Excellent advice. as a professional nurseryman and former commercial nursery owner with over 50 years experience I can assure your viewers that over potting is by far the major killer of indoor pot plants
You're right that outside soil contains beneficial bacteria, fungi, and other critters that help prevent root rot and aerate the soil. There's another reason why outdoor plants don't suffer from root rot at nearly the same rate as indoor plants: outdoor plants (usually) don't have to deal with a perched water table. Container-grown plants do. What I mean by this is: when you water a plant in a container -- no matter how well-draining your soil mix is -- some of the excess water "clings" to the soil instead of falling out of the pot. This creates a wet zone (the perched water table) that can promote root rot. This is due to the physical properties of water -- water can travel due to the force of gravity, i.e. when you let a pot drain naturally, gravity is doing the work of pulling the water out for you. Water also travels due to the forces of adhesion and cohesion -- water "wants" to stick to other molecules. This is why, for example, if you take a paper towel, lay it flat on a table, and spritz one corner of the paper towel with water, the water will travel horizontally across the paper towel. Gravity isn't moving that water, other forces (adhesion and cohesion) are. The water basically wants a "path" to follow, and the paper towel is providing that path, in the same way a wick would. Extrapolate that to plants growing outside. The soil gets wet when it rains, but the excess water is wicked away paper towel-style. If you took a plant growing in a container, put it outside on top a patch of dirt, and watered it, you would instantly improve the drainage, because the soil in the container would be physically touching the outside dirt and forming a connection or pathway for the water to travel along. Plants certainly do suffer from root rot outdoors... but those tend to be plants that are growing right above an impermeable soil layer (like clay), or plants that are inappropriately grown in flood-prone areas where the soil is frequently saturated.
Thanks for this in depth explanation. I observed this just the other day, when I sat my plastic pot with drain holes on my upholstered bed frame and since the meshy, woven material of my bed frame came into contact with some moist soil through the drain holes, the water was pulled right out at an alarming rate lol. This water likely wouldn't have dropped out onto a table top through gravity alone, so that wicking effect is something to appreciate!
Mr. Sheffield! My two favorite plant people in one video! WOOT! "That's weird!" LOL I did add worms (some red wigglers we had left over from a fishing trip) to my potted plants when I was younger and still new to growing house plants. All it did was kill the poor little worms. There really isn't anything in the plant soil for them to feed on unless you never clean off the top of the soil from dead leaves and such. Also, all the synthetic chemicals we add to the soil ball will kill them too. So, yeah, it does sound like a great idea to keep your soil aeriated, in theory. In reality, it doesn't work that way.
I repot immediately for many reasons. 1. Soil type 2. Root condition 3. Stores either over or under water and if the roots are rotted I can restart before it starts to die. 4. My conditions are different than Walmart so I need them in a medium I can work with.
A warning about the clear pot thing: sometimes this ends with leaf burn, due to excess exposure to UV light. A solution I’ve found to it is using mason jars with a slight blue tint. No drainage hole, but it’s easy enough to avoid overwatering when you can see the water’s progress. And your soil mix is perfection.
As a professional nurseryman and commercial nursery owner with over 50 years experience growing pot plants I have a problem in connection with your warning. 1. How does an indoor plant get leaf burn from being in a clear pot? 2. How do you flush out the build up of salts in a container that has no drainage?
2 things I have done… pot up too shallow in a pot.. like, leave a few inches at the top without soil.. then, when I need more room, I lift the soil/roots from the pot, add soil to the bottom, and put the blob of dirt and roots back on top. Second thing, I put a plant in a biggish zip lock bag with a few holes stabbed in and the soil in there.. then put that in a nursery pot that’s a little bigger.. when it looks ready… I add soil to the bottom of the pot, cut the bag… add soil around.. and boom. Done.. without disturbing the roots!
@@melindawallin3713 haha yes!! do it! sometimes I just don’t have that perfect middle pot size and I don’t want to buy more nursery pots when I already have so many of the next size and it’s going to grow into that size soon! It’s like when my mom got me the next size shoe as a kid and made me put cotton balls in the toes until I grew into them lmao 😂
I have a little story about earthworms in plant pots :x I keep pretty much all my plants on the balcony or in the garden during summer - Monsteras, Strelizia, Avocados, Orchids and whatnot - and they normally really love to be there. However last Year when I took them inside for their winterbreak lots of them seemed to not acclimate to room conditions as quickly as they normally do. They where clearly struggling and something really seemed to bug them in somehow but I couldn't find the culprit. There where no aphids, caterpillars (which especially love to munch on Monsteras, lol) or any other visible bugs left on them from outside. I came to the conclusion that I just took them in too late that year and that this has to be the reason for some of them to "be weird"... When some of my mango trees started to show some serious issues in early spring I could not ignore the problem any longer and checked the roots. It turned out that all plants that had problems during the winter had multiple earthworms in their pots which have happily pooped in there for a couple of months and pretty much turned all the soil into a stinky, muddy mess which was suffocating the roots. So I repotted all the affected plants, removed the worms and the plants bounced back to normal. haha tldr; Dont put worms in your pots, they poop too much and make your plants sick. ^^
Worm poop is exvellent fertiliser, but if you have organic vased soil in pots, it composts into fine particles, compresses and reduces oxygen in the root zone, causing root rot or becoming unwettable. Adding some bark,coarse sand or perlite, soil will stay better structured. ❤
If you still want the airation of an orchid pot, you can always put holes in the larger plastic pot. We do it in the orchid hobby all the time for specimen sized orchids if we aren't using terra cotta.
You’re quickly becoming my favourite plant TH-camr, you make a lot of sense and you have a lovely way about you. Thank you. ☺️ I do love Sheffield made Plants too! 🪴
My Monstera was in a 4 inch pot and the roots were growing out of it. It grew over a foot tall in that pot so i got a bigger one but made the mistake of getting a 10 inch pot for future growth. Now after 2 weeks the leaves are all wilting and their edges are turning brown. Getting a smaller pot today and trying again. I can't lose my baby 😪. Hope I haven't hurt it. Thank you for all of the awesome info!!
@@KillThisPlantthank you. I didn't know what it was for the first year I had it because it was a baby plant mixed in with 3 others in a memorial planter. It grew like a weed and killed the other plants. I've never done well with house plants lol. After finding out what it was I was lucky enough to find your channel and now I'm addicted! Love your videos and I've learned so much in the last few weeks from you. Thank you for the knowledge!
