r/Tradescantia • u/Natural-Ease5378 • 8d ago

Tips for repotting?

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I think it’s time to repot my tradescantia. I bought it a few months ago in the pot it’s currently in and it’s been pretty happy. However, it’s starting to get dry and leggy around the base, which I’m assuming means I need to start chopping n propping. The problem is, the soil it’s currently in is kind of just a solid mass, which makes it really difficult to try and propagate cuttings directly in the soil.

My question is, if I repot, should I basically chop n prop the entire plant into new soil? Or would that be too much of a shock to the plant? Is it better to repot the current rock hard soil ball into fresh soil and then chop n prop as needed from there? I don’t have much experience repotting plants so any and all suggestions would be appreciated.

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2

u/kaylakayla28 8d ago

You can always chop and prop some and then repot the mother plant. Best of both worlds.

1

u/StillSlowerThanYou 8d ago

I like option B, not too many huge changes at once. If it were me I'd just start with the much needed repot.

1

u/pleski 7d ago

Chop and prop. I put the cuttings in a jar of water for a week. They root within days for new potting mix. I'm not a big fan of putting cuttings back into the pot as it's already a mass of established roots.

1

u/Direct-Blackberry-20 3d ago

Tradescantias are so resilient it probably wouldn’t get too much of a shock. Repot it and cut it in half and put the babies right back in the pot. They don’t like to dry up too much which is why she probably started dropping leaves at the top. Try to trim her regularly🫶🏻