How to Repot a Houseplant

This houseplant is in need of repotting.

If there's one thing that can be said absolutely about all houseplants, it's this: if you don't repot them, they'll stop growing. Eventually, without more room, a houseplant's roots simply have nowhere to go and the plant's potential becomes limited by the size of its pot. When this gets to be the case, you know it's time to repot your houseplant.

Things You'll Need

• New, larger pot
• Good quality potting soil

Instructions

1. Buy fresh potting soil and a new, larger pot. The new pot should be roughly one and a half to two times the size of your previous pot.

2. Remove your houseplant from its current pot. Do so carefully, keeping the roots intact.

3. Fill the new pot with fresh potting soil.

4. Dig a hole in the new pot's potting soil that it deep enough for the roots of your houseplant.

5. Loosen the soil at the bottom of the hole in order to give your houseplant's roots more room to grow and spread.

6. Place your houseplant in the hole you dug in its new pot.

7. Gently fill the area around the houseplant's roots with potting soil. The soil should cover just the roots of your houseplant, no more than is necessary.

8. Gently tamp the soil down to make sure that the plant is firmly repotted.

9. Water the plant fully until the soil is fully saturated.

10. Place the plant in a cool, low-sun exposure for two days to let it adjust to it's new home.

11. Water your houseplant as directed for its particular specifications.

12. Repot again once the plant outgrows its new pot. This is generally anywhere within one to five years, depending on the plant species in question.

Tips & Warnings

• Pick a pot with a drainage hole in the bottom in order to avoid over-watering your houseplant after you repot it.

• For best results, feed your houseplant a high-nitrogen fertilizer, as directed by a manufacturer to ensure proper growth.

• Don't try to remove a houseplant from a pot to repot it anytime within 48 hours of watering the plant. Wait at least 48 hours until the soil has dried and the process will be much easier to accomplish.

• If you don't want your houseplant to get significantly larger, don't repot it into a much bigger pot. Try just upping the size slightly and using a good quality fertilizer product.