How To Re-Pot Your House Plants

When To Re-Pot Your Plants

Spring is always the best time to re-pot your house plants, as they are coming out of their so-called ‘dormancy’ period. This isn't a true dormancy, rather a period of time where they aren’t growing as fast or using many nutrients.

Its best to re-pot when spring starts as they are being exposed to more & stronger sunlight hours, warming up and are ‘beginning to come back to life’ essentially.

This is then the perfect time to give them a fresh batch of substrate, more room to grow and make the most out of their spring growth spurt! It's like your plants having a BIG stretch after a long winter!

This doesn’t mean it’s the only time of year you can re-pot your plants. If you live in a warm enough climate you can do this almost year round, basically whenever your plants require it. We just wouldn’t recommend it in winter and if you plant your re-potting well enough, you won't have to anyway.

How To Tell If Your Plant Needs Re-Potting

The first part of the re-potting process is learning how to tell if your plant is in need of a re-pot in the first place, which is a fairly simple process of either a quick visual check, or your plant may already be giving you signs.

1. You can see plant roots coming out the bottom of the pot which indicates it may have run out of room inside the pot.
2. Your may have noticed your plant growing slower than normal or it may stop completely but still look otherwise healthy. This is more obvious during the growing period of spring - autumn. If you notice this happening over winter, this is totally normal and not really an indication of your plant needing a re-pot.
3. The substrate may be drying out more quickly than normal after watering. This is because the roots inside the pot are so vast that they're absorbing it real fast!
4. If you are already using clear pots (like me) you will be able to just visually tell if it is in need of a re-pot.
5. If your plant has pests, it may be a good idea to re-pot regardless to help get rid of any pests that may be in the soil.

What Equipment You Need To Re-Pot Your Plant

A Well Draining Soil Mix

We recommend using a good, well draining soil mix over the basic mixes you get from hardware stores as it is often too heavy for plants. You can either make your own or buy a pre-made mix. We created our house made GrowingGreen House Plant Mix with a balanced ratio of a few different substrates to form one mix that is suitable for all house plants! This saves you all the hassle of trying to buy multiple different substrates and trying to figure out ratios, etc. There really is no need to have multiple different mixes laying around either, one mix (if made correctly) is more than enough!

Potting Soil Scoop

This may seem like an insignificant thing, but you need to get yourself a potting scoop that is sturdy enough (as soil can be quite heavy) and one that is slim enough to get the soil in around the plant.

Nursery Pots

There are a few things to consider when it comes to picking out the right nursery pot.
In this case... size DOES matter. You only need to re-pot your plant 1-2 sizes bigger than the size of the pot it is already in. Quick Tip: The size of the pot is usually on the bottom. You can also determine the pot size you will need by how much space the root system takes up. If it fills up the pot, go for a bigger pot, if its not so full, one size up should be enough. You can even re-pot into the same size pot if you find that the roots actually don't take up too much space.

Don't Over Pot Your Plant! If you do, it can cause all sorts of issues, the main one being root rot (if there is too much substrate which remains wet for too long after watering, the roots may not be able to absorb all the water you give them).

Then decide whether you will be using a black nursery pot or clear nursery pot. We ALWAYS recommend using a clear pot, as it makes checking in on your plants sooo much easier!

Side Note: NEVER re-pot your plant directly into a cover pot. They don't have any drainage holes in them which means the soil won't be able to drain. It's the quickest and easiest way to kill your plant! Always pot up in a nursery pot & then put it inside a cover pot.

Now You're Ready To Re-Pot Your Plant!

So, now that you've learnt how to recognise your plant needs a re-pot and you have all the equipment you need, it's time to re-pot!

Firstly, take the plant out of the pot and remove the old substrate. Throw this away in case there are any pests/diseases lurking in the soil that you can't see. Another reason to throw it away is that if it has been a long time since you last re-potted, the soil is more than likely degraded/broken down and isn't providing your plants any value anyway so it's no good to use on any other plants.

Take a good look at the roots. Check for any signs of root rot (soggy or stringy roots) or any soil pests such as mealy bugs. If you do notice any of these, remove the dead roots (if root rot) and soak in a solution of hydrogen peroxide for 30 mins to an hour before continuing with the re-pot.

Check the amount of roots against the pot you are giving it. If there is enough room left in the same pot you just took it out of, you may only need to re-fresh the soil. This is more than enough to help revive your plant for the growing season. Always adjust the pot size to the root system. If there is barely enough room for the roots, always up-pot 1-2 pot sizes accordingly.

Fill the bottom of your nursery pot up with your chosen soil mix, add in your plant and then fill it all the way up. Make sure to pat the pot to settle the soil around the roots as you go, rather than squashing it down from the top so you don’t damage the roots below the surface.

Once complete, give it a good thorough watering and away you go!

Final Recommendations

If you've just brought a brand new plant home from the plant shop (or received one in the mail), we recommend that you don't re-pot it for at least a few weeks after you get it home. Yes, even if it is pot bound.

The reason being is that when you get it home, it will be going through the 'stress' of adjusting to a new environment (especially if it's just been through the post), so adding the additional stress of re-potting it can cause them to sulk, or worst case scenario, completely die.

If you are ever in doubt about anything re-potting related, send us a message via any of our social media platforms, our live chat on the website or send us through an email to info@growinggreen.nz.

Thanks for reading, I hope you've learnt something from this blog if you're a beginner and are more confident when it comes to your next re-potting session!

Happy Re-Potting!

- The GrowingGreen Team.x