Every planting season, you take the necessary measures to provide conditions for the optimum growth of your plants. For example, you may consider repotting your plant. One question you may have about this procedure is whether moisture levels matter.
Your soil must be wet when repotting. It makes repotting cleaner and easier and ensures the plant does not look battered afterward. However, you need to take precautions because excess moisture is not healthy for your plants.
Are you planning on repotting your plant? There’s a ton of useful information for you in this article, so read on.
Why You Should Repot Your Plant
Repotting provides the plants a larger area to grow, develop and flourish into healthy plants. This, in turn, gives the space a refreshing look.
Plants that have been repotted have more space in the soil for their roots to develop. Repotting enhances the soil quality, and replanting plants regularly rejuvenates plants. As long as you provide the ideal space and nutrient-rich potting mix, repotting gives your plants the best environment to grow in.
Understanding the importance of repotting will help you determine whether or not repotting is appropriate for your plant.
Let’s elaborate further on the reasons you should repot your plant.
Larger Growth Space
One important reason for repotting is a larger growing space. Plants will eventually outgrow their container, so they’ll need a bigger area to grow. Inadequate space can lead to stunted growth of the plant. It’s also likely the plant can outgrow the pot, breaking the latter. Therefore, to minimize cleanup, it’s best to consider repotting.
Nutrient Boost
Repotting a plant is also a good idea if you want the plant to gain enough nutrients to grow and flourish. As the plant grows, it uses up all the nutrients in the soil. And since potting soil will likely lose its nutrients over time, it’s best to consider repotting the plant with fresh soil.
New Growth
Another reason to prevent plants from being pot-bound is to allow new growth. Plants can rebound significantly from repotting. A stronger, growing root system will make your plant grow faster and better, as long as you take measures to keep the plant’s roots healthy while repotting.
Repairs Waterlogged Soil
Finally, repotting repairs waterlogged soil. If you can provide water-retaining soil and proper potting mix to your plant, you’ll significantly improve their growth. During repotting, freeing up the roots will help the root get enough water needed for plant growth.
Some Considerations Before Repotting Your Plant
Even though it might seem like you’re doing your plant a favor by changing its soil, it’s not always a good idea to repot the plant because constant tampering can mess with the plant growing process. Also, if the repotting process isn’t done correctly, the plant can die.
That said, it’s important to bear in mind that in farming, plants undergo several stages while growing and not all stages are appropriate for repotting. Therefore, you must consider your plants’ growth stage before transplanting or repotting them.
There are a few harmful effects of frequent plant repotting. This includes browning at the leaf tips, wilting, and leaf drops. If you take a closer look at your plants, you can determine whether they’re ready for repotting to avoid the consequences of doing so improperly.
How To Know When Your Plants Need Repotting
I’ve already established that repotting too often can be detrimental to your plants. Therefore, it’s necessary to know when it’s appropriate to do so.
If you haven’t repotted in a while, look out for a few indicators:
- Examine your plants. Are the leaves fresh or wilted? When the soil has lost a lot of nutrients, it affects the plant’s appearance. Repotting helps replenish soil nutrients.
- Observe your plant’s growth rate. If your plants aren’t growing well, you may need to report improving soil conditions to boost the growth rate.
How To Correctly Repot Your Plant
Improper repotting may lead to plant death. So, it’s essential to learn how to repot your soil correctly. However, there’s an important fact to keep in mind before proceeding.
It’s not advisable to repot a plant immediately after getting it from the store. Instead, you need to allow the plant to get used to its environment for a few days before changing its pot. This ensures the plant doesn’t die during repotting.
With that in mind, let’s discuss the steps for repotting plants.
Get a Container and Potting Soil
The container you choose is essential to the entire repotting process. Ideally, you should get a new pot that’s one to two inches (2.5 to 5 cm) larger than the previous one. Use the same soil your plant uses — preferably something that’s excellent quality, general-purpose, and a professional potting mix for most plants.
Get the Potting Soil Ready
Repotting is best done in moist soil. Infections and reduced development may result from using ordinary soil in plant containers. Instead, use a potting mix comparable to the one you used previously. You can use compost, manure, or a peat mixture with fertilizers to provide nutrients.
An excellent grade peat potting mix will weigh less than a conventional soil mix, but it’ll be more challenging to moisten if it dries up. Before repotting plants, wet the potting mix to ensure an even distribution of moisture.
Repot the Plant
To repot your plant:
- Remove the plant from its pot with care.
- Check the root ball.
- Loosen any looping roots, including firmly packed roots. You might need to jiggle it a little.
- Place your plant on top of 1 – 2 cm (0.39 – 0.78 inches) of dirt at the bottom of the new container.
- Fill up the gaps with the oil and water thoroughly.
How To Fix Waterlogged Soil
The importance of soil in the growth and survival of plants cannot be overstated. You know that soil supplies nutrients for the development of organic carbon and protection from contaminants.
Plants absorb moisture and oxygen through their roots, but a soggy soil prevents the plant and roots from getting adequate air, resulting in root rot and other serious consequences.
Overwatering or moist soil is hazardous to plants (except for aquatic species). If the soil isn’t drained properly or is watered too frequently, it’ll get saturated, causing issues such as yellow leaves and root rot. Using the right mix of soil helps you avoid waterlogging.
The following are various ways to fix waterlogged soil.
Create a Watering Schedule
A proper watering schedule will help prevent watering too often. The watering schedule should contain information about the day or week to water the soil and also the number of times you’ll water in a day. If it’s hard to stick to this schedule, it might be a good idea to set an alarm or two on your devices to serve as reminders in case you forget.
Drain Holes
Build drain holes to remove excess water from the pot. Although plants require water to grow and develop optimally, excess water can also cause root rot. Holes are needed at the bottom of the pot to allow extra drainage and prevent the accumulation of water.
Use the Right Potting Mix
One of the vital keys to preventing water logging is a proper potting mix. A potting mix should be lightweight, maintain moisture and create pockets of air around the roots. For a healthy potting mix, use 35% vermiculite or perlite, 35% peat moss, and 30% mixed compost, which is all-natural and helps avoid water logging.
A good planting mix reduces waterlogging and keeps the right amount of moisture in the soil for plant development.
Conclusion
Repotting helps you replenish depleted soil and ensure plants have the best conditions for their growth and development.
Repotting offers numerous benefits. It provides the plants with a more expansive growing area and increases soil nutrients.
For cleaner and easier repotting, your soil should have sufficient moisture. However, too much moisture may also become a problem.
Wet soil can harm plants’ roots, stems, and leaves and provide a breeding ground for fungi and bacteria that can damage the plant. However, if you have soggy soil, you can make drains and prepare the right potting mix to correct it.
