I used to use a bamboo skewer to see how far the soil has dried but it is always hitting something now. As in, I can’t get it fully into the soil without potentially damaging something (it’s maybe 8 cm long). There is little free soil remaining around all the stems but basically all of it has some obstruction under it. The plant itself is doing well, it’s blooming and putting out new growth, but does this mean the pot is full and it needs a new pot? There are no roots coming out of the bottom of the pot but the holes are relatively small. I don’t dare try to take it out of the pot to look at the roots as there is nothing to hold on to to pull it out. Should I anyway? Or, if there’s no issue, is there another method of checking when I should water? It’s been in my home for 11 months and that feels fast for needing a repot. This calathea was actually my first plant in a long time though so I’m not experienced with repotting at all.
nattymartin1987
I’d repot it personally but others may say they’d leave it, so ultimately it’s up to you. It will need watering more often as most of the soil will have been taken up by roots now. I feel the weight of my calathea as one way to see if they need watering. Good luck but it doesn’t seem like you need it 🤣
Houdini_the_cat_
The skewer doesn’t really tell the whole story, unless you have a camera on the end. « Herter » to things depending on your potting mix, it could just be pieces of bark for something else. The roots don’t come out, this can give an idea that repotting is not necessary. On the other hand, I have plants that have space and I have a piece of root that comes out through a hole, or no roots come out, but there is almost no more soil and the pot is deformed. You can try to see when the plant is not freshly watered if you can take it out of the pot and look.
Otherwise after 11 months you can repot it, repotting a plant does not necessarily mean enlarging the pot, it just means removing the old soil to give it a new one full of nutrients. I would repot the plant and see if I should enlarge the pot or not, in autumn/winter if we enlarge we go very light (unless we have growth lights), because the plants slow down, and more soil means more risk of roots rot, fungus gnats, watering is much less forgiving.
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I used to use a bamboo skewer to see how far the soil has dried but it is always hitting something now. As in, I can’t get it fully into the soil without potentially damaging something (it’s maybe 8 cm long). There is little free soil remaining around all the stems but basically all of it has some obstruction under it. The plant itself is doing well, it’s blooming and putting out new growth, but does this mean the pot is full and it needs a new pot? There are no roots coming out of the bottom of the pot but the holes are relatively small. I don’t dare try to take it out of the pot to look at the roots as there is nothing to hold on to to pull it out. Should I anyway? Or, if there’s no issue, is there another method of checking when I should water? It’s been in my home for 11 months and that feels fast for needing a repot. This calathea was actually my first plant in a long time though so I’m not experienced with repotting at all.
I’d repot it personally but others may say they’d leave it, so ultimately it’s up to you. It will need watering more often as most of the soil will have been taken up by roots now. I feel the weight of my calathea as one way to see if they need watering. Good luck but it doesn’t seem like you need it 🤣
The skewer doesn’t really tell the whole story, unless you have a camera on the end. « Herter » to things depending on your potting mix, it could just be pieces of bark for something else. The roots don’t come out, this can give an idea that repotting is not necessary. On the other hand, I have plants that have space and I have a piece of root that comes out through a hole, or no roots come out, but there is almost no more soil and the pot is deformed. You can try to see when the plant is not freshly watered if you can take it out of the pot and look.
Otherwise after 11 months you can repot it, repotting a plant does not necessarily mean enlarging the pot, it just means removing the old soil to give it a new one full of nutrients. I would repot the plant and see if I should enlarge the pot or not, in autumn/winter if we enlarge we go very light (unless we have growth lights), because the plants slow down, and more soil means more risk of roots rot, fungus gnats, watering is much less forgiving.