Vinayak Garg, 33, an IIT-Delhi alumnus, is the Founder of LazyGardener, a venture that aims to make gardening fuss-free for urban gardeners via inhouse products – plant nutrient sticks (Green Stix and Bloom Stix); quirky videos on their Insta handle @lazygardener.in, and offline pan-city community events. Here, he dissects our gardening googly at ease.
How can tell your houseplant has outgrown its pot/container?
The first obvious sign is when you’re able to spot the roots coming out from either from the drainage hole of the pot/container, or see these popping out from the surface.
Secondly, over time, as the amount of roots increase, the quantity of soil appears visibly lesser.
That is indicative of two things.
One, it is very likely that when you water the plant, it will instantly flow out of the pot from either the top area or the drainage hole.
Second, when roots increase in density, they find holes in between the soil (porous and high in moisture content), and so the water is just seeps right through.
Another reason is when the leaves start to wilt, though this could also mean that the plant is not receiving enough water or there’s a sudden change in temperature. Third, the plant will just stop growing. You see it surviving, but there won’t be any physical growth. In fact, Money plant or Syngonium that have aerial roots, will actually grow out of the pot, as if in search of a bigger pot.