My friend gave me a cutting of this plant, I believe is a philodendron? The mother plant has only lived in water, and I want to transplant this cutting to soil. Any advice on this process would be helpful, thanks!
Wait till it is better rooted before you transplant to soil
_love_letter_
Those roots aren’t particularly developed yet. I think it wouldn’t hurt to wait a bit longer, but if you pot it up now, the pot shouldn’t be very big. Too much wet soil sitting around with no roots to absorb it can lead to root rot. Looking at the size of that container, the roots, and considering it’s only been in water, honestly, what I would do is take an empty (clean) water bottle, cut it in half, drill 3-6 holes in the bottom with an electric drill for drainage, and use the water bottle as the pot for now. Since it’s clear and narrow, you will easily be able to see the roots developing in the soil, once they spread to the edges. Once the roots are more developed and acclimated to soil, then I would transplant it into a bigger pot. The nice thing about using a water bottle is you can just cut it down the side when you’re ready to repot. No risk of damaging roots. Since you can see through it, you can also easily tell just how far down the soil is dry, without sticking your finger, a chopstick, or moisture meter in. I frequently use water bottles or other reused (if clean) plastic containers to pot up cuttings that were rooted in water. It’s temporary, but cheap. It works well for me. The plastic weighs next to nothing though, so be careful not to knock it over, or put in inside something else to stabilize it. I might also add some extra perlite to your soil to make sure it drains well and the roots have adequate oxygen (all to decrease the risk of root rot– probably the biggest risk when moving from water to soil).
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Wait till it is better rooted before you transplant to soil
Those roots aren’t particularly developed yet. I think it wouldn’t hurt to wait a bit longer, but if you pot it up now, the pot shouldn’t be very big. Too much wet soil sitting around with no roots to absorb it can lead to root rot. Looking at the size of that container, the roots, and considering it’s only been in water, honestly, what I would do is take an empty (clean) water bottle, cut it in half, drill 3-6 holes in the bottom with an electric drill for drainage, and use the water bottle as the pot for now. Since it’s clear and narrow, you will easily be able to see the roots developing in the soil, once they spread to the edges. Once the roots are more developed and acclimated to soil, then I would transplant it into a bigger pot. The nice thing about using a water bottle is you can just cut it down the side when you’re ready to repot. No risk of damaging roots. Since you can see through it, you can also easily tell just how far down the soil is dry, without sticking your finger, a chopstick, or moisture meter in. I frequently use water bottles or other reused (if clean) plastic containers to pot up cuttings that were rooted in water. It’s temporary, but cheap. It works well for me. The plastic weighs next to nothing though, so be careful not to knock it over, or put in inside something else to stabilize it. I might also add some extra perlite to your soil to make sure it drains well and the roots have adequate oxygen (all to decrease the risk of root rot– probably the biggest risk when moving from water to soil).