I repotted my new string of pearls a day after I got it. the soil was mostly organic and wet. the plant had barely any roots and some of them were already rotting. put it into well draining soil and now it's one of my easiest plants with healthy roots coming out of the bottom i think its safe to say that repotting saved it's life
I started using Clear pots for some of my tropical fruit plants to keep an eye out for root rot. Currently i have a a seedling Jackfruit in a clear pot using a blend of Orchid potting mix, citrus compost and ericaceous mix. I'm experimenting with the blend as ive lost many Jackfruit plants in the past. Also overpotting is one of the reasons that plants suffer root rot because the potting mix stays wet too long. One pot size up should be enough space for the roots to expand.
@@akaalx I’ve gotten some from Amazon in the past, but recently I started using clear drinking cups. They work great and I can move up in size really easily! I just put holes in the bottom and they slide into decorative pots super quick.
Plus then you can use decorative pots that don't have drainage holes. It soooo useful for my orchids that I'm hoping to make the change for my other plants...slowly, when they need to be repotted.
terra cotta pots are better. They breathe and that is very important to plants like monstera. Size up to give the plant 2-3 years (1 if young plant). I would have taken this plant to an 8-10" clay pot.
That was fun. I didn't expect to see Mr. Sheffield. I LOVE collabs! Also, I am now freaking out because I re-potted my Monstera "Seymour" today. I used ALL of my KTP/Sheffield knowldege. Wish us luck!
Thank you! This is so helpful. And the closing advice is VERY helpful: If you want your plant to survive a repot, just give it more light. I do live in central Arizona, where all we have is more light and much more light, but I get your point. Knowing my past history, a poor plant is lucky to survive period, but will keep this in mind.
I should think that clear pots and insubstantial compost are right for epiphytes like orchids, but I cannot believe that ground plants are likely to do well with light on their roots. In fact, I have an Amarylis that came in a big glass container, and the roots all turned green and got covered in algae until I painted the glass black to keep the light out. Biggest problem is shop 'compost', which is almost alwys peat dust that just suffocates everything except very gast growing tomatoes. I have also just finished 'panning' a whole bag of expensive compost that turned out to be full of extremely fine bricklayers' sand in addition to the peat dust: everything put in it dies at a few inches high, because the sand actually sucks water out of the plants and suffocates them at the same time!!! Why are shops allowed to sell this stuff? As the creator says: water retainingmaterials are ok for outdoors where worms, insects, and other plant roots keep the soil open, but in a pot indoors, water retention is a guaranteed killer. No online superstores seem to sell proper soil based or John Innes composts, and all come with thrips and sciarid flies to make sure they kill everything! :(
I really enjoyed your video, the clear plastic pots I had never considered for anything but orchids but what a great way to monitor the root system . Glad you pointed out how the plants we buy were raised in green houses ,I generally stick with buying small plants thus avoiding the heartbreak of buying a large beautiful lush plant only to watch it slowly die after I take it home. Nice cameo from Mr. Sheffield. Thank you.
Love my soltech lights . They raised them so I'm happy I got them years ago. Which tells you they last a long time so they are definitely worth every penny . Thank you for all the info. You have helped me a lot on discord. Thank again 😊
Well, I feel called out. I bought a Calathea roseopicta yesterday and repotted it because it was in really dense soil and rootbound. I didn't feel like making a special mix, so I used what was on hand, which was more pumice than coco coir. I can water it every day, but I just hope I didn't make a big mistake. Now I want to repot it again in a more coco coir heavy mix, but I've put it through enough stress already. I'll wait a week or two and see what happens. Great video, as always! P.S. Hi, Mr. Sheffield!
My stromanthe Tristan was getting so bushy then it needed a repot and I did it in summer and changed it to my own dyi mix and it died. I kinda neglected with watering due to travel and then downsized the pot and now it’s dead. I’ve realized with my work schedule I just need to buy chunky aroid mixes and moss poles, I don’t have time for diy.
I grew up in northern Canada and my plant game was a struggle. I now live in Spain and my plant game on point! warm weather and tons of sun! You should see my pitcher plants!!
Wow, I feel extremely called out. I wonder if I should downsize my recent repots or if that would just disturb my new plants even more. I already disturbed them twice, once by repotting immediately after buying them, then again a week later to add perlite and orchid bark to the soil. I put plants from 4" pots into 8" pots, and I didn't add nearly as much chunky stuff as these aeroid mixes I'm seeing on TH-cam. They're also about to go through another transition a week from now when I move from a small dark house with a porch to a condo with lots more windows - more light for my indoor plants, but most of my outdoor plants will have to adapt to indoors.
It really depends on if your plants are declining. That is a huge pot size jump, so you might not see leaf damage until its too late... Join our discord to share pictures and your light levels with us, we can walk you through it.
A thing I don't see talked about a lot is: potting media becomes hydrophobic over time as it settles. If you put water in and it just drops through the top super fast and your plant seems like it just never is really getting watered enough, you need to mix up the excess media and report even if into the same one. The bottom of the roots may also end up staying wet too long because the water all goes to the bottom, making it also harder for the plant to pull water in. If you've gotta add some media to replace some fine but in potting media water shouldn't just drop through it should move down at a moderate rate and then the media should be able to retain soil for a while. Another indicator is you try to water a fair amount and then within a day it's dry, it's become hydrophobic.
Small exception: Coco always does that, it's like a sponge. Drains super freely and once it's saturated, water just drops right through. It has better rewetting properties than soil though, it doesn't get very hydrophobic even if it dries out.
I repotted a plant that just look like it was way overgrown for its container. I just tried to keep as much of it intact as i could soil and all and just added more soil to fill the pot. Its been months and still looks healthy and strong
Excellent points! The absolute best way to get rid of thrips is spinusad watered in a few times. I’ve successfully wiped them out in multiple runs in my grow tent through the years. Works quickly and 100% effective and non toxic even for consumable plants.
Your explanation is very exceptional!! I know more on why I kill plants in pots. Your explanation on how a pot is different than out side was so clear I could not believe I did not see it already. Thank you very much.
I love your more sophisticated approach to videos. Would love if you did something on starting seedlings. I've had a lot of trouble with damping off fungus and you probably have good methods.
Another thing to try: If you have a room with not enough light try a lower light plant like the zz plant. And leave a light on for 10/12 hours. The one in my windowless bathroom is about ready to be repotted... again.
Yup for the coco coir comments. When I buy plants from Trader Joe’s, my ficus tineke was in just coco coir or peat moss and I left it and it got root rot because it was too moist or too dry and I traveled a lot in the summer. I usually changed the media but I got busy/lazy plus I know I have another 2 that is thriving.
