Hydrophobic Soil
I just adopted this plant from the nursery yesterday, and I knew she was dry, but I didn’t realize her soil was completely hydrophobic. I tried bottom watering, but nothing changed. I’m planning on repotting and and replacing with fresh soil, but I’m new to this.
Is there anything else I should consider before taking that step (or after)?
Side note: I also read that another option is to completely submerge the soil in water, but I’d rather repot with new soil, if that’s a safe method.
#Peperomia
Is there anything else I should consider before taking that step (or after)?
Side note: I also read that another option is to completely submerge the soil in water, but I’d rather repot with new soil, if that’s a safe method.
#Peperomia
19ft to light, indirect
6” pot with drainage
Last watered 3 days ago
6
You can and should repot plants in hydrophobic soil. I treat my pepromias more like succulents- some people use a succulent soil, but I’ve found a chunky mix works well too (I use about 1/3 each of good organic soil, perlite, and orchid bark for all my plants, but that’s just for my own ease!). Pull your plant out and soak in a bowl of warm water to loosen things up- peps have a very fine root system that breaks easily. Gently get all of the old soil off (don’t rinse anything down your drain though). Once you get most off, you can replant in your chunky mix and give it a good water. I also noticed that you’re 20’ from indirect light- peps want a lot more so moving closer to a window or getting a grow light will help it thrive. Good luck and tag me if you have any other questions! 🍉 🪴
@MamaLinne thank you for this advice! I just tried repotting with new succulent soil, and the water is still running through. I’m not sure how that’s possible. Maybe it just needs time to absorb? I got rid of as much of the old soil as I could. Is there anything else I can do?
So succulent soil will definitely let the water run through! When I water a plant in succulent or chunky soil, I put the pot in a cache pot. Drench the soil until the water is running through, and then let it sit in the cache pot for like 30 min and allow the water to seep up from the bottom. Then dump the cache pot. ☺️
@MamaLinne okay, thats good to know! I tried to be careful, but I do think that I ripped off a tiny bit of the roots. How detrimental do you think that could be?
@MamaLinne ok, we’ll see how she does after all this! Thank you for all your advice here, and with my other Peperomia. Greatly appreciated!