How to pot on.

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Plants can become pot bound, which restricts their root growth. They need deep pots, not the short ones used to sell them. To move them to larger pots first invert the original pot. Tap the base with a trowel, carefully remove the plant from the pot. If overgrown the roots will be matted around the wall of the pot. Put plant back into old pot.
Read off the pot size on the base – 10cm = 4 " which is the diameter of the top.
Decide what size pot you want to replant to. Usually a half inch bigger is recommended to conserve the root system.
Buy the correct compost for the species of plant e.g.
Cacti Compost, African Violet Compost, Fuchsia compost etc. It contains the correct amount of horticultural sand and grit for good drainage, and includes plant food for 4 to 6 weeks, which is ideal for this time of year, as plants dont need feeding in the winter.
Tip some into an old bowl, add some rainwater or filtered water, and stir well.
Spoon about 1" into the base of the new pot. Put the old pot with the plant still in it, into the new pot. Then add new compost around the sides of the pot, firming
it down with the tip of the trowel.
Then remove old pot, invert, tip out plant and place in the ready made hole in the new pot. Useful to wear a glove if repotting Cactii.
Discard all old small pots, unless you want to make a Flower Pot Man with them.

• 18 Aug, 2012
• 4 likes

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