When beginning in houseplants, it's hard to know exactly what size pot fits best with your plant. I remember years ago when I first started out, I had no clue as to how to repot a plant, I thought bigger was better but that's not always the case!
As a general rule of thumb when you are up-sizing your pot, a pot 2-4 cm larger then what the plant is currently in is usually a good choice. When you are just repotting a plant however, match your pot size to the plants root system, rather than its foliage size. There are a few exceptions to this though. Plants like Monstera and pothos have vigorous growing root systems and they can establish and fill a pot quite quickly, so you can get away with a slightly larger pot when upgrading, just remember not to over water.
If your pot size is too large for the root system of the plant, when you water, the plant simply cannot take up all that extra moisture. So where does it go? Nowhere, it stays in the soil around your plants roots and suffocates them, which usually leads to root rot.
Clear pots have been an absolute GAME CHANGER to my plant care journey. They have saved me from over watering SO many of my plants!
Being able to see the moisture levels in the soil and the health of your plants roots just takes the guess work out of it. They're also handy for seeing when your plant actually needs to be repotted!
See exhibit A to your right , my Hoya keysii in desperate need of a repot! Currently in a 12cm size pot, making the 15cm an ideal upgrade.
That's a reason why we have such a large variety of sizes in the clear pots, each size is that perfect step up when needing to repot a plant.
We have 6cm, 7cm, 9cm, 10cm, 12.5cm, 15cm, 17cm and the large 20cm. We also have two sizes in the clear net pots, 11cm and 14cm (perfect for semi epiphytic plants like Orchids, Hoya and Anthurium)
Depending on the plant you are repotting, it's best not to disturb the root system if you can help it. I find things like Hoya and pothos like their root systems to be left alone when repotting but things like Philodendrons and Monstera can tolerate some root disturbance.
The only real reason you may need to disturb the roots of some plants is if they are extremely root bound or you are moving them from their nursery soil (usually a peat moss mix that's not suited to home environments) into a proper potting mix (I will get into potting mix in a future blog post)
It is also best when choosing the right pot for your plant, to allow enough room to put approximately 1-2cm of fresh soil mix around your plants roots.
For an example, when you sit the rootball in the new pot, make sure there is 1-2cm of space around the whole root system. This ensures you can put a layer of soil in the base of the pot so the roots have new substrate to grow down in to, as well as out to the sides.
So to sum it up, choose a pot that is about an 1-2cm larger then your current pot when up-sizing or select a pot that is only slighter bigger then your plants root ball when repotting a store bought plant. If you are a lover of clear pots, then simply choose the next size up from the one your plant is currently in and you are good to go!
Thank you so much for reading my first blog post! I would LOVE any feedback you have, good or bad and if you'd like a particular topic for me to write about, please get in touch also. HAPPY PLANTING!