IF your pot drains properly it should be almost impossible to get root rot with coco because it drains so freely. In fact it's usually much much harder to get root rot in coco than in soil due to overwatering. Temperature and light don't have much of an impact on this, just whether you're watering properly for the medium. Coco dries out faster and needs more frequent watering than soil, but less water each time, that can be a disadvantage for house plants. If you were gone for long periods your plants might have just dried out too much. (Pure) Coco does have some disadvantages for "home" use: 1. It is more sensitive to water pH. Soil buffers more, so you might run into issues if your water has a high pH. 2. It's harder to tell how much water you need visually, but you'll get a feel for it by watching how much water you need to get drain out of the bottom. I suspect this trips up some people, they water more than the coco can absorb, get tons of drain which then sits in the bottom of the pot and then the roots rot. It has advantages, however: 1. It drains very freely and stays airy, even when watering frequently. So if your pot has enough drain holes it's extremely hard to overwater by too frequent watering, which is a killer in soil. 2. When irrigated and fertilized properly, many plants grow faster in coco than in soil.
When I start seedlings I use clear plastic cups for this exact reason. So I can easily see the root growth and know when it is time to transplant. Currently I’m using clear plastic cups to start spider plants. Using the same idea for bigger plants has never occurred to me but it’s a great idea!
I love my ferns. They get huge! Ferns are tricky because they don't like deep pots. Finding a big pot that isn't deep is hard! I divide the fern instead. Quick tip: soak the rootball for a few minutes before potting. Don't water for a week afterwards.
I started growing plants by planting into see-through containers from the grocery store that they sell berries in. I just make a hole at the bottom. And I've been feeling bad about my cheap ass setup. Turns out it's The Way 😮
@7:43 Also a mixture of wind, humidity, dew point, and air temperature. As wind speed and temperature increase, evaporation from the soils surface increases, and water is lost faster from lower levels via elevated evapotranspiration from plant leaves, which will then continue drawing up water using their roots. Warmer soil will also further encourage evaporation, whereas colder soil (AC indoors) will favor condensation/remaining in liquid form. Of course much of this depends on the dew point and humidity (dew on grass on cold mornings) but in most places outdoors will have more water loss in warmer months. Ultimately, wind is a huge factor, when I was analyzing data for my thesis, wind speed had the highest effect on water vapor in enclosed gas chambers, likely because it affected the surrounding soil causing a water gradient.
What are you using as tape/ties for your monstera? I'm using twine right now and my plant seems fine, but I'm not loving the aesthetic and worry that the thin string will damage the stems over time.
I've been growing outdoors for over 40 years and just over a year indoor gardening since cannabis became legal in Minnesota. I start in solo cups (about 20oz) repot to 1/2 gallon when they get there second set of fan leaves. Then a bigger pot whenever watering every other day is not enough, 2.6 gallon to 7 gallon cloth pot and finally 15 gallon cloth pots. For the last repotting I recommend a small kiddy pool, on clearance soon wherever they are sold.
I was thinking of switching some of my plants to clear plastic pots but am curious -- if the roots grow along the plastic sides and get exposed to sunlight, will that negatively affect the roots or plants, because in the wild roots are underground and don't see sunlight.
Roots would prefer to grow away from the sun, so its not ideal, but it will not harm the roots enough to cause damage, especially if your pot is opaque, but most people use cover pots anyway.
a bunch of my houseplant pots have earthworms living in them. Not because i put them there, just that i keep my compost outside and they find their way in. Doesn't seem to do any harm, other than losing some soil out the bottom holes through the worms making castings out of them
Idk if I agree with Walmart specifically. I almost never have issues with plants from anywhere else, but Walmart. They're doing something to the plants, so they die faster. Every plant I bought from Walmart I almost immediately repotted and they started thriving within couple of days. I even saved multiple discounted ones, except my nasturtium. But nasturtiums are not big fans of being repotted, but I had to since there was over an inch of root growth out of the holes on the bottom. It couldn't even stand when I set it on a flat surface.
@@baonguyen-sw1ji I do not want to make a blanket statement saying it's always fine. Most plants you would buy in a garden center are fine but I would encourage you to try and research it if you're getting something extremely uncommon.
Another reason is that the plant wasn't grown from seed, but rather from a cutting. A plant grown from seed has a major central root that cuttings don't have. If a cutting was put straight into soil or water for root germination without any root hormone or antibacterial protection, rot slowly enters the cut point and eats it's way up the central system. The plant may look healthy at the top but it's not at the root stock. This is from my own experience buying plants, and is something that I've noticed through the years. It's harder for cuttings to last long.
I mostly grow outside. Never had problems with my indoor plants though. I always use soil from the garden and mulch it afterwards, I think of it as a bubble ecosystem, I want to mimic everything about the garden, including the soil-building process and soil microbiome. Never had a plant sicken or die in this setup.
A lot of great information, but none about using Root Stimulator after a repot. I bonsai as a hobby and I can get away with a lot of root disturbance by using some immediately after repotting and then once more 2 weeks later. Try it out! As long as you follow the instructions on the back of the bottle, you won’t be disappointed. Thanks for the great video!
Heya. I just stumbled across this video and subscribed to your channel. As a long time gardener and new to the housplant game Ive had a bit of trouble. I liked how you broke things down as having an understanding of the "why" helps me remember things vs just lists of dos and donts and i think hells me make informed decisions when I havent been given direct advice on a topic. I wanted to ask, and maybe this is for a Q and A video if you do those, you talked about how bigger isnt always better for houseplants because of the oxygen which made a lot of sense to me. But when you put together your growing medium it looked to me like compaction and oxygen could never be a problem with that as it was so chunky. Did I miss a caveat or does that kind of mix you made still pose problems with oxygen to the roots? I had to ask along with giving kudos because I was scratching my head at that.
The potting mix I use is extremely chunky and well draining, yes. Most people will generally use a very dense bagged potting soil with no additional amendments. Those soils, while fine, can expose some people to a higher likelihood of having less oxygen and retaining too much water. That combined with low light causes the most problems.
I continue to have issue with colocasia elephant ears and growing them from rhizomes. The rhizome is huge, and so the pot needs to be bigger. Then the tiny little plant swims in that bigger pot, but I've killed them trying to re pot.
SAME! Except my m.i.l. and it's definitely dead as of last week 😭 However the cane begonia cutting i was gifted by a friend is now thriving as multiple cuttings that have grown into full plants!
