Fall Bonsai Care pt2

My new and improved list of things I need to do just got longer and shorter at the same time.

1) Watering.
I seriously have to adjust how I water my plants. I thought I had lessened my watering enugh untill I picked up my Cotoneaster and spilled a ton of water about. Because it's tray is attached to it's temp pot I had to tip it to drain the built up water. This is what I get for not useing the chopstick method for watering.

The chopstick method is to take a cheep take-out chopstick and stick it in the soil of your pot. Some people say to go for the root ball and others say the edge. Right now I place it in between the root ball and the edge of the pot. This works very well for real bonsai soil.

2) Move bonsai to a new location or more protected location.
This makes sense to me just because I have frozen a pot and watched it slowly brake apart during the winter. my dad has put pots in the ground to prevent the roots of the plant from dieing. But due to my inability to keep things alive I found I have mostly saplings. I'm still not sure were I'm going to put with my Cotoneaster yet.

3) Plant saplings outside to encorage growth.
I have a nice spot on the side of the house. Almost everything I have is going to be planted there. I have marble tiles in the basement that I am going to put under them so I don't have to dig deep when they are ready to be truly worked on.

The whole 'put it in the ground and forget it' advice shtick is heavily thrown in your face if you are brand new or not sure when you should start to gently guide your plants. I have seen people post such a response on some forums and nothing else or seem to get hostile. If you have been in this situation then just play with your tree in a pot. you will get a feel for it and know when to stick it in the ground. :3

4) Protecting the plants in the ground.
At my house we have bunnies, moles and chipmunks that will eat anything they can reach during the winter. My dad has some finer chicken wire that they should not be able to get through so I am going to make a good sized cover from it. Tall enough to protect the tops after I stick the thing as deep as I can the the little buggers can't dig in to get them.

Beyond the four things I have listed I'm not sure what else I can do. I wish I could stick things in my basement because it's cold enough to let them go dormant, but I just don't know.