Depending on the size you can unmold in a few hours to 24/48 hours. If these are just plastic bowl molds unmold in 24 hours. Did you spray the plastic bowls with some kind of oil or use plastic bag for a release. Plastic bowls/tubs when brand new, will release without an oil but after that they are etched and it gets harder to get your mold to release. I don't use glass. Water seeping/rising to the surface is part of the curing process. After you unmold, immediately submerge mold in water and /or clean your molds right away. If not your cement mix will stick to your mold permanently. If you want a smooth side leave as it came from the mold and submerge in a bucket of water for a couple (read couple) of days. If you want a rough texture, gently scrub the sides with a wire brush or scotch-brite, rinse with water then submerge in a bucket of water for a couple of days. Change water each day. This flushes out the lime. You can plant in 5 to 7 days. There is no reason to wait 2 weeks, a month, several months to use these planters.

I'm not an expert, but I've planted a lot of bare root trees. Last year I planted a BR pomegranate in Feb, and it did nothing through May, so I assumed it was probably dead and ordered a potted Pom from someone else. The original Pom started leafing out about a week after I planted the second one beside it. You can always start snapping off the furthest out twigs. If they're soft or green, you're in business. If they're dry or dead, keep snapping down. Even if they're dead all the way down, the roots may send up new shoots which is still ok because Poms aren't grafted.

It's a slow process. Some phals grow a little faster or slower. It may take over 2 months.

kimmsr and annpat: thank you very much for your quick responses. Correction: I started the wire bin in April 2008. Update: I also have an Earth Machine composter that I put my household refuse in. Every time I dump some refuse in, I top it with about 2 inches of oak leaves. --> I don't think it's ?working? I don't think it's heating up. (I don't have a compost thermometer yet). I don't even see things breaking down. Heck, it was breaking down more/faster when the refuse was in the tupperware container in my kitchen. --> Should I stir it around? I haven't yet (it's been ~5weeks since I started). So this wire bin is only for my insane amount of leaves from all my trees. But I was trying to speed things up a tiny bit, thinking I'll add some green in the middle to heat it up a bit. --> Isn't what I'm doing w/ the green/brown layers kinda like lasagna composting? I think I'll just stop putting greens in there and just keep piling on more browns (dried leaves). thank you very much. Amanda