On the note of where to get coco coir that isn't at a specialty shop-- pet stores! Coco coir and other coconut fibers are common reptile substrate, so there are many kinds kept in the reptile section of any pet store that has one! I use it as part of my bioactive substrate mix for my corn snake, whose enclosure coincidentally has a pothos growing splendidly in it from the benefits of the UV lights and cleanup insects 😊
Getting plants with the perfect soil for their previous conditions is driving me nuts. I'm an over-waterer by nature and I mix my soil specifically to mitigate that. Buying plants from saner people means I'm constantly worried about the soil being too damp for too long, and it gets really really hard to not repot them. Which I try to hold myself back from doing for as long as I can, but it's generally more weeks than months. Also, my plants are much smaller, with smaller roots, so I really have to balance the risk of them potentially drowning/rotting in their old soil vs the potential root damage/shock of repotting. It's a struggle.
I know what you mean! I also like having all my plants in my own mix. I bought two small monsteras from a woman more than two months ago, and I’ve not had to water them once because of her soil mix 😅 I’m itching to repot them but I’ve been holding off because they’re growing really well so I don’t want to disturb them.
@@luemun The itch! I know it well. Happy to hear the monsteras are doing well, though. I too, have three current plants that I've watered once in over a month due to not wanting to disturb them, but I know I'm about to break soon, as mine are only doing mostly okay...
Plants need good fresh air circulation and micro organisms that live in the soil. This is only possible outside, because plants inside people homes tend to die because of bad fungus and bad micro organisms in the soil. Outside good micro organisms and bad micro organisms compete. It´s possible to have good looking plants inside, but you have to give them much more care and time, artificial lights and humidity like plants that live outside or in green houses/nurseries. The most important aspect is light, air circulation and micro organisms. You mention all this aspects and it´s very right!
I like to keep a pie pan underneath each potted plants and water from the bottom like you would with a cactus. This way the water is pulled in as the roots need it. Once it is empty then I refill it. I also use filtered water and I no longer use tap water.
It would be nice if you told us what your credentials are because currently I am growing flowers that are both medicine and food along with food in my apartment. It's also helpful to grow mushrooms in your garden bed so that that way the mycelium can allocate resources from one part of the garden to the other wherever it needed.
Unless the plant is that big or the pot is that heavy pick it up when you know it's dry and put it in a sink before watering. Then, after draining, feel the weight difference and adjust the amount of water by weight thereafter. Over and under water problem solved.
Should I avoid repotting newly bought plants? I bought herbs, repotted them, watered and set on a window (it was rainy and I didn't wanted them to drown outside). The soil got moldy and the plants died.
Bright indirect light is an actual thing but it's not well understood. Basically it just means the light has been diffused through some sort of filter, be it a leaf canopy, sheer curtain, or a really dirty window (don't recommend). I've read it's not so much about the light exposure itself but about how hot the plant gets because some plants like it hot and some really hate it. I always just recommend an east or west facing window since that light is less intense.
Have you seen how Walmart and Home Depot cares for their plants? Either dry as desert or waterlogged it’s awful and HD usually has spider mites and other such bugs on theirs so imma keep repotting as soon as I bring em home. Waiting 2 months is wild for a big box store plant maybe a reputable nursery that’s fair.
I agree, especially for Walmart plants. I haven't had issues with Home Depot for now, but major with Walmart. I'm pretty sure a Walmart plant got some of my other plants infested with aphids
Hi. Thanks for your video. I’m going to transplant my lemon balm plant baby plant soon, but don’t know how to make a well-draining soil mix. Can you recommend what to use? Thanks.
I’m planning to repot a monstera into a much larger pot, one that I plan for it to stay in as it matures. Because it’s much larger, I’m planning to fill about 1/3 of the pot with leca balls at the bottom and the rest with well draining potting soil that’s a mix of peat moss, pearlite, compost, and a bit of fertilizer. Since it will be in such a large pot, I plan to water it more often than usual to try to avoid root rot, and since the drainage should be very good. Do you think that this is an okay idea, or am I basically dooming my monstera? It’s for my elderly grandparents, so they won’t be able to repot the plant which is why I’m making this decision.
Reminder to always water your plants immediately after repot.
Potting into dry soil and leaving it for extended periods can kill your roots.
Apart from some succulents and cacti as watering immediately can cause rot if the roots were damaged in the process.
@@DarkHelixia yeah, cacti wanna chill out for a week or at least 5 days to callous and heal any damaged root parts so they dont rot and die.
@darealrulezbreaker9493 Helpful. 👍🏾 I'm transitioning to a mostly-succulent environment.
Why did you stop posting on tik tok
@@Darkrosemusic_ I figured out that my videos would get more views by being vague, sensational, and less helpful. Not the case on TH-cam.
Excellent advice. as a professional nurseryman and former commercial nursery owner with over 50 years experience I can assure your viewers that over potting is by far the major killer of indoor pot plants
You're right that outside soil contains beneficial bacteria, fungi, and other critters that help prevent root rot and aerate the soil. There's another reason why outdoor plants don't suffer from root rot at nearly the same rate as indoor plants: outdoor plants (usually) don't have to deal with a perched water table. Container-grown plants do. What I mean by this is: when you water a plant in a container -- no matter how well-draining your soil mix is -- some of the excess water "clings" to the soil instead of falling out of the pot. This creates a wet zone (the perched water table) that can promote root rot.
This is due to the physical properties of water -- water can travel due to the force of gravity, i.e. when you let a pot drain naturally, gravity is doing the work of pulling the water out for you. Water also travels due to the forces of adhesion and cohesion -- water "wants" to stick to other molecules. This is why, for example, if you take a paper towel, lay it flat on a table, and spritz one corner of the paper towel with water, the water will travel horizontally across the paper towel. Gravity isn't moving that water, other forces (adhesion and cohesion) are. The water basically wants a "path" to follow, and the paper towel is providing that path, in the same way a wick would.
Extrapolate that to plants growing outside. The soil gets wet when it rains, but the excess water is wicked away paper towel-style. If you took a plant growing in a container, put it outside on top a patch of dirt, and watered it, you would instantly improve the drainage, because the soil in the container would be physically touching the outside dirt and forming a connection or pathway for the water to travel along. Plants certainly do suffer from root rot outdoors... but those tend to be plants that are growing right above an impermeable soil layer (like clay), or plants that are inappropriately grown in flood-prone areas where the soil is frequently saturated.
Very well explained.
Thanks for this in depth explanation. I observed this just the other day, when I sat my plastic pot with drain holes on my upholstered bed frame and since the meshy, woven material of my bed frame came into contact with some moist soil through the drain holes, the water was pulled right out at an alarming rate lol. This water likely wouldn't have dropped out onto a table top through gravity alone, so that wicking effect is something to appreciate!
