When you buy a new plant from a nursery or grow it from seed, you’ll eventually need to transplant it outdoors in the yard. Transplanting is common and easy to do, but it needs to be done properly to prevent killing your plant. Most plants handle transplanting well, but many will suffer from shock if the change is too sudden. Keep reading to learn how to transplant your plants from pot to pot, or pot to garden, and keep them healthy.
What Does it Mean to Transplant a Plant?
Transplanting simply means moving your plant from one place to another. That could mean moving it around in your yard outdoors, transferring it from one pot to another, or transferring it from outdoors into a pot. It’s easy to transplant a plant, but you still need to practice care while doing so.
You’ll also need to ensure you don’t change the environment of your plant too drastically or suddenly, otherwise, your plant could go into shock. For example, if you transplant an outdoor plant indoors, it could die from the sudden change in temperature, lighting, and humidity.
Why Do Plants Need to be Transplanted?
Typically, you’ll need to transplant plants if they are newly grown from seed or if the surrounding environment is no longer suitable. The main reasons why a plant may need to be transplanted include:
- It’s a plant grown from seed that needs to be moved from a pot, greenhouse, or grow tent into the ground
- It’s a new plant you’ve purchased from a store that you’d like to plant outdoors or into a new pot
- It needs to be repotted into a bigger or different pot
- Its current environment is unsuitable and is causing the plant to die i.e., from lack of sunlight, poor soil quality, or insufficient warmth
- You want to lift, divide, and propagate a plant that’s crowded or growing very well to create more of the same plants
Plants are highly sensitive, especially when being moved to a different environment. Ensuring the humidity, warmth, and sunlight levels are sufficient is important before transplanting any plant.
How to Properly Transplant a Plant: 8 Easy Steps
You can transplant indoor plants from pot to pot any time of year, but outdoor plants are best transplanted in spring. You’ll need to follow different steps depending on whether you’re transplanting a plant, tree, bush, or shrub from one pot to another, or from a pot into the ground.
How to Transplant Plants From Pot to Pot
Generally, transplanting your plant from one pot to another is very simple and hard to get wrong. Since you’ll usually be doing this for indoor plants or outdoor plants without changing the surrounding environment, it’s unlikely your plant will go into shock.
However, you’ll need to ensure you don’t increase the pot size too drastically. This is called overpotting and can cause your plant to focus all its energy on root growth to obtain the water/nutrients it needs, rather than foliage growth.
Here’s how to transplant plants from pot to pot:
- Choose a suitable pot size and material (a pot that’s between 1-2 inches larger than the current pot is ideal)
- Carefully remove your plant from its pot by turning it sideways, holding the stem, and tapping the base until the plant slides out
- Gently loosen up the roots so they aren’t compact (this will help them spread in their new pot and can promote faster growth)
- Add new potting mix to your pot, leaving a hole in the center for your plant to go into
- Place your plant in the hole and loosely fill it with potting soil
- Gently press the plant into the soil, without compressing it
- Water evenly and thoroughly until it seeps out of the drainage hole
If the current soil is poor in your indoor plant, you’ll need to improve the soil first before repotting. Monitor your plant carefully in its new pot for the first couple of weeks after transplanting. It may need slightly more or less water than usual while it adjusts to its new soil and space.
How to Transplant Plants from Pot to Outdoors
Here’s how to transplant plants from pot to outdoors:
- Choose a suitable location for your plant (with enough sunlight, humidity, and good soil conditions)
- Dig a hole in the ground that’s at least 3 times as large as the pot
- Water your plant thoroughly to loosen the soil
- After 10-15 minutes, remove your plant from the pot by rotating it to the side, holding the stem, and tapping the base
- Gently loosen up the roots
- Place your plant into the hole
- Gently fill the root system with high-quality soil
- Loosely press the plant into the soil, without compressing it too hard
- Water thoroughly
If the new plot is large and open, your new plant may need more water than usual in its first 1-4 weeks after planting. Keep an eye on the dryness of the soil and water when the top 2-3 inches appear dry.
Summary
Transplanting plants from pot to pot, or from pot to garden, is easy to do, but it needs to be done carefully. Research what your plant needs before transplanting to ensure you don’t kill it from shock. Sudden changes in environment aren’t usually good for plants, but it’s easy to prevent shock by gradually adjusting plants to certain environments, temperatures, or humidity levels.
