By special request, I have created this thread to provide a resource for people to learn when and how to repot their succulents. This process may be intimidating at the beginning, given there is some risk involved, but with a few simple things in mind you can reduce that risk greatly.

Experienced growers: Please share your tips and techniques for repotting succulents. By that I mean moving them to a bigger pot, or doing soil replacement/root pruning and returning them to the same size pot, whatever the goal may be. Some things to consider...

1. When do you usually repot? (With respect to plant size, also time of year, time of day, time in watering cycle, etc.)
2. Do you disturb the root ball? Do you prune the roots?
3. Do you remove some/most of the soil? How do you decide whether soil replacement will be helpful?
4. How much bigger should the new pot be (if at all)?
5. What special tools or tricks do you employ?
6. What specific steps or approaches do you view as particularly important in reducing the risk of adverse consequences?

And if you're new at this, ask about whatever concerns you and hopefully a forum regular will be able to help.

I would like to ask everyone to please stay on topic, so this can be the most useful resource. It would be excellent if you could share a few pics to illustrate the process.

I repot maybe a dozen plants a week year-round, in pot sizes from 4" to 12" (mostly). Our climate is quite mild and almost all my plants are outside. I will try to answer the questions in order:

1. I repot year-round (mild climate) and try to time the activity for when the soil is going dry but is not quite there. That allows me to visually confirm my prediction and maybe adjust the watering schedule if it did not match reality. When in doubt, dry soil is much easier to work with than wet soil. So maybe 5 days into a 7 day cycle I might repot some of the smaller plants. For plants that have an active season and a season of rest, I try to repot near the start of the active season.

2. I prefer to leave the root ball exactly as is when I move plants up a size. Disturbing the roots introduces additional risk and they are generally perfectly able to explore new soil without special help. For some plants root pruning may provide a rejuvenating effect, but I'd imagine that very much depends on the plant. When in doubt, leave the roots alone.

3. Soil removal is not something I typically do. There are times when it might be necessary. In the extreme sense, bare-rooting, or total soil removal (typically performed in order to ship succulents in the mail) is quite common, and generally safe with most succulents. The big advantage of acquiring plants this way (to the extent there is one) is that it allows the recipient to control the soil mix from day one.

I can think of three reasons I might remove some or most of the soil. (1) To perform a close examination of the roots, if there is a potential insect problem down there; (2) to get rid of existing soil that I don't like, or is very different from what I want to use; or (3) to separate offsets at the time of repotting. I can add a fourth for people who rely on the soil for nutrients, and do not provide regular fertilizer during the growth season: (4) to replace old, worn-out soil which has given up all its nutrients.

4. When considering the new pot size, I try to assess two things. (1) What is the full potential size of the plant? (2) How fast do I anticipate it growing, and thus filling the new pot? Generally I make small steps in size wherever possible, so a seedling of an extra-large plant might go through these steps, one at a time, a few months to a couple of years in between.

4" -> 6" -> 8" -> 10" -> 12-14"

You want to avoid giant leaps in pot size, because they will tend to lead to wet feet, unless you know you're dealing with a fast-growing, rot-resistant plant that actually can use the extra space early on. The steps outlined above correspond to an increase in volume of 2-4 fold per step.

5. Don't forget to check out the roots when you repot. You can learn quite a bit from paying attention to this part of the plant, which you don't normally get to see. And don't forget to check the old soil carefully as well, to see how it changes over time, and whether it's different from the new one.

Basic repotting steps: (1) Fill the bottom of the new pot with soil, and check the level by putting the old pot (plant and all) on top of that soil. The old soil level should line up near the top of the new pot when you do this. (2) Pop out the plant from its pot with the rootball fully intact if possible. Sometimes a bit of pressure from below with my thumb allows me to get it moving, but generally it's best to let gravity do most of the work, if you can. (3) Drop the root ball on top of the soil in the new container, and fill in around it, aiming for a final soil level that's level and flush with the original (not higher, not lower).

