Plants & gardening21 categories
Decide whether a plant needs repotting
A plant looks unhappy and repotting is the thing everyone suggests first.
Tell me whether to repot this plant, and give me a straight answer rather than a list of considerations. 1. **Verdict first.** Repot now, repot later and when, or leave it alone. 2. **The evidence.** Which signs in what I describe point to root bound, which point to something else entirely. Repotting an unhappy plant that is not root bound usually makes it worse, so say so if that is what is happening here. 3. **If repotting:** what size pot, why not bigger, what compost mix for this species, whether to tease out or cut the roots, how much top growth to remove, and aftercare for the fortnight after. 4. **Timing.** Whether this is the right season, and what happens if I do it in the wrong one. 5. **The alternative**, if it exists: top dressing, root pruning back into the same pot, or simply changing the watering. What the plant is: Current pot size and material: What it is doing that worries me: When it was last repotted:
Making it yours
- Paste your own material where the prompt asks for it. Everything above that line is instruction, not content.
- Delete any rule that does not apply to you. A shorter prompt that fits beats a thorough one that does not.
- If the answer comes back vague, add a line saying what you do not want. Constraints work better than encouragement.
Routine care. Watering tests, repotting calls, pruning timing, compost mixes, and taking cuttings that root.
Related prompts
Work out a watering routine for my actual conditionsThe label says "water regularly" and you have killed three plants finding out what that means.Propagate a specific plant the right wayYou want more of something and there are five methods with different odds.Work out the right soil or compost mixStanding in front of six bags of compost with no idea which one this plant wants.Decide how and when to prune somethingSecateurs in hand and a real fear of cutting off next year's flowers.Give me a watering test, not a scheduleWhen the label says water regularly and you need something you can actually check.When do I prune this?Secateurs in hand, unsure whether you are about to remove next year's flowers.
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