Do you soak and breakup the roots?

[SoHot]

Watching some YT transplant vids. They go straight from small pot to soil mostly.  I go from trays to 4" pots, to raised beds or larger pots. I've always soaked my root ball for like 15-30 minutes in whatever solution or just straight water to make sure the root ball is hydrated at planting. I also rake down the roots. Meaning they are circling around the 4: container, so I do break them up and some are probably cut. after soaking. Never had bad results. What do you do?

 

[solid7]

I just put them right into next container, ground, etc.  No special treatment.  If there's scale or root aphids, I spray them down with a hose.
.
No special care given.  

 

[Edmick]

I go straight from the small pots into the final pot. Nothing special

 

[karoo]

I do nothing , just plant it out. Even severely rootbound/ pot bound plants will do great.
The roots will find their way!

 

[willard3]

I trimmed these yellow bird roots back
 
 
 
crop6566 by Willard Bridgham, on Flickr

 

[The_NorthEast_ChileMan]

Watching some YT transplant vids. They go straight from small pot to soil mostly.  I go from trays to 4" pots, to raised beds or larger pots. I've always soaked my root ball for like 15-30 minutes in whatever solution or just straight water to make sure the root ball is hydrated at planting. I also rake down the roots. Meaning they are circling around the 4: container, so I do break them up and some are probably cut. after soaking. Never had bad results. What do you do?

 
IMO all efforts during transplanting should be aimed at reducing/eliminating transplant shock . You've been successful to this point so maybe try one that seems beneficial on a couple of plants and compare to your current method?  

EDIT: Forgot I had this photo sequence on transplanting from media to hydro pebbles:
 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 
Even though the plant was hardened off I believe the plant suffered from being placed in bright sunshine/hot weather. As is often posted, pepper plant resiliency is shown below....
 

 

 

 

 

 

[CaneDog]

Cool sequence, NECM; it looks great in those last few pics.  Was that Kratky (vs. DWC) and if so, how much root did you leave exposed above the water line when you dropped that one in?
 
And to answer the OP, I never soak or water closer to transplant than the day before.  I will rough up the roots or even break or tear them some to create space, but only if they're really root bound.  Usually I aim for as little disturbance as possible.

 

[The_NorthEast_ChileMan]

Cool sequence, NECM; it looks great in those last few pics.  Was that Kratky (vs. DWC) and if so, how much root did you leave exposed above the water line when you dropped that one in?

 
Don't want to hijack OP's thread so just a quick pic or two of my DWC setup.....
 

 

 

Nute level can be seen in this pic so all roots immersed and getting oxygen from air-stone.
 

Max size with end of season fast approaching....
 

 
 
Fall weather causing leaf drop as the last few pods ripen.

 

[alkhall]

Right form pot into ground.