I set my watered & drained pots on towels to soak the excess
Mr. Sheffield! My two favorite plant people in one video! WOOT! "That's weird!" LOL I did add worms (some red wigglers we had left over from a fishing trip) to my potted plants when I was younger and still new to growing house plants. All it did was kill the poor little worms. There really isn't anything in the plant soil for them to feed on unless you never clean off the top of the soil from dead leaves and such. Also, all the synthetic chemicals we add to the soil ball will kill them too. So, yeah, it does sound like a great idea to keep your soil aeriated, in theory. In reality, it doesn't work that way.
Very nice to see you and Mr. Sheffield together
I repot immediately for many reasons. 1. Soil type 2. Root condition 3. Stores either over or under water and if the roots are rotted I can restart before it starts to die. 4. My conditions are different than Walmart so I need them in a medium I can work with.
A warning about the clear pot thing: sometimes this ends with leaf burn, due to excess exposure to UV light. A solution I’ve found to it is using mason jars with a slight blue tint. No drainage hole, but it’s easy enough to avoid overwatering when you can see the water’s progress. And your soil mix is perfection.
I assumed you would then put the clear pot inside a prettier pot. And you could easily just take it out, inspect, and put it in again.
@@camillathecoffeedrinker Yes thats what most people do🌱💚🤗
As a professional nurseryman and commercial nursery owner with over 50 years experience growing pot plants I have a problem in connection with your warning.
1. How does an indoor plant get leaf burn from being in a clear pot?
2. How do you flush out the build up of salts in a container that has no drainage?
2 things I have done… pot up too shallow in a pot.. like, leave a few inches at the top without soil.. then, when I need more room, I lift the soil/roots from the pot, add soil to the bottom, and put the blob of dirt and roots back on top. Second thing, I put a plant in a biggish zip lock bag with a few holes stabbed in and the soil in there.. then put that in a nursery pot that’s a little bigger.. when it looks ready… I add soil to the bottom of the pot, cut the bag… add soil around.. and boom. Done.. without disturbing the roots!
Great ideas
I find your ideas very intriguing ...may have to just try the plastic bag method
@@melindawallin3713 haha yes!! do it! sometimes I just don’t have that perfect middle pot size and I don’t want to buy more nursery pots when I already have so many of the next size and it’s going to grow into that size soon! It’s like when my mom got me the next size shoe as a kid and made me put cotton balls in the toes until I grew into them lmao 😂
I have a little story about earthworms in plant pots :x
I keep pretty much all my plants on the balcony or in the garden during summer - Monsteras, Strelizia, Avocados, Orchids and whatnot - and they normally really love to be there. However last Year when I took them inside for their winterbreak lots of them seemed to not acclimate to room conditions as quickly as they normally do. They where clearly struggling and something really seemed to bug them in somehow but I couldn't find the culprit. There where no aphids, caterpillars (which especially love to munch on Monsteras, lol) or any other visible bugs left on them from outside. I came to the conclusion that I just took them in too late that year and that this has to be the reason for some of them to "be weird"...
When some of my mango trees started to show some serious issues in early spring I could not ignore the problem any longer and checked the roots. It turned out that all plants that had problems during the winter had multiple earthworms in their pots which have happily pooped in there for a couple of months and pretty much turned all the soil into a stinky, muddy mess which was suffocating the roots. So I repotted all the affected plants, removed the worms and the plants bounced back to normal. haha
tldr; Dont put worms in your pots, they poop too much and make your plants sick. ^^
You supposed to have red wrigglers earthworms like deep soil
Worm poop is exvellent fertiliser, but if you have organic vased soil in pots, it composts into fine particles, compresses and reduces oxygen in the root zone, causing root rot or becoming unwettable. Adding some bark,coarse sand or perlite, soil will stay better structured. ❤
If you still want the airation of an orchid pot, you can always put holes in the larger plastic pot. We do it in the orchid hobby all the time for specimen sized orchids if we aren't using terra cotta.
You’re quickly becoming my favourite plant TH-camr, you make a lot of sense and you have a lovely way about you. Thank you. ☺️ I do love Sheffield made Plants too! 🪴
My Monstera was in a 4 inch pot and the roots were growing out of it. It grew over a foot tall in that pot so i got a bigger one but made the mistake of getting a 10 inch pot for future growth. Now after 2 weeks the leaves are all wilting and their edges are turning brown. Getting a smaller pot today and trying again. I can't lose my baby 😪. Hope I haven't hurt it.
Thank you for all of the awesome info!!
I hope it recovers 🙏🏾
@@KillThisPlantthank you. I didn't know what it was for the first year I had it because it was a baby plant mixed in with 3 others in a memorial planter. It grew like a weed and killed the other plants. I've never done well with house plants lol. After finding out what it was I was lucky enough to find your channel and now I'm addicted! Love your videos and I've learned so much in the last few weeks from you. Thank you for the knowledge!
I repotted my new string of pearls a day after I got it. the soil was mostly organic and wet. the plant had barely any roots and some of them were already rotting.
put it into well draining soil and now it's one of my easiest plants with healthy roots coming out of the bottom
i think its safe to say that repotting saved it's life
@@corvusmonedula that was a great choice to repot immediately
This couldn’t have come at a better time! Especially at the end of a good growing season and before fall/winter ❤ thank you again
That Mr Sheffield cameo was great. lol
I started using Clear pots for some of my tropical fruit plants to keep an eye out for root rot. Currently i have a a seedling Jackfruit in a clear pot using a blend of Orchid potting mix, citrus compost and ericaceous mix. I'm experimenting with the blend as ive lost many Jackfruit plants in the past. Also overpotting is one of the reasons that plants suffer root rot because the potting mix stays wet too long. One pot size up should be enough space for the roots to expand.
😂 I’ve switched to clear pots for 90% of my collection. Makes life soooo much easier!
Where do you get them?
@@akaalx I’ve gotten some from Amazon in the past, but recently I started using clear drinking cups. They work great and I can move up in size really easily! I just put holes in the bottom and they slide into decorative pots super quick.
Plus then you can use decorative pots that don't have drainage holes. It soooo useful for my orchids that I'm hoping to make the change for my other plants...slowly, when they need to be repotted.
I find plastic tubs outside that the wind blows to my house. I'm growing a plum tree in a seasonal fruit salad tub 😅 its got its first leaf
terra cotta pots are better. They breathe and that is very important to plants like monstera. Size up to give the plant 2-3 years (1 if young plant). I would have taken this plant to an 8-10" clay pot.
I do love when you and Shef colab on videos❤
That was fun. I didn't expect to see Mr. Sheffield. I LOVE collabs! Also, I am now freaking out because I re-potted my Monstera "Seymour" today. I used ALL of my KTP/Sheffield knowldege. Wish us luck!
