Repotting your houseplants after cultivation in an indoor garden is a good idea for prolonging the life of your plant.
Hydroponic systems offer plants rapid growth thanks to a perfectly dosed nutrient solution. However, once they have reached optimum size, they can benefit from being transferred to a soil pot where their roots can expand and stabilize further. Repotting also enables plants to adapt to a more natural environment and develop greater resistance to variations in soil moisture and nutrients. What's more, this switch from hydroponics to potting can extend their lifespan and improve their overall health, while enabling budding (indoor) gardeners to fully enjoy the beauty of their plants in a new space.
1. Can my plant be repotted?
There are three types of plants:
- perennials: some can be repotted - for others we're not sure they'll last (see list of varieties below).
- annuals: only some can withstand repotting (see list of varieties below).
- Biennials: some varieties can be repotted, but we can't be sure they'll last (use with caution) (see list of varieties below).
Salads, Golden Purslane and Rocket are NOT suitable for repotting.
2. Steps for repotting houseplants
→ Step 1: remove the capsule from the float, keeping the roots, without removing the plant plastic around them (this would break them!). Push it directly into the ground in a pot filled with potting soil.
→ Step 2: keep the soil very wet for the first few weeks: the plant goes from total immersion in water (in hydroponics) to dry soil, so this can upset it. For 15 days, leave the repotted plant under its light fixture. If you can see that the plant is adapting well to its new environment, go on to step 3.
→ Step 3: you can move the plant to a sunny spot (but still indoors). Leave it for 15/20 days, until it gets used to living without artificial light. Finally, if it holds up well, you can move on to step 4 (and it's the last one, I promise).
→ Step 4: Place the pot outdoors, in a location suitable for the plant (beware of cold/hot spells).
We advise you to leave 15/20 days between each step.
WARNING: if you are replanting outdoors, make sure you do so between May and October, outside periods of frost.
