-I'm Adrian Higgins I'm a garden --
the garden columnist at The Washington Post.
Today we're going to show viewers
how to simply repot a houseplant.
You need to repot a house plant
because in nature, they grow on the jungle floor.
But when you grow anything in a pot, in a container,
it's in an artificially constrained environment.
And those roots eventually are going to get strangled
upon themselves and spring is the time to do this.
Pot up maybe one inch or two inches.
This is a 6-inch pot and today
I'm going to put it into an 8-inch pot.
Key thing is it does have to drain.
What I'm going to do now is just start at the bottom
and start teasing the roots away from this form
that they have created within the pot.
And I'm just being pretty gentle, but firm enough.
I want to stop it growing like a pot.
I want them to think they're back in the jungle.
This is pretty much done now.
You can remove up to a quarter of the roots.
And it will stress it, yes, but it's not at the moment in spring
where it's ready to grow and it will bounce back.
The first thing I want to do is put fresh potting mix
in the bottom, for the roots to grow down into.
How much you put in is a direct result
of actually the finished height of the plant,
which is very important.
Ideally, you want it pretty much at the level
it was at the old pot,
but you want the crown to be maybe at the lip
or just below the lip level of the new pot.
And then with my other hand,
I'm just throwing in the fresh soil,
which will anchor the plant at the height I want it.
You do need to sort of pack it down,
because you don't want air pockets
in the root system, that's bad for it.
Okay, that's pretty much where I need it to be.
What you should do now is sort of tap
the pot a couple of times.
And that helps to set the soil.
I like to groom the leaves, the top growth.
SO that it looks as good as it feels.
[chuckles] So I'll take off any brown or yellowing leaves.
And to sort of tell the world that I'm back from the groomer's
and I'm like a poodle, all fluffy and happy
and ready to go.
And a well-drained pot means that you can't overwater it.
The very worst thing you can do is kill it.
And I know that sounds glib.
Get your hands mucky, go in and do it.
In time your trepidation will evaporate
and your confidence will grow.