Repotting Season — Plant Care 101
Spring seems to be a little confused this year, we had a couple weeks of snow here and there and then a week in the 70s and now we’re back to gray. But in the little stretch of sunny weather, I took the chance to repot a few of my struggling plants.
There’s a few reasons you might want to repot: (1) Your plant is root bound, so it’s roots are in a tight ball formed into the shape of the pot (see the lace aloe below) and when you water it the water just runs straight out of it; (2) Your plant is outgrowing its pot, mishaping or cracking the pot with roots growing out of the bottom or up through the surface of the soil (see the zz plant above that’s stretched its pot into an oval shape) and you want to give it space to grow; (3) You want to refresh the soil because your plant seems to have stalled growth.
This guy was so tightly wound, the water would literally pour through it. There’s barely any soil left so I really just wanted to refresh it. Some plants like being root bound though, so it really just depends.
I like the size of this one so I ended up keeping it in the same plastic pot and putting it in this cute planter. All I did for this one was teased out some of the roots to loosen up the soil so I could add new soil.
I’ve been desperately wanting to repot my Peruvian Apple Cactus since I brought it home from the plant shop. It was a little wonky when I picked it up, leaning far to one side looking like it was ready to tip over, and the tiny plastic pot it was in didn’t have enough soil or weight for it to root well and grow straight.
Toward the end of the winter, this guy was really starting to look sad and getting a little soft, so I decided to pot it in a teracotta pot to try to help with its top-heaviness and went with something deeper—usually you only want to pot up a couple inches bigger than the existing pot. I grabbed some Miracle-Gro cactus, palm, and citrus potting soil to use with my array of cacti, lace aloe, and bella palm and some Miracle-Gro all-purpose potting soil for my zz plant. It’s also helpful to have a little trowel and some gloves.
I like my pots with a coffee filter to keep soil from getting everywhere and creating a mess when I water. On top of the filter, I layer on enough soil so that when I put the plant in, the part of the plant that was above the surface before will be at the same position in the new pot.
If you’re dealing with cacti, make sure to have gloves that are thick enough so you don’t prick yourself on its spines. When you’re ready to move your plant, gentle grab the plant with one hand, hold the pot with the other hand, tip it sideways and shimmy the plant out. Shake free any loose soil, and use your fingers to gently untangle the roots. If you have any root rot, now’s the time to cut the yellow sections of root off using a clean, sharp knife.
Position your plant in the new pot how you’d like it, again making sure that the part of your plant that will be above the surface is at around the same level as it was in its previous pot.
Start filling evenly around your plant and leave an inch or two of space to the top of the pot.
You can lightly pack down the soil as your filling to make sure you’ve filled it in well enough, but you may have to add a bit more once the soil has settled into place. I like to wait a day or two before watering, to give the plant some time to settle in and recover.
And that’s it, not so bad, now let’s wait and hope you didn’t just kill your plant...kidding!
I added some white rocks to the top, mostly for aesthetic reasons but also to help with its top-heaviness and to help support it upright. Top-dressing can also help with plants that are susceptible to rot, because it gives a layer of separation from the damp soil.
Happy planting!
