I am just curious as to when to do this transplanting.  I have a few with very strong rooting but not enough leaves.

Should I move them now or wait for more leaves?

Do I dump the perlite in the mix or put it all in the pot?

i move to 1 gal as soon as the roots are long enough that i can see the roots by the edge of the clear cup. if i see at least 4 roots they are ready for me. now.. since this is winter here, and my house is extremely dry, i'm keeping the cuttings in cup as long as possible. one of the Persian White is bursting out. i need to get taller bin to hold it and don't kill it. 

moving to cup, i look for either leaves or roots. but moving from cup to 1 gal, i don't do that unless i see roots. at that point, leaves don't make much difference. 

i mix the perlite with soil. basically use the same soil mix as in cup and 1 gal. once out of 1 gal, i bare root and use my own 5:1:1 mix. 

I'm with Pete!  When the cup is full of roots, there will be shoots!  Trust the system!  Sometimes there are few roots and lots of shoots and leaves, but you transplant and the leaves die due to lack of roots.

Suzi

 I am curious as I see many reports where the perlite is totally shaken off the baby roots... this is my first time doing this and I really do not want to fail... I have huge  roots here. Am super late now?

Grasa,

I just did that today and followed Jon's suggestions (cut and pasted below):

http://figs4fun.com/Rooting_Bag.html

One word of caution, once you have the "root ball" out of the cup (assuming you started in cups rather than spaghnum moss) don't wait, get it into the one gallon pot quick!  I even had the 1 gallon pot prepared with a little mix in the bottom but I hesitated a few seconds and the root ball crumbled in my hands.  I managed to get it in the pot and filled around the roots/root ball as I held what was left in place so I think the cutting will be OK.  I have two more rootings to move into 1 gallon pots tomorrow.  I plan on making some sort of cradle out of a cut up deli container to make the transfer a little less difficult.  If it is successful I'll post a photo tomorrow.

Just saw your post - wow, looks like healthy roots there.  I guess there is some optimum amount of roots where transplant shock is minimized but also enough roots to keep the root mass intact during repotting??

From the link above:

The clear cup is important, enabling you to monitor of root development visually. Leaf development is absolutely NOT an indicator of root development.

When there is good root development (do not rush this step, or be in a hurry to repot in potting soil) repot in a one gallon pot using a minimum of 60% Perlite in the mix, and the other 40% compost or similar organic component. The vermiculite will shake out of the cup, when pointed down at about a 30 degree angle and rotated and squeezed, followed by the rooted cutting. After potting, place in very, filtered shade, with good humidity until the plant has adjusted and is stable; then increase sunlight gradually. Water when necessary. After about a month, water, and let the plant absorb the water for 1 hour, followed by "watering" with a one half strength solution of Miracle Gro. This keeps you from "burning" the plant with the fertilizer. Fertilize twice a month. When roots begin to grow out the 1 gallon pot (roots growing out of the drain holes), repot in a 2 gallon, with 40% Perlite and 60% Compost. When roots begin to emerge from the drain holes, move to a 5 gallon pot, using 100% compost. When roots are visible in the drain holes of the 5 gallon pot, plant it in the ground. At this point, the plant is sufficiently developed to be stable and durable. Many cuttings will grow to 2-5' tall in their first year, but some varieties are slower growing.

Steve, some of them have 'grafted roots', so I will have to open the root ball to see if the roots are from the cutting or my grafts, if my experiment worked, then, there is more possibilities. I have to repeat the experiment.

 I think some of the strongest roots are in fact from the grafts I did, if you missed earlier posting (too much fun) here is one

http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/file?id=1421290

Grasa,

I think repotting now will be fine.  I wouldn't wait many more days though.  Honestly, I wish my cutting had roots like yours when I did the transfer today, but I was a little impatient and wanted to transfer my first cutting to a 1 gallon pot.  :  )

Grasa,

I move from cups to 1 gallon pots when the cups are full of roots (the indicator for transplanting is roots never leaves), but before the plant is root bound. I usually pot the root ball into the gallon container without removing the growing mix. I have gone from using 20 oz cups to 16 oz cups for ease of up potting to 1 gallon containers. I use the cutting in its cup as a gauge for the amount of mix to place in the bottom of the one gallon container, turn the cup upside down to remove the cutting, place the cutting in the 1 gallon pot, and fill with the 5-1-1 potting mix to the existing soil level of the cutting.

I bare root only when the plants are root bound, or sometimes going from 1 gallon to 5 gallon containers. By disturbing the root mass as little as possible, you reduce or eliminate transplant shock. Damage to the tiny hair sized roots are what you are trying to avoid. Attached is a discussion on up potting, some points apply to this discussion.

http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/Some-tips-on-uppotting-5390290?highlight=scoring

Good Luck.

