Good Morning!
I am about to embark on a dangerous mission: I am re-potting a Large Aloe vera. Do you have any tips or tricks that could help prevent breakage and/or aid in successful re-potting? Also, at what point should I just leave well enough alone? The pot I am moving this momma into is going to be too heavy to lift or put into the sink for watering once we're done, so I have to be close to that point. I know they say to re-pot container plants every year, but This particular one has gotten progressively more challenging because of its size.
Any assistance or suggestions would be most appreciated.
Hi!
If the pot is made of plastic you can squeeze the sides to loosen up the soil, if it’s a big pot with a thicker plastic you can put it on its side on the floor and kind of use your feet to roll the pot and also loosen the soil. If that doensn’t work or is impossible with the type of pot, use a little shovel or spoon or some other tool that might work and go around the inside. You can either dig the plant out or pull it out depending on how big the plant is and how heavy the clump of soil is. If the roots are all tangled up, loosen them up a little. I like to turn my plants upside down in one hand and using the other hand to wiggle in the middle of the root clump. (Idk if this is clear sorry) + Don’t worry about breaking some roots, they’ll grow back :)
Remove the soil between the roots as much as possible and put to the side! If there are dead roots or offsets growing, you can remove these as well. You absolutely don’t need to repot your succulent every year even though that’s what all advice websites claim. I keep my succulents and cacti (and even some tropical plants!) in the same container until they tip over or i feel like it looks too silly. If you keep your succulents for a longer while in the same pot just be sure to remove dead leaves and provide some fertiliser (but even when you neglect them they do fine). The reason why they say to only move up one or two pot sizes with succulents is so there’s less chance to overwater the plant and get root rot, BUT if you’re experienced and careful you can use a too large pot though. also use some soil with good drainage ofcourse. The plant might focus on growing roots for a while instead of growing flowers/babies.
Also a small tip if you want (or for someone else!) my joints aren’t too good and they often hurt when i’m caring for my plants and i sometimes use one of these things to transport plants or even just keep them on there so i can move them around without forcing anything :)
If you have more questions just let me know! Good luck!
