Are you one of those who grow half-kilo sized steak tomatoes in the summer but manage to kill off your house plants? Sometimes the right amount of water, light, temperature, and humidity is not sufficient to keep your house plants happy.
In nature, most plants are able to develop healthy roots to support their growth. Indoors, your plants are confined to the containers you provide them. Give them space to grow, and they will thrive!
the story of my Monstera Delicioca
Let me tell you the story of my favorite air cleaner and structural plant, the Monstera. I bought a small specimen in a 14cm pot at the garden center about 4 years ago. At that time, it was about this size, and I placed it in a south-facing kitchen window.
It seemed to thrive, and the leaves grew larger, taller, and holier. After a while, I moved it to a north-facing window because I needed the sunny spot for my tomato seedlings. It was surprisingly forgiving with my sporadic watering. And it kept growing.
Then I started to notice that it was very thirsty, and would start to fall over if I went too long between giving it a thorough soak. In fact, it could no longer stand without leaning on the corner of the window frame. My initial thoughts were to give it a bigger pot simply to anchor it.
Removing the plant from the pot proved a lot harder than I could possibly imagine. This is what I found – cannot say unearthed, because there was simply hardly any soil left:
I had to use heavy-duty shearers to cut away the plastic pot pice by pice! That is some extreme pot-bound roots – poor plant! So October 2018 it moved into a comfy 28cm pot, where it sat happily for about a year…
In November 2019 it started to look a bit sad, and I decided to repot it again. A little roughed up, but in its new 43cm pot.
4 months later, and look at the beauty in the featured image at the top of this post! That is why you should repot your house plants every now and then. And don’t wait until they drink like a sponge and topple over when you rotate the pot to get even light exposure.
signs that your plant wants a new pot
- the plant’s growth slows down or halts
- you need to water more frequently
- the pot is light and easily tips over when dry
- there is not much soil left in the pot
- the plant pushes itself up from the pot
- roots are pot-bound
- roots grow out of the drainage holes
how to repot a house plant
My personal top 5 tips
- Tease the roots gently apart to stimulate new growth.
- Plant it so that it sits at the same level in the new pot as it did in the old one.
- As you back-fill soil into the new pot, gently shake both the plant and the pot to get soil in between the roots. Don’t force and compact the soil – roots need air too!
- Water the plant in thoroughly, and keep it moist but not wet for the next few weeks.
- Hold back on the fertilizer until you see new growth.
Happy repotting! And share your before/after pictures of happier plants 🙂
