Your basket is currently empty!
A Guide To Repotting Houseplants
Greetings, plant pals! With the sun shining bright and growth in full swing, it’s prime time to give your botanical buddies a new home. Let’s embark on this repotting journey together to ensure your green darlings thrive and blossom like never before.
Read on for our exclusive repotting guide, designed to sprinkle some extra love and care into your plant-parenting routine. Don’t hesitate to reach out if you need more leafy advice along the way!
The Benefits of Repotting your Houseplant
If you’re a newbie plant parent or haven’t repotted a houseplant before, you might be wondering how repotting can benefit your green beauties. Well, it’s good for a number of reasons but mainly because it’ll give them more space to grow. During the repotting process, you’ll prune the roots, leaves and renew the soil, getting your beautiful botanicals ready for a new period of growth.
It’s natural for houseplants to outgrow their original pots, so repotting is a normal part of being a plant parent. Of course, each plant is completely unique and has different requirements, but the benefits of repotting are the same.
Repotting your plant:
Leaves more room for plants to grow
Allows more air to get through to the roots
Eliminates poor soil and provides essential nutrients
Prevents the roots from becoming root bound
If you’ve made it this far with your plant – congratulations! Keeping a houseplant alive is no mean feat, so reaching the repotting stage means you’re doing a fabulous job. It’s now time for the next steps…
How Often Should You Be Repotting your Houseplants?
Once you’ve repotted, you should aim to repot your plant every 12-18 months, depending on how quickly it grows. However, slower growing houseplants can stay in the same pot for years before they need a change of scenery.
How Do You Repot a Houseplant?
Repotting indoor plants is far simpler than you may think. And when you’ve done it once, you’ll know exactly how to do it in the future – perfect for indoor jungles with plenty of fabulous botanicals. There are three simple steps to follow when repotting your houseplant:
1. Remove your plant from the pot.
Turn your plant on its side and pull it out of its growing pot while gently holding it by the stem.
Loosen the roots and prune off any small, very long thread-like roots. Be careful not to remove the thicker roots at the base of the foliage when you prune.
If you find that your plant’s pot bound, untangle the roots and give them a little haircut.
2. Prepare your plant’s new pot.
Remove some of the existing indoor soil around the plant, as your botanical needs fresh new soil to continue to grow.
Pop the new soil into a new larger growing pot. Don’t forget you’ll need houseplant soil for indoor plants if repotting your houseplants and succulent and cacti soil for succulents and cacti.
3. Plant your botanical into its new pot.
Pop a layer of fresh potting soil into the plant’s new growing pot and press it down.
Centre your plant in its new pot.
Add soil around the plant by pressing it down until it’s secure and sitting nice and straight.
Give it a little drink, then pop it in its new ceramic or belly basket.
What Size Pot Should I Choose for Repotting?
Choosing the right sized pot is an important step to allow your houseplant enough room to grow. However, there’s a fine line between having a little growing space and too much. As a rule of thumb, choose a pot that’s around 2-3cms bigger for small plants and 5cm for larger houseplants.
When you’ve finished repotting your houseplant, why not treat yourself to a lovely new ceramic or belly basket? We’ve got a range of styles and sizes, including our signature metallic dipped pots and seagrass belly baskets. Take your pick!
What Happens if You Don’t Repot your Houseplant?
Plants that become pot bound aren’t able to absorb the nutrients or water they need. Over time, the roots will have nowhere to grow, which will make the plant feel stressed. The leaves will start to wilt and fall off, and the plant will begin to die. Some plants can handle this much better than others, so the outcome does vary between botanicals.
Top Tips For Repotting Your Houseplants
Repotting becomes much easier over time once you’ve done it once or twice. But for houseplant newbies or enthusiasts who need a helping hand, here are the golden repotting plant tips you should follow to keep your green beauties as happy and healthy as possible.
Try not to repot your plant too late (after spring or summer), as it won’t have enough time to re-adjust to its new home.
Water your pot a few days before repotting to help make it easier to remove when the time comes.
We recommend using houseplant or succulent/houseplant compost – unless your botanical has specific soil requirements.
Be very gentle when removing your plant. Never pull or tug, or you may harm the flowers, leaves or roots.
If you follow these top tips, you’ll become a repotting expert in no time!
And remember we have a wide range of pots and baskets so you can keep the same stylish look and feel while repotting your houseplants.
Keeping Your Plant Healthy Beyond Repotting
Once your green beauty’s happy in its new home, it’s a good idea to treat it to a little TLC with misting, watering and nourishing plant food. You can find all of these on our website.
Zab Plant Mister
Our gorgeous houseplant mister will keep your plant happy and healthy with a spritz of water every now and then. Available in copper and brass this gorgeous mister holds 300ml of water and is the perfect combination of function and style.
Watering Can
These chic watering cans are made from durable stainless steel, with the cutest mango wood lid and an ergonomic handle that makes it comfortable to give those little green babies a drink. Available in two colours (brass and copper) and two sizes (medium and mini) the elongated spout makes it super easy to water houseplants and succulents whenever they need a drink.
Moss Pole
Moss poles support the growth of your plants, train their growth habit, and for those vines with adventurous roots, provide extra nutrients and moisture to your plants. This moss pole, measuring 80cm tall and 5cm wide, is perfect to train the most unruly of Monsteras or Scindapsus.
Plantsmith Peat-Free Houseplant Compost
This premium Peat-Free Easy Houseplant Compost contains the perfect balance of coconut coir (a by-product of the coconut industry) mixed with slow release Plantsmith nutrients that feed and nourish houseplants for up to 6 months. Designed for the widest range of houseplants, it’s suitable for everything except orchids, cacti and bonsai trees.
Plantsmith Perfecting Houseplant Care Mist
Made with a complete blend of 17 essential ingredients to aid growth, including kelp extract and humic acid, our Plantsmith Perfecting Houseplant Care Mist stimulates growth and gives houseplants a boost. It also contains lavender and avocado oils to deter pests. Mist your repotted plant 2-3 times a week all year round to take your houseplant care to another level.
Plantsmith Fortifying Houseplant Tonic
With potassium, magnesium and iron for strong, glossy leaves and long-lasting flowers, our Plantsmith Fortifying Houseplant Tonic is a professional formulation houseplant food with 13 essential nutrients and kelp extract to stimulate cell growth. Simply shake the bottle well and mix 5ml (or four pumps) into a litre of tepid water and apply it to the base of the plant.
Plantsmith Beautifying Leaf Shine
Our 100% plant-based Plantsmith Beautifying Leaf Shine contains cold-pressed natural oils that enhance and condition the leaves’ natural shine. The grapefruit extract provides anti-fungal protection and removes dirt, dust and grime to enable your botanical to photosynthesize.
We hope this guide’s helped you with repotting your houseplants. If you ever get stuck, we’re only an email away. Get in touch with us with any repotting questions you have at [email protected] and we’ll happily offer any additional tips and advice to help you on your plant ownership journey.
Lots of love,
Team TLB xx
