Anyone who buys houseplants or potted plants naturally wants them to be beautiful for a long time, grow properly and bear flowers year after year, or even produce new seedlings. As not every plant requires the same treatment, you also need to find out what they need.

This also includes repotting. This becomes necessary when there are more roots than soil, i.e. the plant has hardly any space left in its pot.


Firstly, it is important to find out when the best time to repot is. Again, this depends on the type of plant, but fortunately you usually get a small guide with the plant when you buy it. Otherwise you can find out for yourself in the shop, in books or on the internet. For self-sown plants, the instructions can usually be found on the back of the packet, for potted plants on a small insert card in the pot.

Before you start repotting, you should have obtained the following items:

Gloves,
Potting soil,
Newspaper to put underneath
A suitable new pot, which should be approx. 1-2 sizes larger than the old pot
Water for pouring

The best place to repot is outside, where soil crumbs don't get in the way too much and the over-poured water can drain away later.

The new pot should be prepared before the actual repotting so that the plant can be placed in it immediately. A clay pot must be watered 24 hours in advance, otherwise the pot will soak up water when watering instead of the soil.
You should then cover the holes, which should allow the water to drain away, with a piece of broken clay or several stones so that the openings remain free and cannot be blocked by soil. Then you can fill in the first layer of soil and press it down lightly, approx. 5-10 cm, depending on the size of the pot.

The first step is to free the plant from its old prison and this can be the most delicate of tasks, as it often determines whether the plant will develop well in its new pot or not. This is because many plants are very sensitive and if their fine root network is damaged too much, they will not be able to recover and will soon die.

To loosen the roots and soil in the pot, first knock the pot all round on the edge of a table or similar until the contents are visibly loosened. If the pot or tub is too large, you can also run a knife along the edge. Then remove the plant by grasping the stem at the bottom and pulling it out slowly. Shake off as much of the old soil as possible without damaging or tearing off the roots. There are plants that don't mind this, but prevention is always better.

Now hold the plant in the new pot so that the lowest roots are touching the soil, but the root ball is approx. 3-5 cm below the edge of the pot and begin to fill in new soil around it until the root ball is almost covered. The last layer is pressed down a little.  

Now you can water for the first time. The water must soak the entire soil and any excess must be able to run off to avoid accumulation at the bottom, then water again and repeat this 2-3 times, as the plant needs a lot of moisture because the soil usually comes out of the packaging dry.

Only then can you leave the plant alone in its new home and perhaps give it a nice new pot, whereby you should also ensure that you do not subject it to drastic temperature fluctuations, e.g. directly from the shop to the balcony.