Repotting your rosemary can become necessary from time to time and while it is not the most complicated task, it is crucial that you do it correctly.
That’s why I wrote this article.
If you’re not sure repotting is the way to go, you can consider putting the plant in the ground instead. I also have a guide for that.
I cover absolutely everything you should know to successfully repot your rosemary and help it thrive including the best time to do it, how often you need to do it, common mistakes and how to avoid them, and much more.
But first, here is my step-by-step guide on how to repot rosemary.
Step-by-Step Guide for Repotting Rosemary (With Photos)
I figured the best way to make it as easy as possible for you was to show you. So I got a small rosemary bush which I repotted into a larger pot and took photos of every step to show you precisely how to do it. Let’s get into it.
1: Get Your Plant, a Pot, Soil, Gardening Gloves, and Water
Before you can get started with repotting your rosemary, you should find a couple of tools and supplies you’re going to need.
Here is what you need:
- Your rosemary plant
- A pot with drainage holes that is at least 1-2 inches larger than your rosemary’s old pot
- Sandy soil that is low in nutrients
- Gardening gloves
- Water
- Hand trowel (optional)
- Pruning shears (optional)
Gardening gloves are important when you work with soil. In this situation, you need them when you are going to fill the new pot with soil. Alternatively, you can use a hand trowel for this, but I recommend the gloves and just using your hands for it as I do in the photo below. I find it much easier for this specific task.
As you can see in the photo above, I also found some pruning shears. Those are only necessary if you want to trim your plant to fit better in its new spot after you repot it.
I go into more detail about the tools you need when repotting rosemary in this article.
2: Prepare the New Pot With Soil and Water
It is important that you prepare the new pot before you remove your rosemary from its old one. This is to ensure that it can go directly into the new pot as fast as possible. More specifically, you need to put some soil into the pot and make it moist.
The best soil for rosemary is low in nutrients and contains a lot of sand so it drains well.
The key to this is to put the right amount of soil into the pot. The goal is to have the base of the plant at the correct height which is about an inch (2.5 cm) from the edge of the pot.
This means that if your rosemary is currently in a pot that is 8 inches (20 cm) tall and going into a pot that is 10 inches (25 cm) tall, you need to put 2 inches (5 cm) of soil at the bottom of the new pot.
Once you have done that, you should spray it with a bit of water. Do not make it soggy but merely moist. This will help the roots adapt to their new environment more easily.
3: Carefully Remove Your Rosemary From Its Old Pot
Now it’s time to remove your rosemary from its old pot. If you’re not careful at this step, you can damage it but don’t worry, because I have some tricks that can make it easier.
The easiest way I have found to do this is to grab the plant as close to the base as possible, like I do in the photo above, and carefully pull it out of the pot.
If the plant won’t let go of the pot, it can help to gently squeeze or massage the pot to loosen the roots and soil. Of course, you can only do this if your plant is in a soft pot like mine. If it is in a pot made from a harder material, I have found that knocking gently all around the sides of the pot can help loosen the roots and soil.
4: Carefully Transfer Your Rosemary to the New Pot
It is time to move your rosemary to its new pot. Be gentle and try not to damage your plant when you do this.
Make your the surface of the soil around the base of your plant is at the desired level when you put it into the new pot. It should be about an inch (2.5 cm) from the top of the pot.
5: Fill Any Empty Space in the New Pot With Soil
Some people prefer to use a hand trowel when they fill the pot with soil. If you prefer that, go for it. I find it much easier to just use my hands (as you can see) but if you do that, make sure you use gardening gloves.
An easy mistake to make at this point is to fill in too much soil on one side of the plant compared to the others. If you do that, the plant won’t stay straight, so keep that in mind when you fill the pot.
I usually turn the pot around slowly as I add the soil little by little. That seems to be the easiest way to fill the pot evenly all the way around.
6: Pour a Bit of Water on the Soil Around the Plant
Once your rosemary is in its pot, I recommend giving it just a bit of water. You already made some of the soil moist in step 2 of this guide, so don’t use too much, but a little bit can help your plant better adapt to its new pot and soil.
Rosemary is very easy to overwater, so be careful not to make the soil soggy as that can cause the roots to rot.
Depending on the size of your plant and pot, one to two cups of water can be sufficient. I used about a cup and a half for the plant I repotted for this article.
