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Clean the pots and loosen roots when you transplant houseplants.
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Re-potting Plants Show host Kim Haworth says that re-potting time is crucial to keeping house plants healthy. She offers these tips for succeeding when it's time to move a plant to a bigger pot: - Before you re-use a clay pot, soak it and clean it up to remove mineral deposits.
- Before placing a plant in a clay pot, soak it in water. A dry pot may suck the moisture right out of the soil.
- Instead of gravel at the bottom of a clay pot for drainage, consider a square of window screen. It does the same thing as the gravel but keeps insects from climbing up the drainage hole.
- Re-pot a plant when you can see that it still gets new growth on top but its bottom leaves are dying. Or, look for roots coming out of the bottom or pull it gently from the pot and see if the roots are compacted at the bottom.
- Before you place a plant in a new pot, loosen its roots gently at the bottom -- just a bit.
- Don't fertilize the plant until you see some signs of new growth.
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