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Question about repotting

I plan on putting my bhut jolokia in a 3 gallon tub today, how would I take the plant out of the pot it's in now? Would I grab it by the main stem and gently lift it out? There's so many leaves and stems around the bottom of the plant, should I cut these off so I can get a firm grip on the main stem or? Thanks
 
No need to cut anything. Just squeeze the pot it's in a bit to loosen up the root ball a bit and it should come right out. Have the pot you're moving it to ready with a few inches of dirt in the bottom. Gently loosen the root ball with your fingers and place the plant in the new pot. Back fill with dirt (best to overfill it a bit), then water it in good, and you're done.
 
Why not 5 gallon?
 
Don't lift it by the stem!!!!

What I do is push the sides of the pot in to loosen the soil. I then dig my hands in softly around the sides of the pot and shove my fingers down in the dirt and start to gently get around the root ball. I then lift it out by the root ball, with both of my hands around the root ball and then I put it in the new pot.

Don't forget that you may have to break your roots up a little bit if your roots have started to get root bound. This will allow the roots to grow normally again.
 
Don't pull it by the stem. You could damage delicate roots or worst case pull the the plant out with no soil. Carefully put your palm over the soil with the stem between middle and ring finger. Then you grab the pot and turn it over like your trying to dump the plant out. Keep a firm grip on the pot, keeping your hand on the soil so the plant doesn't fall on to the ground. With a little movement with the pot, the plant should want to fall out.

That's what I do. Good luck. Hope that makes since.
 
+1 to moruga welder - if it's in a ceramic pot, you can't exactly push the sides in, as recommended above. What you can do for either ceramic or harder plastic is place the pot on its side, thump good with your hand, roll it a tad, thump again, repeat, repeat until the sides are loosened. Then yes, one hand on the soil rather than the stem, one on the pot, and flip it upside down.
 
sirex said:
Don't lift it by the stem!!!!

What I do is push the sides of the pot in to loosen the soil. I then dig my hands in softly around the sides of the pot and shove my fingers down in the dirt and start to gently get around the root ball. I then lift it out by the root ball, with both of my hands around the root ball and then I put it in the new pot.

Don't forget that you may have to break your roots up a little bit if your roots have started to get root bound. This will allow the roots to grow normally again.
I done what you said and it worked perfectly, thanks.
 
Phil said:
No need to cut anything. Just squeeze the pot it's in a bit to loosen up the root ball a bit and it should come right out. Have the pot you're moving it to ready with a few inches of dirt in the bottom. Gently loosen the root ball with your fingers and place the plant in the new pot. Back fill with dirt (best to overfill it a bit), then water it in good, and you're done.
 
Why not 5 gallon?
I had a 3 gallon bucket lying around so I used that. I had a look at some bigger pots at a garden centre but they wanted like £30 for 2 pots so I didn't bother lol.
 
moruga welder said:
what are they in now ?     :onfire:
It was in an 11" pot  but it wasn't very deep
 
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