How To… Repot A Succulent
Repotting Made Easy.
When should I repot my succulent?
One of the most common tells is a matting of roots at the bottom, but this isn’t the only sign. In our example, the plant was pulling away from the pot and was very top heavy. The leaves are losing their deep green colour so it needs new compost and a bit more nutrition.
What three things do I need?
1) A New Pot - you don’t want that pot to be much bigger than the pot it is already in, that is because you don’t want to inhibit the root growth. We recommend the eco-pots because they are aesthetically very pleasing and most importantly are made from 100% sustainable materials. The other thing to remember is that you need a drainage hole at the bottom, make sure that whatever you pot into has a drainage hole!
2) Cacti Focus - you can make your own mix for cacti and succulents, but we find it is cheaper and easier to just buy a specialist compost. Plus our growth technology cactus and succulent repotting mix, which we used in our recent how-to video, contains lots of nutrients which mean you don’t need to worry about adding in fertiliser!
3) Gravel - just a handful, to imrpovve drainage at the bottom of the pot.
How do I repot it?
1) Place the handful at the gravel at the bottom of the pot around the drainage hole. Depending on the size of the pot you can add a little bit of compost to the bottom of the pot.
2) Then take your plant out of the old pot, if it does need repotting it should come out fairly easily. Then fill compost around the old plant, making sure to fill the gaps around the sides and on top. Make sure that your succulent is firmed in so it can’t wiggle around even if you push it gently. We placed ours in a nice terracotta tray to collect any spilt water.