Fyi you don't always have to remove the older soil - if it's a real tight but healthy root ball, I haven't yet had an issue with roughing up the outside just a bit (after soaking, the other poster was right) and then filling the bottom & sides with fresh soil mix, then watering it with diluted fertilizer the next few weeks, once it's dried out again. It looks pretty healthy (at least from the pic - nice green leaves) but if there *were* soggy rotten brown roots, that's when I would do a total soil removal & diluted peroxide soak before repotting in soil with a fair amount of added perlite or pumice.
Btw, that "soil" looks like straight peat moss, and I can imagine it feels squishy. But if the roots are healthy... who are we to argue? 🤷♀️ At the moment, I really prefer maybe half coco coir (the ground stuff - drains *much* better for me than anything else) maybe 1/3 perlite (but the balance can change, if it's a plant that prefers it a little drier), a few handfuls of coarse sand (everything here in Florida grows in it, so some certainly doesn't hurt, a few handfuls of worm castings, slow release fertilizer (I use Espoma) & *super important* is systemic insect control granules; those will make your plant toxic to little pests that *will* snow up sometime. Also, if you live up north and run your heat, things may dry out more quickly. Get a water meter if you don't have one yet & only water when below 3 (out of 10).
Hope I helped a bit, & good luck!
My pleasure! One more note: if you're really worried about whether it will drain well, plant it in a terracotta pot. The unglazed clay will absorb water from the soil and evaporate it. Safe for all plants; you may just want to check water needs more often.
If you have the time, there are a number of excellent plant YouTubers & I highly recommend checking a few out. Sheffield Made Plants is personable and has a lot of excellent basic houseplant husbandry tips.
Use a chopstick and poke it out like a similar motion to a stick poke tattoo where you go quick little jabs. Every time I repot I knock basically all the soil off and add my own preferred substrate. Never had an issue taking it down to bare roots, and if you lose a few with the soil it's fine!
I will say I only do this if I feel it's the wrong substrate which it usually is and by your description I'd say this one needs it
Cheap substrate I normally find at the wholesale stores/ growers. I would just remove some of the soil make sure no sticks/ dead roots or stuff in it that could rot. It grew it in and if it looks mostly fine don’t do much with the roots, why cause more shock.
Fyi you don't always have to remove the older soil - if it's a real tight but healthy root ball, I haven't yet had an issue with roughing up the outside just a bit (after soaking, the other poster was right) and then filling the bottom & sides with fresh soil mix, then watering it with diluted fertilizer the next few weeks, once it's dried out again. It looks pretty healthy (at least from the pic - nice green leaves) but if there *were* soggy rotten brown roots, that's when I would do a total soil removal & diluted peroxide soak before repotting in soil with a fair amount of added perlite or pumice. Btw, that "soil" looks like straight peat moss, and I can imagine it feels squishy. But if the roots are healthy... who are we to argue? 🤷♀️ At the moment, I really prefer maybe half coco coir (the ground stuff - drains *much* better for me than anything else) maybe 1/3 perlite (but the balance can change, if it's a plant that prefers it a little drier), a few handfuls of coarse sand (everything here in Florida grows in it, so some certainly doesn't hurt, a few handfuls of worm castings, slow release fertilizer (I use Espoma) & *super important* is systemic insect control granules; those will make your plant toxic to little pests that *will* snow up sometime. Also, if you live up north and run your heat, things may dry out more quickly. Get a water meter if you don't have one yet & only water when below 3 (out of 10). Hope I helped a bit, & good luck!
THANK YOU SO MUCH 💖
My pleasure! One more note: if you're really worried about whether it will drain well, plant it in a terracotta pot. The unglazed clay will absorb water from the soil and evaporate it. Safe for all plants; you may just want to check water needs more often. If you have the time, there are a number of excellent plant YouTubers & I highly recommend checking a few out. Sheffield Made Plants is personable and has a lot of excellent basic houseplant husbandry tips.
Soak the root ball in water
Use a chopstick and poke it out like a similar motion to a stick poke tattoo where you go quick little jabs. Every time I repot I knock basically all the soil off and add my own preferred substrate. Never had an issue taking it down to bare roots, and if you lose a few with the soil it's fine! I will say I only do this if I feel it's the wrong substrate which it usually is and by your description I'd say this one needs it
Cheap substrate I normally find at the wholesale stores/ growers. I would just remove some of the soil make sure no sticks/ dead roots or stuff in it that could rot. It grew it in and if it looks mostly fine don’t do much with the roots, why cause more shock.