sprouting pawpaws

I've now sent out all of the pawpaw seeds and almost all of the folks that got them asked about propagation. Here's how we do it:
1 gallon size nursery pot - the roots get impressively long and need the space
potting soil, seeds and perlite or something similar.
Pics are attached - we water them in, once it's potted and leave the pots outside. In Southern VA, we get snow, ice etc as well as "0" degree temps in the winter.
BE PATIENT!!! We don't see sprouts until early July here. Once sprouts are about 3" up, we carefully empty the pot and move each sprout to their own 1 gallon pot.

Sweet! Thank you for the seeds, which arrived looking very good -- much fatter and fresher than the eBay ones I tried last year.

Once you get the 3" seedlings in their own pots in July, how long do you keep them in those pots before you plant them out into the ground?

I'm leaving the ones that sprouted this past July in their pots until next spring - I did dig a hole and drop the pot in it though.

If I have enough one gallon pots can I skip a step and plant them in their own pot first?

I don't know why not -

I just transplanted some in the ground as they were dormant. The root is indeed impressive.