How To Repot House Plants

Updated on May 12, 2023

Today I’m going to tell you how to repot house plants. It’s easy once you know what you’re doing.

In hot to repot house plants, a woman is repotting her own.

I finally got potting soil and repotted many of my house plants. So I thought I’d tell you the steps I personally use when repotting plants.

I currently prefer potting my house plants in Fox Farm potting soil. I’ve used many different kinds. I’ve even ordered this one online.

My Instructions For Repotting House Plants:

  1. For pots that aren’t new, I fill the sink with hot water and add dish washing liquid. I put the pots in the water to soak away bacteria that might be on them. I use stones or gravel for pot drainage, so I soak those as well.
  2. After soaking, I use a sponge or cloth to scrub the dirt that didn’t come off during soaking. Then I rinse the pots and allow them to air dry.
  3. I put the clean stones or gravel in the bottom of the pot for drainage.
  4. Then I start adding potting soil. Fill to about the middle of the pot.
  5. Now it’s time to take the plant out of the smaller/original pot. If it’s being stubborn about coming out of the pot, gently tap the side of the pot to shake the soil loose.
  6. If the roots are root bound, I ease the roots apart with my fingers and then place it in the pot.
  7. I begin adding more potting soil around the plant until I get about an inch from the top of the pot.
  8. Then I begin to gently tamp down the soil around the plant with my fingers.
  9. I then give my plant a drink of water.

Tips:

I don’t like to use water fresh from the tap to water my plants. So I use water that has been sitting at least 24 hours. Or I use bottled water.

Using the right potting soil in your pots will allow the plant to grow optimally. Potting soil is filled with all the nutrients a plant needs.

Potting soil’s superior ability to drain water is the main reason it is used for most indoor plants.

Always use the appropriate potting soil for your plant. What is referred to as potting soil is actually a mix or a blend of different materials. Sphagnum moss, perlite, bark, compost, vermiculite, or coir, that feed the plant.

Some of my own house plants I've repotted

There are different kinds of potting soil:

  • All purpose potting soil
  • Organic potting soil
  • Seed starting mix
  • Cacti and citrus potting soil
  • Orchid potting soil
  • Moisture control potting soil
  • Outdoor potting mix

After watering, make sure you don’t leave your plant sitting in water that may be in the plant saucer. If water is coming out the bottom of the pot, drain it all out.

Now your house plant has been given all it needs to spread its roots and grow. House plants are both fun to grow and an asset to any room in your home.

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16 Comments

  1. Some of my houseplants need a little TLC – I fed and watered them this weekend but there are a few that need to be repotted. I usually wait until the weather is a little warmer to bring them out to my garden cottage for repotting. Oh, and a coffee filter in the bottom over the hole works to keep the soil in the pot, I do that for my outside plants also!

  3. I repot house plants all the time and use pretty much the same methods as you do, though I try to look for pots that have the drainage hole already. IKEA has these bags of little round balls for pot drainage. They look terra-cotta, but they’re lightweight. They’re inexpensive, too. I bought a couple of bags last summer. A little go a long way.

  4. The miracle, magical powder that TASTE of FRANCE mentions above is called rooting hormone and my jar is ‘ROOTONE’ by Shultz.
    “Faster, healthier rootings from cuttings, with fungicide for control of seeding diseases – hazards to humans and domestic animals.”
    You just dip your cuttings into the powder in the jar after removing all lower leaves or flowers, making sure at least one node is covered, tap off any excess powder. Plant in a hole in your medium that you made larger than the cutting stem so none of the powder is scraped off while planting, then firm the medium around the cutting and tap down. Keep moist for 3 to 5 weeks or until rooted.
    I have to say it works every time I use it.

    2. I use cinnamon. Much cheaper! Here is an article to read about it…Cinnamon as rooting agent. Cinnamon as a rooting agent is as useful as willow water or hormone rooting powder. A single application to the stem when you plant the cutting will stimulate root growth in almost every plant variety. Give your cuttings a quick start with the help of cinnamon powder.Jan 12, 2018

  5. Your plants look very healthy, where is a good place to buy indoor plants?

    1. I tend to buy from the same nursery where I get my indoor plants. My daughter and I went there Saturday. It is quiet and peaceful, as opposed to big box stores. I buy their potting mix too.

  8. I have a giant cactus that I received from my hubby when our daughter was born. It was thumb size then and now it is about four feet tall and thorny. My daughter is 43 tomorrow, so it has been growing that long. It needs reporting, but I don’t have a clue how to protect myself and it during reporting. Any advice?

      1. Read it and will undertake repotting. May wait until weather is warmer and do it outside. Nervous, feel like I am undertaking surgery on my daughter.Silly notion, but there none-the-less.

  9. For me, this is a timely post! I have several houseplants that need to be re-potted. This coming week, I will head to the garden store for some potting soil. I am going to try your method; your houseplants look beautiful and healthy.

  10. Interesting!
    I don’t do much for cleaning pots or pot shards (and also use the for drainage at the bottom of pots). I figure germs are good germs.
    My grandma had 10 green thumbs. Amazing. HUGE garden that fed several families. A “root cellar,” which was one of the scariest places I’d ever been, under the basement, smelling of onions and potatoes stored for winter. But the safest of safe places, being a hole under a hole, if a tornado came through.
    Anyway, she had some kind of miracle powder she would put on cuttings to make them grow roots. It was truly magical. I still have some, and even though it’s 20 years old now (and has been to three countries) it still works.

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