6. Be gentle, take your time, observe from all angles.

Most importantly: Do not water right away after repotting. Wait a week to water for the first time if you handled the roots at all. If it was a simple pop, drop, and fill, then I usually wait a day or two to water. This waiting period is very important for plants which may have been injured during repotting. The roots need time to heal. Otherwise if they are immediately subjected to dirty water, there's a significantly higher risk of rot.

Also see this related thread:

The thread "Repotting your new succulent" in Gardening Ideas forum

Baja gives a very well organized and thought out overview of his procedure. I guess I generally follow what he says, but I am much more haphazard about it and there is one big difference: I do not repot things in the summer. This is because in summers most plants are in survival mode here because of the heat and sun and the shock of repotting even if I manage to do it with the root ball mostly intact is not something I want to add to the challenges that the Phoenix area summers represent for many many plants.

One thing that I can recommend and which I am not good at myself is to be pro-active with potting up a plant to larger pot. This is not a huge deal for all plants, there are actually plenty that appear to enjoy or even thrive with a certain amount of underpotting, but for some being made to languish for long amounts of time in a pot that is too small that is mostly filled with roots and not much soil any more leads to a slow but steady decline, which where I am at is especially obvious in summer time. Also it takes the plant a good while to recover from that situation even when potted up to a larger pot with fresh soil and it almost always requires a significant amount of root pruning to get the plant back to being happy.

Things I absolutely do not water right after repotting even if the rootball got transferred mostly intact: cacti and aloes, things that I am a little more comfortable with water relatively quickly after repotting them: Agaves. I grow a variety of other succulent or succulent adjacent plants, but those first three are my big categories where I have developed rules like that for.

As to the subject of root pruning: I tend not to do it unless as described above the pot was so full of roots and the plant was in that condition long enough that it is clear that the roots in touch with the container have started to deteriorate of have already died off. Root pruning is almost always necessary in those situations to get the plant to rejuvenate. Other than that I do my utmost best to avoid root damage as much as possible. If you are splitting a plant you will have to do some damage, but being careful during the separation process is definitely preferred over just ripping the plants apart (though sometimes that is necessary).

Anyway, I tried to look if I had some pictures of my repotting process but apparently I rarely take pictures of that and those pictures I do have were not really organized enough to be worth showing.... maybe come the fall as I continue on my quest to get all my 1 gallon plants into two and three gallon pots (I did not manage to get that finished in the spring) I will be organized enough to get some pictures that will be useful to post here.

Repot procedure:
1. Wait until at least a week has passed since last watering, Plants needs to be under watered at this point , for 3.
2. Prepping the soil(a mix of gravel, perlite, coarse sand and soil).
3. Cleaning the roots, eithet by carefully tapping, brushing and shaking off the soil off of them, or wet cleaning them with whatever you can pressurize.
This is important for plants with gentle roots, that dont take kindly to organic soil, or brushing(lithops, plants in muddy soil, etc)
4.(if wet) Wait for the roots to dry out, at least overnight. The dryer the better.
5. Pot. Plastic pots(black and usually square), filled with the same stuff.
6. Rest period-at least a week if the plant was dry. Usually 2 weeks if gentle.

I have a few outdoor cactus I need to report but since i live in a high humidity environment would you recommend that I bring the cacti indoors to "heal" if any of the roots break during the repotting process? I really don't know at this time how much I will need to loosen the soil, I am hoping that the mix will be comparable to what I use and so I may be able just to fill in the space in the larger pot.

The cactus are able to survive the cold in my zone just not the rainfall amounts (60+inches a year) so they are kept under a covered porch that faces south. During the fall/winter months the sun is low enough so that light will be on them during the day.

Thanks

That sounds like a good idea, unless you have an area outside with overhead protection, or can create something temporary along those lines.

