Repotting house plants is a normal process and part of growing plants
within the home
when you bring home plants from a store that you purchased you can let them stay
in the original pot for quite a period of time
it's only as those plants begin to grow and if you have ideal conditions for
them
then the plants will get bigger and they will begin to outgrow the pot that they
are in
one way to figure out whether that plant needs be repotted
is to look at the size of a plant in relation to the size the container
if the plant looks really out of proportion it's too large for the
pot that it is in
that could be an indicator that it's time to move it up to the next size pot
another indicator would be to look for roots that are growing
of of the drainage holes kinda like this. If they begin to grow out,
you move them up to a larger shoe
another indicator if you are a little bit careful about it and if its
growing well would be to actually knock the plant out
up the pot and if you begin the see roots that are growing and
encircling the outside, it definitely is also time to move it up
to
the next size container. the rule of thumb that we use for moving up
to a larger container is to just go up to the next size
so let's say it's in a 4-inch pot you would move it up to a 5-inch pot or a six inch
pot
you don;t wanna move a plant that's in a 4 inch pot up to a 12-inch pot
because you're going to have too large of a soil area
and the plant will not adapt to it very well so you just wanna move up
in a very small increment. it doesn't matter
which type of pot you use there's a lot of choices that are out there for consumers
plastic pots have the advantages in that they're very lightweight
you always want to make sure that you have drainage holes a lot of people
prefer terra cotta or clay because it has a little bit more of a natural look to it
again you want to be sure that there is a drainage hole in the bottom
if there is not drill a hole in there. Be very careful so that you are going to allow
extra water to get out
the disadvantage of clay is that it can become very heavy
as the pot size increases so that's another consideration
also if you're going things like cacti and succulents
a lot of people prefer the terra-cotta or clay because it looks more natural
and also offers a little bit a stability because cacti can get very top-heavy
so a bird's nest fern is what we are going to repot today
this came out fairly easily but if it does not and its
stuck in there, simply turning it upside down
in tapping it either on the pot or on the table will
release the pot and then you can go from there
the next step would be to carefully break up that root system
it's a good thing for the plant because it's going to force it to send out new growth
if we don't break up the roots they wont branch out into the surrounding soil
our next step is going to be to select a potting soil. there are a number that are
out there on the market
it's a good idea to use a pre-packaged
soil mix that you buy from the store rather than using garden soil
because garden soils very heavy it stays very wet
and can often times contain pathogens that can cause disease problems on your
plants.
you want it set at the same level that it was originally
also keeping in mind that you want about a half an inch to an inch
space between the top of the container and the top of the the soil ball
I'm gonna fill in with the rest my soil
and the if the soil is very light very fluffy
you wanna make sure that you pat it down as it goes in that container
you do not want to leave the top of the soil ball exposed where there are roots
because what will happen is those roots will kinda act like air wicks
and draw moisture out from the soils. the final step would be to
water the plants thoroughly so that that soil mix gets saturated
let it drain out the bottom and you're good to go
again just to recap house plants don't always need to be repotted but if you're
want to give it good conditions
move it up to the next size and those plants will be happy