Good luck, you'll do great!
Thank you! This is so helpful. And the closing advice is VERY helpful: If you want your plant to survive a repot, just give it more light. I do live in central Arizona, where all we have is more light and much more light, but I get your point. Knowing my past history, a poor plant is lucky to survive period, but will keep this in mind.
I should think that clear pots and insubstantial compost are right for epiphytes like orchids, but I cannot believe that ground plants are likely to do well with light on their roots. In fact, I have an Amarylis that came in a big glass container, and the roots all turned green and got covered in algae until I painted the glass black to keep the light out.
Biggest problem is shop 'compost', which is almost alwys peat dust that just suffocates everything except very gast growing tomatoes. I have also just finished 'panning' a whole bag of expensive compost that turned out to be full of extremely fine bricklayers' sand in addition to the peat dust: everything put in it dies at a few inches high, because the sand actually sucks water out of the plants and suffocates them at the same time!!! Why are shops allowed to sell this stuff? As the creator says: water retainingmaterials are ok for outdoors where worms, insects, and other plant roots keep the soil open, but in a pot indoors, water retention is a guaranteed killer. No online superstores seem to sell proper soil based or John Innes composts, and all come with thrips and sciarid flies to make sure they kill everything! :(
I really enjoyed your video, the clear plastic pots I had never considered for anything but orchids but what a great way to monitor the root system . Glad you pointed out how the plants we buy were raised in green houses ,I generally stick with buying small plants thus avoiding the heartbreak of buying a large beautiful lush plant only to watch it slowly die after I take it home. Nice cameo from Mr. Sheffield. Thank you.
Love my soltech lights . They raised them so I'm happy I got them years ago. Which tells you they last a long time so they are definitely worth every penny . Thank you for all the info. You have helped me a lot on discord. Thank again 😊
Great information! I worked in the interior landscaping industry for over 30 years. He knows what he is talking about.
Well, I feel called out. I bought a Calathea roseopicta yesterday and repotted it because it was in really dense soil and rootbound. I didn't feel like making a special mix, so I used what was on hand, which was more pumice than coco coir. I can water it every day, but I just hope I didn't make a big mistake. Now I want to repot it again in a more coco coir heavy mix, but I've put it through enough stress already. I'll wait a week or two and see what happens.
Great video, as always!
P.S. Hi, Mr. Sheffield!
I think waiting and seeing is a good choice in this case.
My stromanthe Tristan was getting so bushy then it needed a repot and I did it in summer and changed it to my own dyi mix and it died. I kinda neglected with watering due to travel and then downsized the pot and now it’s dead. I’ve realized with my work schedule I just need to buy chunky aroid mixes and moss poles, I don’t have time for diy.
I learned SO much from this video.
Thank you.
I grew up in northern Canada and my plant game was a struggle. I now live in Spain and my plant game on point! warm weather and tons of sun! You should see my pitcher plants!!
Quite the move!
Ok, so when do we get to see your ",Pitcher". video? (Lol)
Wow, I feel extremely called out.
I wonder if I should downsize my recent repots or if that would just disturb my new plants even more. I already disturbed them twice, once by repotting immediately after buying them, then again a week later to add perlite and orchid bark to the soil. I put plants from 4" pots into 8" pots, and I didn't add nearly as much chunky stuff as these aeroid mixes I'm seeing on TH-cam. They're also about to go through another transition a week from now when I move from a small dark house with a porch to a condo with lots more windows - more light for my indoor plants, but most of my outdoor plants will have to adapt to indoors.
It really depends on if your plants are declining. That is a huge pot size jump, so you might not see leaf damage until its too late... Join our discord to share pictures and your light levels with us, we can walk you through it.
A thing I don't see talked about a lot is: potting media becomes hydrophobic over time as it settles. If you put water in and it just drops through the top super fast and your plant seems like it just never is really getting watered enough, you need to mix up the excess media and report even if into the same one. The bottom of the roots may also end up staying wet too long because the water all goes to the bottom, making it also harder for the plant to pull water in. If you've gotta add some media to replace some fine but in potting media water shouldn't just drop through it should move down at a moderate rate and then the media should be able to retain soil for a while. Another indicator is you try to water a fair amount and then within a day it's dry, it's become hydrophobic.
Small exception: Coco always does that, it's like a sponge. Drains super freely and once it's saturated, water just drops right through. It has better rewetting properties than soil though, it doesn't get very hydrophobic even if it dries out.
that makes sense. Thank you for pointing that out to everyone out there, because some don't know or understand that.
I repotted a plant that just look like it was way overgrown for its container. I just tried to keep as much of it intact as i could soil and all and just added more soil to fill the pot. Its been months and still looks healthy and strong
This is a GREAT video for newer growers. So much KNOWLEDGE in 1 video.
Glad it was helpful!
Thank you for the great information. You explain everything great. You voice is calm and clear.
Excellent points! The absolute best way to get rid of thrips is spinusad watered in a few times. I’ve successfully wiped them out in multiple runs in my grow tent through the years. Works quickly and 100% effective and non toxic even for consumable plants.
Mr Sheffield!! lol love this video it came out right on time thank you
🤐🤔😁
XD
Thank you for explaining I am pretty new to gardening…❤
Omg you and Mr. Sheffield crack me up. This made my day
Your explanation is very exceptional!! I know more on why I kill plants in pots. Your explanation on how a pot is different than out side was so clear I could not believe I did not see it already. Thank you very much.
Thank you for helping to save my monstera. I followed your steps to proprogating and I have 6 thriving plants from one plant I purchased 2 years ago.
I love your more sophisticated approach to videos. Would love if you did something on starting seedlings. I've had a lot of trouble with damping off fungus and you probably have good methods.
“Earth is the biggest pot and earthworms” Omg…You and Mr Sheffield together!! Hilarious 😂 🤣😂 best ever!!
I love your tips and tricks! Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge ❤
Love how you and Richard collaborate 😁
Another thing to try: If you have a room with not enough light try a lower light plant like the zz plant. And leave a light on for 10/12 hours. The one in my windowless bathroom is about ready to be repotted... again.
Awesome advice Lee. Let there be light!
Definitely laughed at Sheffield cameo 🤣 made my day 🙌
Yup for the coco coir comments. When I buy plants from Trader Joe’s, my ficus tineke was in just coco coir or peat moss and I left it and it got root rot because it was too moist or too dry and I traveled a lot in the summer. I usually changed the media but I got busy/lazy plus I know I have another 2 that is thriving.
