should learn art of bonsai. Then, like i said previously, you can even grow giant Sequoia trees in a bonsai pot.
I have a very nice tigerbark ficus bonsai, growing on top of a japanese lantern.
But with bonsai it's the same, i read many websites and ended up with Al's gritty mix as being the best (according to americans). So i searched all over Bangkok to find the ingredients and made that mix.
Then i was in a Thai bonsai shop and saw them growing great bonsaitree's in normal soil, nothing gritty or pinebark or whatever and they are fine.
I also studied many japanese bonsai websites and yes they are the real masters but it takes decades to build tree's like they do.
One hour ago i saw a big fruiting mayongchid for sale, it was in a 75 litre (20 gallon) bag and about 4 metres (15 feet) tall and a wide tree. Don't ask me how they did it but it wasn't even in a pot but a ricebag. It was full of full sized fruit.
Yes growing tree's in small pots is called bonsai-technique and it works. I have loads of them.