Re-potting

[Pachrian]

The worn castings arrived! But now....what do I do with it? The hibiscus are sitting in their 8" pots, and there's no room to add a layer over the top. So what I'd like to do is take the opportunity to get better soil and mix in the worm castings.

Here's were I have to admit that I have no experience with re-potting.

How do I best go about removing the old soil without damaging the roots? I think the pots are still the right size for the plants, so in order to get more soil in I need to get the old soil out.

Is it ok to re-pot a plant that has a lot of buds, or will the stress cause the buds to drop?

Do I prune the top at the same time?

[Charlie]

First question is - do you want to keep the hibiscus in the same pots they are in now for the next several years? If so, they will do best if they are root pruned every couple of years, then new soil added to the same pot and the hibiscus repotted on top of the new soil.

If you plan to repot as needed into larger pots then I would just wait until then and repot in a mix of new soil and worm castings. One thing you can do now is scrape a half inch of the current potting mix off the top. You will be removing a layer that often contains insect eggs and debris and is just as well removed. Then moisten the worm castings before using them, and spread a layer about half an inch thick over the top of the soil that is left in the pot. There is not enough pressing need to disturb the roots of hibiscus that are growing and budding up so I wouldn't do it now.

Charlie