Remove about one-third or more of the old potting mix surrounding the plant's roots. As it grew, your plant removed some or all of the nutrients in the current mix, so you'll want to give it fresh potting mix or soil. Pour a layer of fresh potting soil into the empty planter and pack it down, removing any air pockets.
It exposes the root system so any kinked, circling, or damaged roots that might shorten the tree lifespan, can removed. Root washing also makes the flare more easy to locate and makes the tree easier to handle and plant at the proper depth. One factor often overlooked is greater root/soil interface.
Yes you can reuse soil with roots in it. However, try and remove as many as possible. Especially the larger roots left behind. Leaving some smaller ones shouldn't hurt anything.
Allow for Good Soil Drainage
For container plants, potting soil should be used and pots must have drainage holes. Any saucers below houseplants should be emptied regularly and plants need to be potted in appropriately sized, not oversized, containers to avoid an excess of moisture in the soil.
The idea is to soak the plant for several minutes in water prior to planting. When you plant, fill up a large bucket with water–preferably rainwater since it does not have any of the chlorine or other chemicals of municipal water. Take the plant out of its pot and gently pull any encircled roots away from the plants.
Root damage is very common during replanting and it is bound to happen since plants prefer to hold soil.
Trees provided with regular irrigation through the first growing season after transplanting require approximately 3 months (hardiness zones 9-11), 6 months (hardiness zones 7-8), or one year or more (hardiness zones 2-6) per inch of trunk diameter to fully establish roots in the landscape soil.
For most tropical houseplants, if the soil is dry and due for its next watering, go ahead and water it thoroughly and let it drain completely before you begin to repot. If the soil is already wet, you can skip this step.
Soil minerals need to be soluble – dissolvable in water – so they can be absorbed by roots and transported around a plant to the cells that need them. If the soil is too dry, mineral nutrients may be present, but can't be taken up by the plant as there's not enough water to transport them.
Rooting will generally occur in 3-4 weeks but some plants will take longer. When the roots are 1-2 inches long or longer the cutting is ready to be potted up. This plant has heavy rooting and is ready to be moved to a pot with potting soil.
Loosening your garden soil involves a lot of work. As a result, the questions of how useful loosening the soil is and why it is done arise quickly. Basically, plants thrive in loose soil because air and water can circulate better, and soil life remains healthy.
Water thoroughly after repotting to help the soil settle around your plant's roots. Plenty of moisture will also help your plant recover from the move better. If you have a saucer under the pot, make sure to empty it, so your plant doesn't get too soggy.
If plants died from bacterial, fungal or viral disease, then you definitely do not want to reuse the soil, as soilborne pathogens can still be present and active. However, if the plants that grew in the soil before were healthy, it is generally OK to reuse the potting soil.
It's generally fine to reuse potting soil if whatever you were growing in it was healthy.
However, the simplest and most effective way to loosen compacted soil is to use Ground Breaker. Ground Breaker from Green As It Gets is a heavy duty soil penetrant that works by opening up the pores of the soil. It treats both types of compaction — physical and chemical — and contains no alcohol.
Washing the roots allows you to identify the primary roots and to correct any problems. Root pruning stimulates growth the same way aboveground pruning does. Washing off the roots allows you to see them clearly and completely. Remove any dead, damaged, mushy, or circling roots.
Maybe the pot is too small for it. Perhaps the soil needs to be changed. There might be a pest or disease problem. Plants need water; If they don't have enough water, they can't take up nutrients from their soil, which means they'll wilt and become sick.
Wet the soil before planting. This helps reduce root desiccation because of dry soils and “dilutes” salts contained in the soil. Water transplants thoroughly immediately after planting in wet soil. Do not rely on just the drip system to water plants after planting.
A plant ready for repotting should slide out with the soil in one piece. If much of the soil falls free of the roots, the plant may not need repotting. If it does, there will likely be a solid soil-and-root mass in the shape of the just-removed pot. Roots should be white or light-colored.