Transplant a Plant
Plant transplants are an important part of keeping healthy plants and gardens. When a plant grows too big for its current container, its roots can be damaged or suffocated, which results in slowed growth and unhealthy appearances. To prevent such damage, the plant should be transferred from its container to a larger container. While such transplants are important, the process can be dangerous and traumatic for your plants, so caution is recommended. Here are a set of steps for how to transplant a plant safely and with minimal risk.
Steps
- Water all of the plants that you wish to transplant using a transplanting fertilizer. You should do this approximately 1 or 2 days before the actual day of transplanting in order to let the fertilizer do its work.
- Fill up the destination pot with potting soil. You should use enough potting soil to reach approximately {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} below the rim of the pot.
- Mix the same transplanting fertilizer from step 1 with an equal amount of water and saturate the soil of the destination pot with the mixture. Make sure that there are absolutely no dry soil areas in your destination pot.
- Dig out a hole in the destination pot with the approximate same dimensions as the size of the pot from which the plant will be transplanted.
- Remove the plant from its original pot. Grab the base of the plant with a flat hand, make sure to cover as much of the topsoil as possible. Flip the pot upside down and carefully pull the plant out with the soil. Don't move too quickly or else you may damage the roots in the process.
- Place the plant in the destination pot, being careful not to damage the roots. Use a little bit of extra soil to fill in any holes and make sure that none of the roots are exposed. Lightly water the pot with the water-fertilizer mixture from before.
- Keep the new pot in a place with low levels of light for a few days. It will take a day or 2 for the plant to adjust to its new soil environment, and only then should you bring it back into a full-light environment.
Tips
- When transplanting a plant to a new pot, make sure that the new pot has extra room for the plant to continue growing. This will help your plants to ease into the new environment, allowing them to grow and expand with minimal shock.
- Incorrect transplantation can result in diminished health, or even death, for a healthy plant. However, correct transplantation can bring a dying or sick plant back to full health.
- The best time of day to transplant plants is late at night. That way, the plants have the entire night to recover and adjust to their new soil environment, and they won't have to deal with sunlight until the next morning.
Things You'll Need
- New, larger pot
- Potting soil
- Transplanting fertilizer