How much soil does an Echeveria Purpusorum actually need ? I have baby offsets growing from leaves and each is in a pot about 3 inches wide at the top and about 2 1/2 inches tall, filled with about 1 3/4 inches of soil mix.
I'm wondering if I should move them to smaller containers or, if I leave them, how many years can I leave them.
Right now they're so little they look rather lost.

There's no big need to take action given the dimensions you have described, and the size of the baby plants. Best to leave them alone if they look like they're growing, then when they have a reasonable rosette and a good set of roots they will be much less sensitive to transplant. That plant will be good in a 4 inch pot for life, or at least that's my plan for the two purpusorums here.

I start small leaves in my usual minimum size pot (4 inches) or grouped together in a 5 inch pot maybe, filled to about 2 inches. They obviously are not using all that real estate for a few months, but that size pot takes longer to dry out, and I'm not a fan of extra watering if I can avoid it.

OK that's good to know, thanks ! I had a feeling those little things would be content for quite awhile where they are. It also means their older siblings are fine in their current pots.

Hi Everyone,

I'm very new and need some help! I have a plant that I believe is some type of aloe succulent. And it's looking bad.
I've had for about 4-5 years.
1. Do I repot to a bigger pot?
2. Can I cut the top part off and grow as an off spring?

A bigger pot would be good. But mainly the plant needs more light. Without more light, there's really no point in cutting the top off. The plant needs to "see" the sun for hours a day, weather permitting, year round, with no curtain or blinds in the way. Right in front of your sunniest southerly facing window would be ideal (assuming you're in the northern hemisphere).

Every year, I repot my succulents into individual little pots for the winter. This fairy garden has gotten out of control! I don't want to lose that big plant in the center but can I grow its off spring from the shoots?

You can grow that ruffled Echeveria from leaves off the flower stem, but they have to be intact all the way to the base. Use a knife to cut a little bit into the stem to be sure. Illustration from another Echeveria, showing the bracts right after harvesting, and the plant they came from, after the surgery.



Down the road

Baja_Costero said: You can grow that ruffled Echeveria from leaves off the flower stem, but they have to be intact all the way to the base. Use a knife to cut a little bit into the stem to be sure. Illustration from another Echeveria, showing the bracts right after harvesting, and the plant they came from, after the surgery.

• Echeveria (Echeveria subrigida)
• Uploaded by Baja_Costero

• Echeveria (Echeveria subrigida)
• Uploaded by Baja_Costero

Down the road

• Echeveria (Echeveria subrigida)
• Uploaded by Baja_Costero

• Echeveria (Echeveria subrigida)
• Uploaded by Baja_Costero

@Baja_Costero , Have you tried propagating those ruffled echeverias from flowerstalk cutting? You cut off the flowerstalk, cut off all the flowers, plant it like a regular cutting, and it will eventually grow pups. I find that it saves time and effort, rather than cutting off the leaves.

As for repotting, has anyone had their teracotta clay pots grow moldy? It seems to happen during our wet winters. That's the reason I stopped using teracotta.

I have heard about the method with the stalk, but I really like the technique I've worked out. The surgery is not a problem and it gives me a really nice compact package for starting out. I suspect trying to keep an inflorescence upright could become annoying.

Are you sure your clay pots are moldy and not just accumulating salts on the outside? If it's a white fluffy powder then it could be the latter.

I don't think accumulating salts could get fuzzy...

They certainly can.

Aeonium2003 said:
As for repotting, has anyone had their teracotta clay pots grow moldy? It seems to happen during our wet winters. That's the reason I stopped using teracotta.

I generally ignore any kind of discoloration on terracotta. I prefer the aging look on terracotta to new, unused terracotta - by a lot. Terracotta is my preferred material for a container, though I use a variety of containers. Probably my habits combined with my climate, perhaps, but it's the most plant friendly of all the containers I use. I can't think mold on the container would harm the plant it contains., would it?