I have only one tip.  Roots tend to stick to that plastic cup, and will often break when you try to extract the root ball.  If you simply soak the cup in warm water, this will help the roots not to stick, and make for an easy transition.

I have several to put in gallon pots too.  Not an easy task for sure!

Good luck Grasa!

Suzi

I find that if I let the young trees get a "little" root bound in the cup then the root ball does not collapse in my hand as I transfer to the 1gal. pot. Thus avoiding fingers getting all tangeled in the roots and causing unnecessary root damege.

Pete - thanks for posting that link, very useful.

Vince - been there, done that - yesterday big time, a little less today using a deli container with bottom cut off and about 1/2-3/4 inch removed lengthwise. 

Still didn't like the results with my deli container cradle, so I may try cutting the container in half then taping together when planting the cutting as others have mentioned in their posts.  Guess I shouldn't be surprised though, this is no different that repotting vegetable seedings into their own pots and having the tiny rootball fall apart in my hands.

Steve,
    The upside down deli cups that I showed in my recent video sloves a lot of those problems. Just pop the lid off the bottom and the whole root ball and tree slide right out into the 1gal. pot.  Don't have to cut the cup at all.  But I did use that advice from Suzi about a little soaking in warm water, works great, like sliding out of a greased pan.

Dang, why didn't I think of that?  I'm going to give that method a try.  And I like the extra drainage/air holes in the sides of the cups......another good idea.  What size are those holes Vince?

Steve,
    The holes were made with a 1/4" soldering iron.  Another advantage of having the cups upside down is that they are very difficult to tip over, also more soil at the bottom of the cup for the roots to spread out and grow.

Steve, I have taken Vince's new process as my newest way of rooting also. I don't have a soldering iron so I used an 1/8" drill bit. I drill through
6-8 at a time.

I squease the cup and use the utility knife, leaving the flap, if I need to close it, I just push in place. but it works well also.  and it is a lot easier, since I dont have the manly skills

I use a box cutter, and JD uses his manly drill, but I like my box cutter cuts best!  Then he figured out it's easier to use an ice pick and scissors!  Go figure?  JD can NEVER be wrong..; hehehehehehe right! ha!!

Suzi

Grasa,

Everyone is giving you great advise.
But this is my opinion only,,,I would wait. I think you should hold off till you get to see more roots. It's too early. I have done this quite a few times with regrets.

But if you insist on repotting now then please please please, do not pull the plant out of the cup!
Use what ever method you want to cut the cup from along the side but just cut it. Maybe from a couple sides to butterfly it open.

Good luck

Rafed, I was lucky that I put some styrofoam crumbles in the bottom of the cup...and it was like removing an octopus from the cup... jeez, I did not know they would stick to the walls like that, warm water and a little squease it loosen and mostly I am very curious as to how the root graft work and if they were who originated the many roots.
here are the pictures of initial graft of 11-15-2012, I waited about 2 weeks to cup them, and the roots were massive. 

I opened carefully, to my own surprise, despite of my very un-killed graft, the root from my own tree really wanted to stick to the cutting.  (since I did this graft, I learned a lot, and I should be more neat and clean on cuting and scraping to insert roots to cutting. Anyway.. by the pictures you can see all that root ball was part of the grafted root.  I guess, the cutting was lazy and let the new root do the job, now in a new pot... a new problem, I really do not have room for bigger pots inside my house.  I only have one south window -

This kind of root grafting is done when creatures chew up the bark of a tree, and in order to save the tree, they pull roots and attach them to the upper portion of the tree. It was worth my first try, and I will repeat them to compare.  Next time, will wash roots with soap and do more clean cuts.just occurred to me that the gnats ate young roots, note the chewing attempt on the fat old root, but it made it.

Grasa,
Attached is a picture of a Desert King cutting in a 16oz cup. the picture was taken 10 minutes ago. This is the stage that I usually up pot to a gallon container. I can usually remove the cutting without disturbing any of the soil or roots. I have just watered the cutting, but I usually do the potting when the mix is almost dry. I have never had a problem with roots sticking to the cups. This potting mix is a 70/30 Perlite/Peat mix, the Perlite portion has a little Vermiculite (10%) because I have some left over. Also I transplant by using the cutting as a handle, I never touch the roots.

mine did not do perfect roots,it branched all over and around.  I posted other pictures.  I may have waited too long, I got secondary and tertiary rooting.

http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/Update-root-graft-(Bryant-my-trees-roots)-6094671?pid=1275836154#post1275836154

Pete, nice roots;)