"The only thing you should be wary of is cutting thick roots. Those need to heal in open air in order to prevent rot."

One of my plants is very small, and it's not easy to distinguish think from thin.

If I decide to allow it to "heal" in open air, for how long should I do so? And in what position?

Also, take a look at my Haworthia:

http://img861.imageshack.us/i/img0420w.jpg

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The roots still look as much brown as white, but at this point rinsing (even with some pressure behind the spray) doesn't remove any further dirt. I would have to go rub each root tendril by hand to remove the last residual bits of soil. (Despite how it looks, there are no clumps of soil left, only residual bits on the roots.)

Should I do so? Or is this sufficient?

By thick roots, I mean tuberous roots that would typically have to be cut with a blade. They're usually not a problem unless you have to cut them to fit the plant into a smaller pot. The healing time for cuts like these depends on the size of the wound. I usually just wait until the cut looks completely dry and dull in color. A week or two is probably fine for most cuts. But removing a large "log" of a root from a tree species for example, may require several months of drying. The position of the plant doesn't matter. Just try to keep it out of the sun and heat.

Your Haworthia looks fine. The roots don't have to be scrubbed clean as long as there's no clumps of soil left. I'd go ahead and pot it.

Cool. Thanks for the advice.

I'll pot her up, now. =)

Hi Marshall,

The roots look fine to me too. I usually find crumbling off most of the mix w/ my fingertips does the job. Do this w/ a dry plant & most mix comes right off (assuming it's not peaty, which will harden).

I crumble off or cut any dry, brittle root tips or bits, Pot it up dry, leave for a few days & then maybe water a week later, they do fine.