How to repot a white magnolia (Michelia alba)? A detailed guide to the correct method

1. Timing

If you want to repot it, it is best to wait until Qingming, move it outdoors, and choose a pot according to the size of the tree. If it is the first potting, you can use a pot with a diameter of 40 cm; for the final repotting, you can use a vat or a relatively tall wooden bucket. Generally, repot it once every 2 years; if the tree is relatively large, you can repot it only once every three or four years. The size of the pot should be increased every year. Once it has grown to more than two meters tall, you only need to replace the soil and no longer need to change the pot.

2. Before repotting

If you want to repot it, water around the pot the day before, which can help the soil in the pot separate from the original pot. You can also dig out a ring of soil from the edge of the pot and take out the original potting soil together with the white magnolia. Use a spade to cut out a ring of soil around it, hold it with one hand, slowly tip the pot over, push the soil out firmly with your hand through the drainage hole, and remove some old or rotten roots. This can help it grow new branches and bloom more, and then move it into the new pot.

3. Notes

When repotting it, cover the drainage hole at the bottom of the pot with a piece of tile, and also lay down some coarse stones, which can help with drainage and aeration. Then add potting soil; the soil only needs to cover its root crown, and the surface soil should be three or four cm away from the rim of the pot.

The soil should be loose enough and airy enough, preferably sandy soil, and it should be acidic. If you use alkaline soil or water, it will grow poorly or even die. You can use a little bone meal, garden soil, rotten leaves, etc., mixed together to plant it. Water it thoroughly, use a discarded columnar object as support to prevent it from being blown over by the wind, and also use something to shade it.

During this period, keep the soil moist, but do not water too much, otherwise the roots will rot. After repotting, the first watering must be thorough, and you must wait until it dries out before watering the second time. Normally, you can spray water on the leaves. If the white magnolia was bought from somewhere else, prune it first, then pot it immediately, and do not remove the original soil on the roots. After it has recovered, let it receive light.