Repotting and changing soil of my houseplants

I've been reading the topic on houseplant soils -- thanks to Al for all the great info -- and I'm ready to start "converting" my houseplants. I've always just dumped the plant out of one pot and put it in the next, maybe doing a little root-teasing and of course adding additional soil. But I've never actually "changed" the soil before. How might I do this? Do I bang all the soil out of the root ball? How careful do I need to be? If I do get a bunch of old soil out of the root ball, how do I get new soil mixed in there? Are these dumb questions?

barb

Barb, I'm no expert but I have been growing house plants for more than 40 years. I have many, many plants from African Violets to the ZZ plant! When I re-pot, I only go up one size pot. If you plant a small plant (one with small root ball) into a real large pot it will concentrate all of it's efforts into filling the large pot with roots, rather than putting effort into the foliage or blooms. I just fill the new pot part way (I use a combination of Miracle Grow potting soil, perlite and orchid bark for almost everything) place the plant in and fill around the base of the plant. if the plant is real rootbound, I will untangle the roots with my fingers before placing in the new pot with fresh soil. Also, always remember to plant at the same level as it was in the old pot. Never bury it any lower.

Good luck with all your re-potting!

Lin

I don't see changing soil as a matter of having to remove all the existing soil from the root ball, that would be too traumatic for most plants - just shake off the excess and follow Lin's instructions. I grow alot of hoyas and they are pretty tough, so there are not worries about doing anything that will harm the plant.

I also use orchid bark/perlite/potting soil in a rough estimate of 1/3 each, it is a fast draining, chunky mix, that all my tropicals seem to love.

I realize that this is an old thread, but it was interesting to see that both Bhavana and plantladylin use orchid bark in their plant mixes. I just bought orchid bark a few months ago to repot my new orchid, and after reading this post, decided I would do some repotting using sterilized potting soil, potting mix, perlite and orchid bark (equal parts). I think it is an excellent mix and am very grateful to have stumbled upon this thread. I break the bark into slightly smaller pieces as I mix. I have modified my soil mix a few times in the past, but this seems to be the best mix ever! Thanks....Eileen

It may be an old thread, but since I haven't actually gotten around to DOING the repotting yet....... it's still relevant and thanks for your post.

In case anyone else is listening I'll ask another question -- is now an ok time to repot houseplants? In particular I have a spider plant going crazy with babies (neato, I never had that happen before), several Rabbit's Foot ferns, and a lovely China Doll. I don't really intend to enlarge the pots so much as improve the drainage.

I've never paid much attention to time of year when it comes to repotting. My spider plants have always been very strong (especially if they are growing babies) and they actually seem to enjoy repotting. I just repotted a baby I started back in May and it's very happy! It filled up a 4 in pot and now it's in a 6 in pot.

I tend to keep a large, happy spider plant slightly potbound as that seems to encourage more babies and blooms. Sorry but I don't know much about ferns or China dolls specifically.

I tend to repot when the soil starts to look compacted and has sunk lower in the pot, usually after about a year. I also do it if the plant seems "stuck" -- it's happy but isn't growing much. That's also a good sign that the plant will survive the repotting as well.

For houseplants I don't think time of year really matters for repotting.