How do you know when a plant has outgrown it's pot?
Question:
Answers:
When it is pot-bound. The roots are hanging out of the drain hole on the bottom and the whole plant can be lifted straight out, roots intact, it's time to repot- Run a long sharp knife (that you don't care about) around the inside edge and tug. Give the roots a bit of a haircut, place in good potting soil in a pot just a few inches bigger. Some plants, like ficus, like to be pot-bound.
When the plant wont grow anymore...
when the roots start coming out of the dirt or the plant is heavier than the pot. if you think it is so, it probably is time to transplant. you can stop growth if you leave it as is, but if you transplant early it will be just a small plant in a big pot. eventually it will grow to the size of the pot. it couldnt hurt.
It won't produce any new leaves or flowers. If you take it out of the pot, you will see a mass of roots. If you choose not to put in a larger pot, just loosen root ball and remove part of the roots. Repot with fresh soil. For a bigger pot, just loosen root ball and plant with fresh soil. If you don't do this, you could loose your plant. Hope this helps!
Plants become root bound when in a small pot. Replant into a pot one size larger. Loosen the soil around the root ball, and use a good growing soil. If you don't use Miracle Gro soil, make sure to feed the plant using 1 Tbsp plant food and 1 Tbsp Epsom salt to one gallon of water, once every 2 weeks.
To put it simply, if it looks too big for the pot then it probably is, but things you can look for are-
roots sticking out of the bottom
browning of the petals
drooping leaves
if it's "thirsty" alot
if it's unbalanced
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