Repotting Plants

From now, till the end of March, is the best time for repotting indoor or outdoor plants. A few tips :

Choose a pot one size up from the one the plant was in. If you are using a used pot make sure that the pot has been cleaned.

Start off with covering the hole in the middle of the pot with a piece of broken pot or a used teabag.

Cover the bottom of the pot with 3 to 5 cm of gravel or other material (clay pellets/styrofoam etc) to improve drainage.

Put a layer of soil on top of the gravel (the type of soil you choose is dependent on the plant you are repotting, ie. an acid soil for camelias, hydrangeas, etc).

Put the old plant pot into the new pot to have an idea of how much soil you should put in initially, taking into account that you must be able to water the plant comfortably.

Try to loosen the plant by tapping at the bottom of the pot, then gently pull it free, if that does not work, try tapping again, sometimes it may be necessary to cut or break the pot in order not to damage the plant or roots.

Once out of the pot try to disentangle the roots and spread them out when planting into the new pot.

Fill in with soil.

Water it in.

Start giving fertilizer to the plant one month after repotting, continue to give fertiliser till end of September.

Rejuvenating or refreshing pot plants is meant for plants that are already in a large pot and it is really not very practicle to replant them into an even larger pot. Loosen the soil as much as possible around the top and sides without damaging the main root and take the loosened soil away. Fill the gaps with fresh soil. Water it in. Give fertiliser after one month, and continue to do so till end of September.