Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: Re re re Repot!
reDuce, reUse, reCycle,….. NOW rePOT
Now’s a good time of year to repot those houseplants that have outgrown themselves. If their roots are coming out the bottom, or have circled around so many times they’ve formed their OWN pot, it’s time!
As you can see from the above picture some of those roots have circled around themselves and are of no benefit to the plant. They’re actually strangling it. There are plenty of healthy roots. I did a major root pruning on this plant. NOTE: This is a good reminder to those who think they can’t make a houseplant grow. It really might NOT by you!! This plant needed a pot change when I bought it. But you can’t tell until, as in my case, the plant was not performing well and didn’t thrive. So, I took it out with the assumption it would need repotting. As you can see, it did. Now, I wait to see how it does. (since I just did this yesterday, I don’t have results for you! 😉
Check for mushy roots, they will look yellowish or brownish, and remove them.
Repot in a container that is just one size bigger than the one it’s in. That means 1 to 2 inches. Thoroughly water your plant 24 hours before you repot, carefully remove your plant. Place a coffee filter at the bottom of your new container, this will let the water drain out but the soil will stay. (I was much more messy than this!)
Fill your new pot with just enough soil to center your plant at the same depth it had been in. Fill in the sides, tamping the soil and watering.
Water well and keep your plant out of direct sunlight for a few days while your plant gets used to it’s new digs. For more information and pictures check out Our Garden Gang, this website has some other great information as well.