Getting Down and Dirty

Repotting Dracaena

So today I re-potted my Dracaena plant. Here is an easy step by step on how to repot a plant.  You know you are ready to repot when you notice that the roots are coming through the bottom via the draining holes. She was still in the nursery container and I wanted to put her in a Terra cotta pot.

• Potting Mix
• Potting Bark
• Pot
• Pizza box
• Old Shirt
• Truvel
• Gloves

I am sure you are scratching your head, wondering why the Pizza Box. Well, I am doing it in my kitchen and I don't have newspaper. We just had pizza last night so it will make a great place to do this and avoid the mess.

I cut some of the small shirt to use at the bottom of the pot. This would help prevent the soil from falling through.

Once in place, start packing in some dirt. You want to fill it in about 2/3 of the way up.

I like to wet it a bit to make it easier to make a small opening to hold the new plant.

So now you have to take the plant out of the nursery pot. Try to tug it lightly, if you feel resistance, try squeezing the plastic pot gently.

The pot should then be able to come free of the pot.

Check your plants roots. As you can see, this plant has a lot of roots toward the bottom. You want to free up the root ball a bit. 

Most of the soil came off, which is fine. I plant to put it into the new pot since it has a lot of plant food in there. That is what the white balls are.

Place the plant in the new pot. Not too deep, but enough to cover the roots and enough to give it support to not topple over.

Add additional soil to cover up the roots.

Gently pat down the soil. Don't squeeze down the soil or it will be hard for the roots to push through and for the water to be absorbed.

Add the bark. This is good to help keep the moisture in the soil and for decorative purposes.

You want to gently water the plant. Do not over-water or the soil will become too loose and the plant might fall over from lack of support in muddy water.

The plant is all done. Make sure to wait about 20 minutes and empty out the collection plate. With a new re-potted plant, the soil might take a while to drain, so you might have to empty the collection plate a few time during the day.

Mother-In-Law's Tongue

Now that we re-potted the plant, we were able to use it for the Mother-In-Law's Tongue. I really like how she looks in it!

Since the roots are not yet really poking through the drainage holes and since I know that this plant doesn't like to be waters too much, there is no need to repot this plant yet. 

Rubber Plant

Look! It's like a baby leaf! I am so very strange that this is exciting for me.