My annual repotting habit nearly killed my fiddle leaf fig

I thought more space meant faster growth, but root shock is a real threat, so now I repot only when roots peek out.

3 comments

3 Comments

Terracotta pots dry out way faster than plastic ones. That extra drying time between waterings might actually help prevent root rot after a repot.

grant6401mo ago

Houseplants that really hate wet roots, like snake plants, seem to thrive in terracotta. But for moisture lovers, the fast drying might be a problem. Do you find yourself using different pot materials for specific types of plants, or is terracotta your go-to for everything after a repot? I'm trying to figure out if I should switch some of my ferns out of clay.

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kai5641mo ago

Yeah, terracotta is great until you forget you own a fern. Learned that the hard way when my Boston fern turned into a crispy brown tumbleweed in like, three days. My place is pretty dry already, so the clay just sucks all the moisture out before the plant can even blink. Now I only use it for my succulents and that one snake plant I'm trying to ignore. Everything else that likes to stay damp goes into glazed ceramic or, honestly, even plastic. It's a constant battle between my forgetful watering and the pot's thirst.