Repotting Plants: All The Do’s and Don’ts To Follow

Among many plant care tasks, repotting plants is also an important task. This requires shifting your plant to a new pot and soil mix when it outgrows its previous pot or when the quality of the old potting mix loses its quality.

Repotting plants is a delicate process as one mistake can severely affect the plants’ health and even result in their death. Therefore, to help you with each step of this complex process we brought this complete guide on how to repot plants.

So without wasting any time let’s explore how you can repot your plants and the things you should avoid to keep your plants healthy and thriving.

Why You Should Repot Plants?

Repotting plants can be very beneficial to the overall health and maintenance of your plants. Here are some of the benefits of plant repotting –

• Promoting Growth – Plants can outgrow their containers over time and it becomes necessary to shift them to a new pot not to let the roots be cramped.
• Replenishing Nutrients – With time the potting mix of plants can lose all of its nutrients. Repotting plants to a fresh and nutrient-rich soil mix is necessary to keep the plants healthy.
• Preventing Diseases – Plant repotting can also reveal any hidden diseases and pest infestation that your plant might be suffering beneath the soil.
• Overall Looks – Keeping your plants in a pot of the right size helps maintain the overall look of your garden clean and subtle.

These are only some of the many important reasons why you should repot your plants.

How To Repot Plants?

Repotting plants is an easy task as soon as you follow the steps given below –

Gather Necessary Things

For plant repotting you’ll first need to gather some essential things such as the potting mix, a pot, sterilized tools to assist you with repotting, and water.

• Soil – Choose the right potting mix that is well-draining and suited to your plant’s needs.
• Pot – Select a pot bigger than your previous one to give your plant enough space to grow and spread.
• Tools – Sterilize some pruning tools such as a trowel, some gloves, scissors, or knives.
• Water – Keep a watering can handy that is necessary for removing the plant from its old pot and helping it settle into its new pot.

Remove The Plant

You’ll need to remove the plant from the old pot. For that water the plant thoroughly a few hours before you repot the plant. Watering helps loosen the soil which makes removing the plant a lot easier without damaging it.

Next, start removing the plant by turning the pot sideways and tapping the bottom of the plant. You might need to pull the plant by grabbing the stem base. Make sure to execute this process gently and on a flat surface. You can cover the surface with a plastic sheet or old newspapers to keep it clean from the dirt.

Treat The Roots

Once the plant is out of its pot, examine the roots and check for any signs of rot, plant disease, or pest infestation. If the roots of your plants seem overcrowded try to unbind them the best you can. Trim any long and thread-like roots using scissors but leave the thick roots intact.

Remove any excess dirt from the roots and check again for any sign of disease or damage.

Prepare The Pot

If you are repotting plants in a new pot you’ll need to prepare it first. If not get rid of the potting mix from your old potting mix and clean it. Next, add a layer of fresh potting mix into your pots and pat it down to remove air pockets.

Read more on – Potted Plants.

Place The Plant

Pot your plants in the center of the container making sure that the top of the root ball is at least one inch below the top of the pot for that you can add one more layer of the mix at the bottom of the container. Fill and surround the plant with soil and pat it down gently to remove any air pockets.

Make sure that your plant is surrounded by the soil. Pat the side of the pot with your hands to spread the soil evenly.

Water The Plant

To help the plant and the soil settle, water them thoroughly until the water drains out from the pot. Watering your plants gently and thoroughly helps them from any repotting stress. You can also place the pot over a plate and let the plant sit in water for some time so that it can soak the amount of water it needs.

By following these simple steps you can easily repot your plants in a new pot or a new soil mix.

When To Repot Plants?

For beginners, it can be tricky to know when is the right time for repotting plants. However, by just checking these simple signs you can know if your plant needs repotting or not. Here are some things you need to check before starting repotting your plant –

• Roots are outgrowing the pot and coming out of the soil and the drainage hole of the container.
• The plant is being pushed out of the container because of the cramped and growing roots.
• The growth of the plant is stunted.
• Plant foliage is larger than its current pot.
• The soil dries out much quicker than before.

These are some signs that indicate that your plant needs repotting. Moreover, you can also search for the right time when your specific plant needs repotting.

Conclusion

Repotting plants is a task that every plant parent should be familiar with. Just like many other plant care tasks, it is also important, however, you might not need to do it as frequently as others. This guide covered the basics of plant repotting, but each plant may require a different technique and time of repotting. So, make sure to conduct your research for your plants.