If you have a spray bottle, spray the perlite first, it isn't as 'slippery' - with big bags, I use a watering can to dampen the whole top layer - and you don't breathe the dust.

You *could* reuse perlite for cuttings, but it isn't that expensive, and you'd avoid any chance of contaminating the next batch with any bacteria/fungus that had developed. I just 'recycle' it by mixing it in with the regular potting soil.

I gently tap out the roots and perlite, dumping the lot out on its side, gently lift out the rooted cuttings, and then swish them around in a container of water to knock off the excess perlite. A few pieces left don't matter - but the big clump can be an issue.

I've always used either window screen or the plastic grid used for needle point to cover the holes. Labor intensive? How can something that takes a few seconds be labor intensive? The plastic grids will stay in place even with just perlite. No need to cut in circles....just squares that will fit over the holes.

I like to use perlite as a rooting medium.

This post was edited by rhizo_1 on Tue, May 21, 13 at 13:14

David, thanks so much for the help. I appreciate it!

Rhizo, well, I guess like everything "that takes a few seconds", it depends upon how many you have to do.

Carol

Just lightly shake the perlite off the roots and just plant in general potting soil the perlite will not hurt the plant or the roots. The roots will be happy and make themselves a new home

Try not to water with municipal tap water they use chlorine and chloramine to keep the water supply safe the plants will tolerate chlorine however if your water company uses chloramine it will kill your plants so you need to call your water company to see if they use chloramine instead of chlorine if so it is best to get a chlorine and chloramine filter on the end of your hose also if you are doing organic gardening you will need the good bacteria in the ground to break down the organic fertilizer that you are using the chlorine and chloramine will kill the good bacteria in the ground and your fertilizer will not break down and work

This was an old question but what the heck.

Our cutting mix would be damp when it was brought in. we would fill up the pots with it, squashing it down with a flat, wooden... piece of flat wood with a handle on it, which worked brilliantly. And we would put the pots into a big, big tray. Then we would water them overhead and leave them sitting in there until we had enough cuttings to starting 'potting'.

The pots would be lifted from their bath (maybe after half an hour) and sat onto a wire frame, dripping into the tray. Not much came out of the holes, other than water. If dry perlite was to be put into a pot then all sorts of problems would ensue, I would guess. Not least of which we would breath in the dust, and this is bad for the lungs.

When potting up the rooted cuttings, it is best if the pots of cuttings have a certain amount of moisture but not much. Obviously enough so that they are not stressed in any way but not enough to make the mix heavy and difficult. Pots of rooted cuttings are so much easier to handle than trays of rooted cuttings and in my first years in the nursery, it was pots that we used. What with 'progress', they have now taken to using trays.

I was told by someone that it is okay to have some perlite on the roots. It might be true. It does hold a fair bit of moisture so I'd not be concerned about doing that.

We never re-used the cutting mix.