An Easy Guide On How To Repot A Cactus Plant

Repotting is an inevitable activity in the life of a cactus let alone any other succulent. Due to the fact that it is always growing (just as any plant), it is bound to overgrow the initial pot. And this necessitates a change for your cactus to keep glowing. Typically between 2-4 years, your cacti require repotting, don’t you wish you had a new home this often?

Right below, you’ll learn about repotting a cactus (the right way) without killing your plant.

First off…

Requirements for Repotting Cacti

Repotting isn’t much different from the initial potting. Below is a recap of the requirements.

The right pot or planter

When it comes to choosing a pot for your cactus, the size and material are of utmost importance.

Usually, a pot made of clay like a terra cotta pot is preferred over a plastic one. The clay allows the roots to breath more easily which contributes to the general well-being of succulent plants.

Additionally, it boosts the drainage of the cacti potting mix hence providing just the ideal conditions for your cactus – scarce water.

On the size aspect, choose a pot that is neither too large or too small – depending on the size of the cactus you wish to pot. You want to make sure that there is just a bit of space between your cactus and the pot’s walls. A super small pot will choke up the roots ultimately killing the plant. A larger than life pot will lead to the soil mix retaining water, and you know that means for your cactus.

Also, don’t forget to ensure your pot has a few holes down there. A big enough and well flowing draining system will be crucial to your cacti’s growth.

The proper potting mix

Cacti, being succulents, require a potting mix that is well-draining to provide the water scarcity condition that they’re adapted to. So your normal soil mix is a no-no. (If you’re looking for a premium cacti soil mix, here’s one we highly recommend from Superfly Bonsai).

Instead, you can grab a commercial succulent mix prepared just for your cactus. A typical cacti/succulent potting mix contains a small amount of organic materials, sand, perlite and sphagnum peat moss.

Alternatively, you can prepare your own ideal mix at home as long as you have the ingredients – and it’s not some endless collection of stuff from the outer space, although that’d be pretty cool. Check out the ingredients your cacti soil mix will need.

• Potting soil
• Coarse sand
• Pumice (perlite is also a good option here)

And the procedure is straightforward – mix the above ingredients with potting soil taking up a larger share of the combination while the other two ingredients sharing the remaining part equally.

For instance, 2 parts of potting soil can be combined with 1 part of coarse sand and 1 part of pumice/perlite.

To test if you’ve indeed ended up with the real thing, wet your mixture and try squeezing it. A good one should be coarse and crumby. If not, consider adding more of sand and pumice/perlite. The coarseness and crumbiness (is that a word?) is what allows your succulent soil to have a functional draining system.

Repoting a Cactus Plant

Here’s a refresher for when you first pot a cactus

In case you aren’t well informed on how to properly pot cacti in the beginning, here is a quick reminder on what you need to do. Just follow the steps below, skip to the next section if you just want to learn how you can be repotting your awesome prickly cactus.

1. Place a well-draining material at the bottom of your pot. Gravel is fine.
2. Fill up the pot with a well-draining mix – commercial or homemade – up to a third way of the pot.
3. Try placing your plant in the pot. This way, you get to know if the pot’s size is ideal for it. The cactus shouldn’t be too deep into the pot nor too high up. And should leave just a bit of space between it and the pot – remember above? And, please don’t forget to watch for spikes. A pair of tongs or even cacti gloves will cover you.
4. If all is good with the size, hold the plant centrally and fill up the remaining space with more potting mix.
5. Firm the soil by pressing it gently. Add some more it goes down considerably but be sure to leave some watering space at the top.
6. Give the plant its first shot of water.

Repotting a Cactus Plant

1. Loosen up the soil in the pot by running a blunt knife or some other gardening tool in it. Be thorough at this to avert any possibilities of damaging the plant.
2. Remove your cactus plant being careful not to come into contact with its pricks. In case the plant is quite huge, use a rolled up towel or actual gardening gloves.
3. Rid the roots of large soil debris and see to it that you have individual roots separated from each other.
4. Check the roots for any pests and diseases. Treat with appropriate chemicals. Also, nip off any dead ones.
5. Prune the very large roots. Cutting these roots will help your plant grow with much more vigor.
6. Allow the plant to dry out for up four days. This allows the roots that might have been hurt to heal hence eliminating any risk of rot in the soil.
7. Follow the potting procedure above to install your plant in the ideal pot. But don’t water it yet. Give it up to a week before you water it.

After that, you can go back to your normal care routine.

Repotting your cactus plant is mandatory to maintain the ideal pot size. And as long as you’ve taken your plants through the above treatment, you should do so without a problem.

Thanks for reading our repotting a cactus plant article, we hope you learned something new today in order to avoid getting pricked by the spiky thorns on cacti. Let us know if you have any tips that we didn’t share below!

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ABOUT ME

Richard Miller

Salute everyone. It's Richard, the author of this Succulent & Xeriscaping blog. I am a traveler and a nature lover looking for a connection with the wild green. In my journey, I found a love for succulents and xeriscaping. What attracts me is the long-lasting & unique beauty of every plant I have the chance to see with my own eyes. Welcome to my little blog and let's enjoy a good time together!

Contact me: richard.succulentcity@gmail.com