The traditional replant of houseplants is to carefully remove the old soil, spread the roots on fresh soil, and sprinkle the soil on top. Small and medium-sized plants are replanted after purchase and annually in the spring. This allows to:
- inspect the roots;
- remove nets, sticks, sponges that remain after growing in nurseries;
- replace the soil where salts have accumulated from the water with soil in which the plant will be easier to care for.
Choose or Prepare the Soil
What the roots of plants are located in is usually called soil or substrate. It is not always the usual land for us: plants can be grown in coconut fiber, pine bark, moss, burnt clay, stones, synthetic materials, or in an aqueous solution with electrolytes. For most plants, universal substrates based on peat are suitable, and the word universal will be immediately in the name. You can choose, for example, gladiolus bulbs at Dutch-bulbs.com and use the mentioned soil for growing flowers from scratch.
For some plants, you will have to look for or even prepare a special mixture. For phalaenopsis (the most popular orchids), you need to buy and cut pine bark into large cubes. Cacti and other succulents are planted in a mixture that contains at least half of the aeration agents: stones, coarse sand, lava crumbs, zeolite. For a Venus flytrap (insectivorous plant), you need to buy clean terrestrial peat. The rarer or more demanding the plant, the more you have to work.
Pick the Right Pot
Pots differ in size, material, and the presence of a drainage hole.
- Size
The roots of the plant should fit freely in the pot, leaving two to five inches to the walls on all sides. If the pot is too tight, the plant will not grow and will constantly dry out, and if it is too large, the water will stagnate and the plant may rot.
- Material
The materials from which the pots are made can be divided into waterproof and not waterproof. Thus, on the wall of a clay pot, wet spots appear after watering. Waterproof materials are plastic and ceramics. Such a pot evaporates water only from above, and the soil in it stays moist longer.
- Drainage Hole
Plants in a pot without a hole in the bottom are not replanted, they are bought for several years. This plant can not be watered much, because excess water has nowhere to go. For plants that love moisture, there are self-watering pots (other names are smart watering or wick watering). In such a pot, there is a separate tank with water, due to which the plant is constantly moisturized.
Let the Plant Come to Its Senses
Care for the plant after transplanting depends on its characteristics. Plants that like dryness (dracaena, yucca, cacti, succulents) can not be watered immediately. You need to wait a few days for the wounds at the root to linger, and only then can you moisten the ground. When the plant is satisfied with light, temperature, humidity, and water, it is likely to respond well to replanting.
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