When buying a plant at a nursery, it is often full, lush, and overcrowded in its pot. Stretch your plant dollars by dividing plants into smaller containers. They will be healthier and have more room to grow. It is also good to repot or divide plants that have overgrown their pots in your home.
For this example, I am using the resilient ZZ Plant. When I bought it, the roots were growing out the bottom and it looked beautiful but overgrown. I decided to divide it into smaller plants.
I don’t own a potting table, so I often use a baking tray on my kitchen counter to plant or replant. I find that it captures most of the mess and saves space. Obviously, I clean it thoroughly before cooking with it again.
To start, water the plant and then gently remove it from its container. For plastic containers, I like to press gently around all sides, loosening the roots and soil from its home.
Once the plant is free, I inspect it to see if there are natural breakpoints. Some plants form pups, some runners. In this instance, with the ZZ Plant, has bulb-like tubers. I separated them with my garden spade gently releasing their intertwined roots. I am mindful to keep smaller shoots connected to larger ones to give them the best chance at surviving the shock of being pulled apart.
Once I find where the natural breaks are, I separate the plants into their new group and pick a new pot for them to call home.
Pro Tip: Before I add dirt to a pot, I cut a bit of cardboard out and place it in the bottom. Eventually, the roots will hold the soil together, but until that time, the cardboard keeps the dirt where I want it (which is inside the pot).
I add a little soil to the bottom of the pot and them place my plant section in there and fill the pot with soil. After the plan is potted, I often dress it with rocks to give it a more finished look. Then I water the plant to help it thrive in its new home.
