to transplant or not to transplant...?

[Zafra]

I have a tree in a long skinny nursery bag, roots already coming out the bottom. I missed my chance to plant it out for this year, and have to wait for the next rainy season (May next year), so like 5 months. I'm tempted to transplant it to a 5 gallon bucket for the interim to give it a chance to spread its roots a bit and also get used to the native soil it will be planted out to, but I wonder if 5 months is a bit close between transplants. What do the experts say - move it, or wait out the 5 months in the small bag?

[Seanny]

Why do you need to wait for rainy season? You can't water it?

[Zafra]

No we don't have sufficient irrigation for a newly planted tree to make it through the dry season.

[fsanchez2002]

5 months in a tropical climate like Vzla should be plenty for any tree to grow more roots and be in better shape for transplanting later. Use good potting soil and plenty of water. The exception to this would be a tree that's sickly or a very delicate species that grows roots extremely slow.
PS: plants, inflation and violence are probably the only three things that will grow in Vzla over the next 5 months; so saddened about the situation there. F.