I bought a Monstera from Trader Joes. There were actually seven plants in one pot .Now I have seven Monsteras
IF your pot drains properly it should be almost impossible to get root rot with coco because it drains so freely. In fact it's usually much much harder to get root rot in coco than in soil due to overwatering. Temperature and light don't have much of an impact on this, just whether you're watering properly for the medium.
Coco dries out faster and needs more frequent watering than soil, but less water each time, that can be a disadvantage for house plants. If you were gone for long periods your plants might have just dried out too much.
(Pure) Coco does have some disadvantages for "home" use:
1. It is more sensitive to water pH. Soil buffers more, so you might run into issues if your water has a high pH.
2. It's harder to tell how much water you need visually, but you'll get a feel for it by watching how much water you need to get drain out of the bottom. I suspect this trips up some people, they water more than the coco can absorb, get tons of drain which then sits in the bottom of the pot and then the roots rot.
It has advantages, however:
1. It drains very freely and stays airy, even when watering frequently. So if your pot has enough drain holes it's extremely hard to overwater by too frequent watering, which is a killer in soil.
2. When irrigated and fertilized properly, many plants grow faster in coco than in soil.
When I start seedlings I use clear plastic cups for this exact reason. So I can easily see the root growth and know when it is time to transplant. Currently I’m using clear plastic cups to start spider plants. Using the same idea for bigger plants has never occurred to me but it’s a great idea!
I love my ferns. They get huge! Ferns are tricky because they don't like deep pots. Finding a big pot that isn't deep is hard! I divide the fern instead. Quick tip: soak the rootball for a few minutes before potting. Don't water for a week afterwards.
I started growing plants by planting into see-through containers from the grocery store that they sell berries in. I just make a hole at the bottom. And I've been feeling bad about my cheap ass setup. Turns out it's The Way 😮
@7:43 Also a mixture of wind, humidity, dew point, and air temperature. As wind speed and temperature increase, evaporation from the soils surface increases, and water is lost faster from lower levels via elevated evapotranspiration from plant leaves, which will then continue drawing up water using their roots. Warmer soil will also further encourage evaporation, whereas colder soil (AC indoors) will favor condensation/remaining in liquid form.
Of course much of this depends on the dew point and humidity (dew on grass on cold mornings) but in most places outdoors will have more water loss in warmer months. Ultimately, wind is a huge factor, when I was analyzing data for my thesis, wind speed had the highest effect on water vapor in enclosed gas chambers, likely because it affected the surrounding soil causing a water gradient.
What are you using as tape/ties for your monstera? I'm using twine right now and my plant seems fine, but I'm not loving the aesthetic and worry that the thin string will damage the stems over time.
@@fuzzypumpkin7743 then string can cause a lot of friction damage. I use plant velcro. There's a link through my Amazon.
I would love to see how you placed your ties! Great tut!
Mr Sheffield cameos! 💚 You are my favourite plant YTers!
I've been growing outdoors for over 40 years and just over a year indoor gardening since cannabis became legal in Minnesota. I start in solo cups (about 20oz) repot to 1/2 gallon when they get there second set of fan leaves. Then a bigger pot whenever watering every other day is not enough, 2.6 gallon to 7 gallon cloth pot and finally 15 gallon cloth pots. For the last repotting I recommend a small kiddy pool, on clearance soon wherever they are sold.
Great video. Thank you. You probably saved a lot of plants from their owners.
I was thinking of switching some of my plants to clear plastic pots but am curious -- if the roots grow along the plastic sides and get exposed to sunlight, will that negatively affect the roots or plants, because in the wild roots are underground and don't see sunlight.
Roots would prefer to grow away from the sun, so its not ideal, but it will not harm the roots enough to cause damage, especially if your pot is opaque, but most people use cover pots anyway.
a bunch of my houseplant pots have earthworms living in them. Not because i put them there, just that i keep my compost outside and they find their way in. Doesn't seem to do any harm, other than losing some soil out the bottom holes through the worms making castings out of them
Plastic pots also retain water and moisture for longer, so you dont need to water it as often.
lee if i'm being honest with myself, putting earthworms in my houseplants wouldn't even be in the top ten weirdest things I've done with my plants
😳
🤣
Lol same. I keep a vermicompost bin, so I'm genuinely tempted now 😂
My outdoor plants all have worms. Do I need to take them to the vet? 😂
Nailed it - loved the nod to Jordan Howlett.
Idk if I agree with Walmart specifically. I almost never have issues with plants from anywhere else, but Walmart. They're doing something to the plants, so they die faster. Every plant I bought from Walmart I almost immediately repotted and they started thriving within couple of days. I even saved multiple discounted ones, except my nasturtium. But nasturtiums are not big fans of being repotted, but I had to since there was over an inch of root growth out of the holes on the bottom. It couldn't even stand when I set it on a flat surface.
Do clear planters applicable to all plants? Or any plant should not be in clear pots? Please help 😊
@@baonguyen-sw1ji I do not want to make a blanket statement saying it's always fine.
Most plants you would buy in a garden center are fine but I would encourage you to try and research it if you're getting something extremely uncommon.
So great to see you back 🎉
Another reason is that the plant wasn't grown from seed, but rather from a cutting. A plant grown from seed has a major central root that cuttings don't have.
If a cutting was put straight into soil or water for root germination without any root hormone or antibacterial protection, rot slowly enters the cut point and eats it's way up the central system. The plant may look healthy at the top but it's not at the root stock.
This is from my own experience buying plants, and is something that I've noticed through the years. It's harder for cuttings to last long.
Suggestion..
Take a look at a Nutrient uptake chart for house plants.
Also check your mix by ppm.
Good luck
Love your content and delivery. Keep on keepin on brother.
You can also tap on sides and bottom of pot to rid of air pockets🤗🌱💚
I appreciate you saying Coco Coir correctly 😁
This is an extremely helpful video, thank you
So true my friend. ❤🌿🌱
I mostly grow outside. Never had problems with my indoor plants though. I always use soil from the garden and mulch it afterwards, I think of it as a bubble ecosystem, I want to mimic everything about the garden, including the soil-building process and soil microbiome. Never had a plant sicken or die in this setup.
A lot of great information, but none about using Root Stimulator after a repot. I bonsai as a hobby and I can get away with a lot of root disturbance by using some immediately after repotting and then once more 2 weeks later. Try it out! As long as you follow the instructions on the back of the bottle, you won’t be disappointed.
Thanks for the great video!
I sometimes use a root stimulator!
I only change pots in the autumn, to avoid heat stress. That's when it's coolest in the house before winter forces the heat on.
Very good information - thanks!
dont hate on mr.sheffield he helped me out soooooo much
The moister meter master cameo!
