Why should you repot a houseplant?

There are several reasons why it is good to repot your plant. Below you can see some of the advantages:

Stimulates growth

To make your plant grow well, it is especially important that the roots grow. Roots will only grow if they have room to do so. By repotting your plant into a larger pot, you ensure that the roots have more room to grow. By loosening your plant from its (breeding) pot you can easily see if it needs more space. If the roots build up around or under the clod, it is clearly time to repot your green friend. Do this next spring as repotting can have quite an impact on your plant as the roots can be damaged in the process. In spring, the growing season starts and it will recover faster from this.

Fresh nutrients

Your plant gets a lot of nutrients from its potting soil and the fact is that fresh potting soil only has nutrients for about 6 weeks. Of course, you do not have to repot your plant every 6 weeks, so we help our green beauties by watering them and giving them PLNTS nutrition regularly. This will keep them going for a while, but nevertheless we advise to repot your plant once every two years. This also ensures that the potting soil remains airy and the chance of root rot is reduced.

How to repot a houseplant?

By stimulating your plant to grow in height, you can repot her to a larger pot. Usually the diameter is about 20% bigger than the current pot. Do you not want her to grow bigger and keep her in the same size pot? Then repotting is also highly recommended. Refresh her potting soil so that she has enough nutrients for the coming period and place her back in its old, familiar pot.

Repotting to a pot with drainage holes

To prevent problems with your plants, we always advise you to repot in a pot with drainage holes. With a pot like this, excess water can find its way out, so your roots are never under water and you prevent root rot. Before you repot your beauty, make sure that the soil is a little drier, which makes it easier to remove it from the pot. Prepare the new (larger) pot by filling it partly with potting soil or your favourite mix of substrates. Keep some room for your plant, of course. Take the plant out of its old familiar pot and carefully remove the old soil from the roots. Place the plant in the middle of the new pot and fill the rest of the pot with fresh soil. It is important that the soil is 1 to 2 cm below the rim of the pot.

Repotting to a pot without drainage holes

It often happens that you see a pot and you are immediately sold. Unfortunately it has no drainage holes. Of course, this is no reason to leave him behind in the shop, as there is not much choice in pots with drainage holes. One disadvantage of a pot without drainage holes is that any excess water cannot drain away, so there is a chance that the roots will be flooded. Unfortunately, this will not make your plant happy at all, as it would rather receive too little water than too much. Do you really want that particular pot without drainage holes? Consider giving less water to reduce the risk of root rot. A water meter, for instance, can help you with that. This indicates when your plant is thirsty. You can also use various substrates that help you to absorb excess water, think for example of adding hydro grains to the bottom of the pot or mixing perlite with potting soil.

When to repot a houseplant?

Spring is the most suitable time to repot houseplants. This is the moment the growing period starts. This period runs until approximately October. Your houseplant likes to be repotted in this period, because it has more energy due to the higher amount of light and of course the warmer temperatures. Repotting can have a big impact on a plant, because the roots are often damaged in the process. In the growing period your plant has much more energy to recover quickly from this damage.

How do you see when a houseplant needs to be repotted?

By using transparent nursery pots you can easily see if your plant needs to be repotted. Of course, this isn’t very nice to see in your interior, but it is a good tip for keeping an eye on your cuttings. With adult plants, we advise you to loosen your plant out of its pot once in a while to see how the roots are doing. Are they completely piled up around or under the clod? Then it would be nice to repot it the next spring. Do you always use nursery pots? When the roots emerge from the nursery pot longer than 10cm, it is time for a larger nursery pot.