Water your plant about a half hour before repotting. You can vary the time amount (it can be three hours before or 15 minutes), but the plant will definitely require an earlier watering to minimize the chance of plant shock. Add the drainage layer to your pot.
Water your plant thoroughly a day or two before you plan to re-pot. This will make it easier to get your plant out of its pot, and ensure that it is hydrated, which reduces the risk of shock.
However, if you've had your plant for less than a year, more than likely, you do not need to repot it yet. Some plants can go 18 months and others even longer before they need a new pot. Repotting too often can stress out the plant, leading to browning at the leaf tips, wilting, and shed leaves.
Don't Repot Too Quickly!
Transplanting too soon will likely damage your plant's fragile roots; and if broken roots do not kill the plant, the stress placed on the roots may inhibit foliar growth.
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.
Plants can get stressed, just like us. Whether it happens overnight after being repotted in your cute new pot or over the course of several days after their environment drastically changes, they are great at communicating their stress with us.
Pot Size Is Linked to Growth
Potting up (moving a plant to a larger pot) tends to encourage it to grow faster and become larger. It's the sort of thing you do to a younger plant, sometimes more than once a year.
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.
You can either go for the bath method and bottom water, or thoroughly top water. I prefer to give plants a bath (bottom water) as step one, a day or two before I repot, then I like to thoroughly top water drench after repotting, as top watering also helps flush out excess dirt and silt from the new substrate.
Loosening the root ball when repotting is only essential when the plant has become completely root bound. In cases where they are not completely rootbound, you may be able to plant directly into the next pot. If the roots are not wrapped tightly around each other, there is no need to cut and disturb them.
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.
Repotting Plants: How to Do It
Make sure the plant is well watered 2-4 days in advance. You don't want to repot when it's sopping wet but being too dry will cause stress. Take the plant out of the pot. If the rootball is a bit tight, gently massage the roots to loosen them up.
There could be several reasons for a plant dying after replanting, including: shock from transplantation, incorrect planting depth, not enough water or too much water, pest or disease problems, or improper lighting conditions.
Stop Watering the Plant
But stopping your watering is always the first step. If you're overwatering, you'll likely notice that the soil is wet, so you want to make sure that soil is bone dry before you're ready to break out the watering can again.
If you plant a pot-bound plant into the ground or into another pot without first loosening the tangled and overgrown roots, they will continue to grow in a circle rather than reaching out into the soil to anchor the plant.
The best time of year to repot a plant is…
… during the warmer months, so you're in luck! “The best time to repot is in spring or summer – when the plant is actively growing,” Spink says.
In general, it's best to choose a new pot that is 1”-2” larger than the current pot. If you would like to repot your rootbound plant back into the same pot (or one that is the same size) and you don't want it to grow much larger, you can root prune your plant.
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.
A common reason is that the potting mix has dried out and isn't absorbing the water. Most commercial potting mixes contain peat, which holds water well once it has been moistened, but -- as everyone who works with sphagnum peat outdoors knows -- is difficult to wet the first time.
When you see an entirely yellow leaf, you should remove it from your plant using a sterile cutting tool. Removing the leaf will let the plant focus its nutrients on healthy leaves. A yellow leaf has lost its chlorophyll (pigment) and it can't turn green again even after you correct the problem.