Indoor firs don't grow very quickly, so you don't have to repot them as often as other houseplants. When is the best time to repot the not-so-easy-care indoor fir and what do you have to pay attention to when repotting?
When and how should you repot an indoor fir?
Repotting an indoor fir is recommended every two to three years in early spring. Use a larger pot with a drainage hole and a slightly acidic substrate such as azalea soil. Insert the plant carefully without damaging roots or branches, then water with soft water.
When is it time to repot the indoor fir?
Since an indoor fir is not a fast-growing tree, it is enough to repot it every two to three years.
It needs a new pot if the roots grow out of the bottom or top of the pot.
The best time to repot is early spring after overwintering, when you put the houseplant in a warmer place again.
The right pot and suitable substrate
The new pot should be about two to three centimeters larger in diameter than the old one. Make sure it has a large drainage hole so that excess water can drain away. A coaster is better than a planter because it makes it easier for you to see and pour out standing water.
Indoor firs like slightly acidic soil. Azalea soil (€11.00 on Amazon), which you can get from a hardware store, is well suited. You can use the substrate from
- Garden soil
- Compost
- clay
- Sand
- Bark mulch
you can also put it together yourself. It is important that the soil is well permeable to water.
Don't plant too deep in the new pot
- Prepare new pot with fresh substrate
- Carefully unpot the indoor fir tree
- shake off old substrate
- Insert plant
- Fill up soil
- press carefully
- pour with soft water
When repotting indoor firs, be as careful as possible so that neither the roots nor the branches break. Broken branches do not grow back, so the indoor fir grows irregularly and no longer looks as decorative.
Do not place the indoor fir deeper into the fresh soil than it was before. Otherwise there is a risk that the trunk will rot in the covered area.
After repotting, place the indoor fir in such a way that it gets as little draft as possible. Find a partially shaded spot and avoid letting the plant receive direct sunlight.
Tip
Even if the indoor fir prefers relatively high humidity - you won't get a substrate that's too moist at all. When waterlogged, it lets its branches droop and dies after a very short time.
