I already wrote a post about caring for cacti and succulents, in which I talked (among others) about choosing a soil and pots for your plant http://mediterraneangarden.online/2019/01/23/few-tips-for-young-growers-from-my-experience/
As I can see, many of young growers are confused about repotting (I was confused too), so I decided to show you some very important secrets to successful repotting of course all from my experience and all tested on my plants (as some of you already know – I have more than 500, and still growing).
1. If you are going to repot succulent or cactus, let the soil dry out completely before you start.
2. If you recently bought your plant from the nursery, remove your plant out of the pot and remove as much nursery soil as possible. 99% of the nursery soils nurseries use is not correct for succulents nor cacti, so you will always be scared of overwatering. Check the roots, cut off all the rotted roots, check for pests.
– tip 1 from my experience – repotting is the first thing I do after bringing home a new plant.
– tip 2 – if your plant’s soil is soggy wet when you bought it – move it out of the pot, place it on a paper towel to help him dry as soon as possible – it can save his life. (remember to not leave him in a full sun – it will burn him!)
3. If your plant is already in cactus/succulent soil, you don’t need to remove the old soil.
4. Place your plant in the pot, fill up with soil, and you are done!
– tip 3 – I always put rocks at the bottom of the pot, there are two reasons why:
• as the cactus soil is (should be) very light – it will stop the soil from falling out from the draining whole during watering
• most of the succulents love to attach their roots to rocks in case of hurricanes or other natural disasters
– tip 4 – never water your plants right after repotting. Let them settle in a new pot for a week or so, then you can start your normal watering routine.
I hope this post will help some of you and your plants.
Let me know in comments if you’re still confused I will try to help. Thanks for reading, happy growing!