Just wondering how others plant and care for newly collected material. always open to new ideas and improvement of my present method. I have plenty of room and live where material is abundant. all my collections are legal with permission or on my own property. when collecting only healthy plants that can be harvested with a large amount of roots are taken. Upon arrival at my place they are planted in the ground, not in a box or pot with a hard surface under them and composted mulch is mixed half and half with native soil from the area they were retrieved from. I leave them one year to get over the trauma and then may wire a main branch or two to start the structure of the design, no trimming mind you and then wait another year remove wire and verify health of the specimen then prune a main branch if needed to complement the vision. Only one large branch per season to avoid stressing the plant. third year dig and pot plant in a training pot. Fourth year wire tree, and minor trim. If major pruning is still needed only one large branch is removed then another year. Fifth year  a real bonsai tree to improve on for years to come. I still have my first bonsai I started from seed as a child, 43 years ago. That little Western Red Cedar is still my favorite even with all the great material available. My success rate on yamadori material is still concerning, is 75% survival on collected material to in a pot good or do I need to improve something? All opinions will be well received. Thanks

Thank you for the reply. I plant the newly harvested material on top of a tile or a plastic bucket lid depending on the size of the plant which does not allow for downward root growth. Most of my loss is during the first season. I have tried inorganic soils but have had poor results while in the ground. I do use inorganic soils when they are potted in their final pot.