How to Re-Pot a Plant
Yes, It Has to Be Done
Monday April 20, 2009
Repotting plants is not hard to do, but it can be a little scary to uproot and move a plant that seems fine where it is. Still, every plant eventually wants and needs a bit more space or just some new, fresh soil. And if your poor plant looks like the plant shown here, it's roots are so pot bound it's not getting any water or nutrients. In this quick videa, Gretchen Siegchrist shows us the right way to repot a plant, so that it will continue growing as well, or even better, than before.
Photo: © Marie Iannotti
Comments
How can you not want a money garden? Well, when you realize that seeds are the least cost of gardening. See those pretty raised beds? Thousands. Soil costs? Hundreds. Tools? Hundreds. Time? Hundreds of hours a season. Better to go to a farmer’s market for cost savings. In short, these Burpee PR articles are propaganda, because seeds are cheap, but gardens are expensive!!!
This comment is obviously misguided. Yes, you can buy plants already started there is no argument to that. The cost of tools can be daunting but remember start small and you don’t need them all. Trying to do everything a gardener can do at first is almost a sure way to become very frustrated and jaded with gardening. Buy tools only as needed and take godd care of them and they will last years, maybe, generations. Shop yard sales it helps to keep cost down. Join Freecycle.com you might find someone giving away just what you need. If in doubt about what you need contact someone like cypressbranchgardens.com.
They do not sell anything but give advice freely. Use common sense and don’t tackle projects that are too big or too expensive for you to finish in a timely manner.
A true gardener takes great satisfaction in the simple act of gardening. Treat all projects as if they are beta projects. If something doesn’t work the first time get help from someone who has been there. That’s why I recommend the site above. They want you to learn and love gardening as they do.
Learn as you go and remember there is just as much to learn from a failure as in a huge success. Gardening from prestarted plants or from seeds really does not matter. It is the act of planting something and learning to help it grow and thrive that feeds the soul.
Some things are cheaper to buy at the store than grow but often are not as good and hardly ever as satisfying. Grow yourself as a gardener and everything else will fall into place.
Not sure how these comments are in pot bound plants but no matter.
Gracias…gardening has initial start up costs but that money isn’t spent every year.Good tools can last for years.Raised beds do not cost thousands.Can be home made for next to nothing and filled with soil once with a little conditioning now and than.Hundreds of hours a season?Not this boy.
Gardening is a hobby/way of life/passion where you can spend as little time/money or as much as you want.
Why wasn’t a root-bound plant being repotted shown?
I didn’t mean to imply that only pot bound plants need repotting. Ideally, you’ll repot your plants before they get as bad as the photo on the blog. That was an extreme, used as a reminder not to let it go too long.
In the video, she repots a plant that has simply grown too large for the pot it’s in.
I am a container gardener only growing vegetables on my 8sqm balcony. It’d be nice to know what size containers are needed for each type of vegetable to avoid problems like that shown in the photo.
I have found books that give tips for some vegetables, but not all the ones I hope to try this year.
You can follow my progress on my blog.
That’s a good point, Cheese. Vegetables don’t usually get this badly pot bound, because they’re only grown for the season. But I’m planning on adding pot size recommendations soon, to Vegetable Gardening in Containers.