Hello, my Hawtheria is doing very well and has outgrown it's pot. He's recently bought from Home Depot. I don't know when the last time it's been watered is but the soil is dry. Currently he is out of sync with my watering schedule, I don't think he is in dier need of water, it's an extremely healthy Hawtheria and is growing a significant amount of new leaves. This will be my first time repotting a succulent and I would love some advice. I have a couple options on how I can handle it.
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I repot in dry soil and leave everything dry for a couple days if not longer before watering. I just worry repotting him will throw him out of his groove and he'll stop growing.
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I lightly moisten the soil I will be repotting the Hawtheria into. Not a full watering, wondering if a lightly moistened soil would just be a little pick-me-up so to speak. It will at least be a week before my other succulents need water and id wager the Hawtheria hasnt been watered in a couple weeks. I also have liquid succulent food I was wanting to give it which I'm supposed to give right before watering.
I'm leaning more towards a standard repotting and watering at a later time, but I also want him to grow. I gave the leaves a little squeeze to see if they were deflating. I couldn't tell if they were or not, they didn't feel firm, but they also weren't squishy.
by HiImDIZZ
3 Comments
Edit, I could also water him tomorrow and wait a couple more days before repotting.
1. heads up though, that home Depot soil is straight peat and will be a pain to remove. Will definitely do some root damage but that’s not the end of the world
Repot in at least 1:1 perlite to soil. Preferably with a terracotta pot. I usually do at least a 2:1 inorganic to organic mix. Some people prefer mostly or all inorganic, I’ve tried it and don’t like it.
As for the growth, it will stop for a bit with a repot. It will focus on root growth before it resumes growing new leaves. Can’t really avoid this.
As the other commenter said, you’ll want to tease out the roots from that heavily organic soil. I like doing this when it’s dry. You’ll lose some roots but it’s best to get a lot of that soil off. Sometimes I’ll spray the roots with the kitchen faucet to get the soil off the roots. If you do this, let the roots dry for a day before repotting. All in all you don’t have to go crazy just remove as much as you can.
These plants are very hardy. Worst that will happen is it will take longer to continue growing. I’ve had some take up to a year after repotting but they lost a lot of roots.
As for pot size, you don’t need to go too much larger. The larger you go, the longer it’ll take to grow more roots and fill up the pot.
Oh and don’t water for at least 5 days after repotting. The leaves will become deflated after the repot. Doesn’t mean it needs water just means it’s a little stressed out.
Hope this helps.