How to Repot Houseplants: A Step-by-Step Guide

Knowing how to repot your houseplants is vital. Correctly repotting your houseplants plays an important role in the continued health and growth of your plants. We understand that repotting your houseplant can seem like a daunting task.

In this blog, you will find a simple, step by step guide which will make repotting your houseplant a straightforward and rewarding process.

Just here for some repotting soil, we recommend our great selection of repotting soil products.

How to Repot a Houseplant

Before handling any soil or plant matter, we recommend wearing gardening gloves. Soil and dead plant matter can contain bacteria and fungi. Gloves will help protect you from these getting into broken skin or cuts on your hands.

Let's take a look at the steps that you will need to follow on how to successfully repot a houseplant:

How to repot an indoor plant – Step 1: Decide on a new pot

Your houseplant needs space to grow, so when repotting your houseplant the first thing you need will need a bigger pot.

When choosing a new plant pot, it should be roughly 1-2 inches larger in diameter than your current pot. This will give your plant roots room to grow and spread out. This is important if you want your plant to remain healthy and continue to grow.

How to repot indoor plants – Step 2: Remove it from current pot:

Care should be taken when removing your plant from it's current pot. To remove your houseplant from its current pot, carefully hold the plant at its base, where the stem enters the soil. Next give it a gentle pull. This will lift the plant from its pot. Take care not to pull too hard. This can damage the roots or worse snap the stem. Patience and a soft touch are importat during this stage.

If your plant is not lifting easily, you may need to slightly twist the pot when you pull.

How to repot houseplants uk – Step 3 Remove any dead or rotten roots:

Once the plant has been removed from its pot. It is a good time to check for any dead or rotten roots. Strategy is important here. It is not a good idea to pull or break off any roots with your hands. This could remove other healthy roots in the process. Instead, use a clean pair of pruning snips to make precise cuts exactly where needed. Removing any rotten or dead roots will set your plant up for future success. It will stimulate the future growth of your plant.

How to repot a house plant – Step 4 Remove old soil and replace with new soil:

Repotting Your Plant in the Same Pot

If you are repotting your plant into the same pot. The next step is to remove the remaining soil from the pot. You should also try to remove as much soil as possible from around the roots of your plant. Take care not to be too forceful with step. Using too much force could damage the plant roots.

Ensuring all soil is removed from the pot is an important ste. Ideally, no remains of any old soil will be left. Old soil could be waterlogged or have mould on which will affect the future growth of your plant. Once the old soil has been removed, you now need to add a layer of new potting soil to the bottom of the pot. Then add your plant back into the pot and add more soil either side of the plant.

Repotting Your Plant into a New Pot

Add your new potting soil to the bottom of the pot. Then add your plant to centre of the new pot. Next continue to add soil either side of the plant.

How to repot house plants – Step 5 Repositioning your plant:

Now your pot has fresh soil in it. The next step is to make sure the plant is central in the soil and pot. Once it is, continue to add soil until the roots are covered in soil. You may need to add a final layer of soil to the top of your plant here too.

How to repot a large house plant?

Some larger houseplants can grow much more quickly. Therefore, they need repotting more often. In addition to this they may need additional support. This is especially true of climbing plants such as monstera. Plant supports are something to consider when you repot your plant. Assess whether your plant may need extra support as your plant continues to grow.

The steps you follow to repot a larger plant are the same as outlined in this blog so far. At the point of repositioning your larger plant in the soil, it can be beneficial to add a plant support such as a moss pole or sticks.

How do you repot a houseplant – Step 6 Add a specialist feed and water:

Once your plant has been repotted. As a final step, it is a good idea to give your plant a feed and a water. Many houseplant feeds are water soluble. This is great because you add them to water to use them. Therefore, you can water and fertilise your houseplant at the same time.

Final Thoughts on How to Repot Houseplants

Knowing how to repot houseplants is very important. It plays a key part in caring for your plants and keeping a healthy plant collection. Now that you know how repot your plant using our step by step guide, you can ensure the continued vitality of your houseplants.

It is important to take note of the different care requirements that each plant will have and adjust any of the steps accordingly. One final tip - be sure to place your plant back in its original location to ensure it receives the appropriate light and temperature conditions it needs.