Heya. I just stumbled across this video and subscribed to your channel. As a long time gardener and new to the housplant game Ive had a bit of trouble. I liked how you broke things down as having an understanding of the "why" helps me remember things vs just lists of dos and donts and i think hells me make informed decisions when I havent been given direct advice on a topic. I wanted to ask, and maybe this is for a Q and A video if you do those, you talked about how bigger isnt always better for houseplants because of the oxygen which made a lot of sense to me. But when you put together your growing medium it looked to me like compaction and oxygen could never be a problem with that as it was so chunky. Did I miss a caveat or does that kind of mix you made still pose problems with oxygen to the roots? I had to ask along with giving kudos because I was scratching my head at that.
The potting mix I use is extremely chunky and well draining, yes.
Most people will generally use a very dense bagged potting soil with no additional amendments. Those soils, while fine, can expose some people to a higher likelihood of having less oxygen and retaining too much water. That combined with low light causes the most problems.
If I use potting soil, perlite and peat moss for my mixture, is that a good combo? If so, how much of each?
Check my playlist on soil.
I continue to have issue with colocasia elephant ears and growing them from rhizomes. The rhizome is huge, and so the pot needs to be bigger. Then the tiny little plant swims in that bigger pot, but I've killed them trying to re pot.
Excellent channel!
Thank you ✌️😊
I repotted an extremely rootbound Peace Lily that I.. uhh.. "rescued" from my mum.. Yeah it's just dying faster now 😅😅
SAME! Except my m.i.l. and it's definitely dead as of last week 😭
However the cane begonia cutting i was gifted by a friend is now thriving as multiple cuttings that have grown into full plants!
You can certainly "kill with kindness" .. Keep moving it, too near a heat source, too much water, watering too often...
Very informative. Thank you so much for this video.
On the note of where to get coco coir that isn't at a specialty shop-- pet stores! Coco coir and other coconut fibers are common reptile substrate, so there are many kinds kept in the reptile section of any pet store that has one! I use it as part of my bioactive substrate mix for my corn snake, whose enclosure coincidentally has a pothos growing splendidly in it from the benefits of the UV lights and cleanup insects 😊
I can get coir at Home Depot in bags. And I add fine orchid mix for drainage to the coir when I repot plants.
I love the colab clip
Getting plants with the perfect soil for their previous conditions is driving me nuts. I'm an over-waterer by nature and I mix my soil specifically to mitigate that. Buying plants from saner people means I'm constantly worried about the soil being too damp for too long, and it gets really really hard to not repot them. Which I try to hold myself back from doing for as long as I can, but it's generally more weeks than months. Also, my plants are much smaller, with smaller roots, so I really have to balance the risk of them potentially drowning/rotting in their old soil vs the potential root damage/shock of repotting. It's a struggle.
I love your self-awareness
I know what you mean! I also like having all my plants in my own mix. I bought two small monsteras from a woman more than two months ago, and I’ve not had to water them once because of her soil mix 😅 I’m itching to repot them but I’ve been holding off because they’re growing really well so I don’t want to disturb them.
@@luemun The itch! I know it well. Happy to hear the monsteras are doing well, though. I too, have three current plants that I've watered once in over a month due to not wanting to disturb them, but I know I'm about to break soon, as mine are only doing mostly okay...
I felt this deep in my soul.
Get a soil moisture meter stick. It has a simple display dry-moist-wet so you know when to water and hold back. Works well for me when I'm unsure.
Plants need good fresh air circulation and micro organisms that live in the soil. This is only possible outside, because plants inside people homes tend to die because of bad fungus and bad micro organisms in the soil. Outside good micro organisms and bad micro organisms compete. It´s possible to have good looking plants inside, but you have to give them much more care and time, artificial lights and humidity like plants that live outside or in green houses/nurseries. The most important aspect is light, air circulation and micro organisms. You mention all this aspects and it´s very right!
I like this channel. Can you do a video on propegating roses and why its so hard to get them to root
big box stores offer coconut coir online. just order and select pick up in store and it takes only a few days
I like to keep a pie pan underneath each potted plants and water from the bottom like you would with a cactus. This way the water is pulled in as the roots need it. Once it is empty then I refill it. I also use filtered water and I no longer use tap water.
It would be nice if you told us what your credentials are because currently I am growing flowers that are both medicine and food along with food in my apartment. It's also helpful to grow mushrooms in your garden bed so that that way the mycelium can allocate resources from one part of the garden to the other wherever it needed.
Unless the plant is that big or the pot is that heavy pick it up when you know it's dry and put it in a sink before watering. Then, after draining, feel the weight difference and adjust the amount of water by weight thereafter. Over and under water problem solved.
Should I avoid repotting newly bought plants? I bought herbs, repotted them, watered and set on a window (it was rainy and I didn't wanted them to drown outside). The soil got moldy and the plants died.
Bright indirect light is an actual thing but it's not well understood. Basically it just means the light has been diffused through some sort of filter, be it a leaf canopy, sheer curtain, or a really dirty window (don't recommend). I've read it's not so much about the light exposure itself but about how hot the plant gets because some plants like it hot and some really hate it. I always just recommend an east or west facing window since that light is less intense.
Have you seen how Walmart and Home Depot cares for their plants? Either dry as desert or waterlogged it’s awful and HD usually has spider mites and other such bugs on theirs so imma keep repotting as soon as I bring em home. Waiting 2 months is wild for a big box store plant maybe a reputable nursery that’s fair.
I agree, especially for Walmart plants. I haven't had issues with Home Depot for now, but major with Walmart. I'm pretty sure a Walmart plant got some of my other plants infested with aphids
Very interesting! Thank you for the info!
Hi. Thanks for your video. I’m going to transplant my lemon balm plant baby plant soon, but don’t know how to make a well-draining soil mix. Can you recommend what to use? Thanks.
This is great information.. specially the first 3mins of this video
I’m planning to repot a monstera into a much larger pot, one that I plan for it to stay in as it matures. Because it’s much larger, I’m planning to fill about 1/3 of the pot with leca balls at the bottom and the rest with well draining potting soil that’s a mix of peat moss, pearlite, compost, and a bit of fertilizer. Since it will be in such a large pot, I plan to water it more often than usual to try to avoid root rot, and since the drainage should be very good. Do you think that this is an okay idea, or am I basically dooming my monstera? It’s for my elderly grandparents, so they won’t be able to repot the plant which is why I’m making this decision.
It will also be outdoors in Florida weather so I’m hoping that it grows fairly well as it’s going to be pretty close to its native climate
@@_ubiquitous_9766 outdoors in Florida you're probably safe.
i was so not expecting Sheffield Made Plants to pop up lmao