7: Trim Your Plant to Better Fit In Its New Spot (Optional)
At this point, your rosemary has been repotted successfully. Congratulations! This step is optional but might be a good idea depending on where you want to keep the plant.
At this point, you have the option to trim your plant to make it fit better wherever you want to put it. Just make sure you don’t cut too much at the same time.
You should never cut your rosemary back by more than about a third, but I recommend even less than that if you have just repotted it as it can be a bit fragile at this point.
When to Repot Rosemary (Best Time of the Year and Day)
The best time to repot rosemary is in the spring since it will receive a gradually increasing amount of sunlight over the next several months. This can help make it easier for the plant to adapt to the new soil and pot.
Alternatively, fall is a good time to do it since the weather is usually relatively mild, which makes the transition easier for the plant.
I have written another article where I go into more detail about the best time to transplant rosemary.
If you keep your rosemary inside, you can repot it at any time of the year since it won’t be exposed to cold weather. That said, spring is still best as the increasing amount of sunlight will help it establish itself in its new pot.
Repotting in the summer or winter is not necessarily impossible but it does require some extra knowledge. I share what you need to know about that in this article.
Why Repotting Rosemary Can Be Important
Sure, repotting your rosemary is not completely risk-free but if you never do it, you will most likely run into bigger problems at some point. To be more specific, your plant will most likely become root bound at some point. That is why repotting it can be so important.
Rosemary will grow slower and slower and die eventually if the problem is not taken care of. You can learn more about that in this article, but the short version is that the plant is unable to obtain the nutrients and water it needs through the roots if they fill up the entire pot.
7 Signs Rosemary Needs to Be Repotted
You might want to repot your rosemary simply to keep it in a nicer pot or perhaps one that’s more practical. This is absolutely fine to do once in a while.
Repotting can also become crucial to keep your plant alive, so it is important that you know how to tell if it is needed.
Here are seven signs you might have to repot your rosemary:
- Roots are coming out of the drainage hole
- Stunted growth
- Wilting
- The foliage is turning yellow or brown and dry
- Roots fill up the entire pot
- The soil dries out quicker than it used to
- The soil does not become fully dry
These signs can mean that you need to repot your plant but they don’t always mean that. I go into more detail about these signs and how to know with certainty that your rosemary should be repotted in this article.
The best way to figure it out is to check the roots. If they are coming out of the drainage hole, they don’t have enough room inside the pot.
Another way to tell is to carefully lift the plant out of the pot and see if the roots are running out of room. If they look like mine in this photo, your plant desperately needs to be repotted.
Since seedlings are more fragile than mature plants, they should be treated slightly differently when it comes to repotting.
For example, you should not repot rosemary seedlings that are smaller than 3 inches (about 7.5 cm) in height. They are most likely too fragile to survive the transition. Rosemary seedlings should be at least 3-6 inches tall before you transplant them.
I have another article where I explain everything you should know in order to know if your rosemary seedlings should be transplanted.
How Often Rosemary Needs to Be Repotted
Unfortunately, there is no single answer to how often rosemary needs to be repotted since all plants are different and have unique growing conditions. I do, however, have a good rule of thumb you can follow.
As a general rule, rosemary should be repotted once every year, although it depends on the size of the pot. Repotting once per year is usually sufficient when using a pot that is 1-2 inches wider and deeper than the current pot, which is what most people recommend.
I have sometimes just put rosemary in a large pot, about 12 inches (30 cm) or so, from the beginning. That way I don’t need to repot it for several years. If you want an easy solution, this works just fine.
If you want to learn more about how often your specific rosemary needs to be repotted, head over to this article.
Caring for Rosemary After Repotting
Rosemary can be a bit more fragile than usually for some time after you repot it as it needs to adapt to the new soil and pot.
An easy thing you can do to help it adapt, which I have found to work really well, is to give it just a bit of water after you have put it into its new pot. This can help the roots establish themselves more easily.
If your rosemary’s new pot has drainage holes (which it should always have), you can water it from the bottom by pouring water into the plate underneath the pot as I do in this photo.
That way, the water is soaked up into the soil rather than seeping down through it. This can help the roots establish themselves in the new pot faster as they need to grow and seek out the water from below.
One thing you should absolutely NOT do right after you repot your rosemary is to give it fertilizer. In fact, rosemary essentially never needs fertilizer, but it is especially important that you don’t do it right after moving it as the roots might already be slightly stressed from being moved. Fertilizing at this time can easily result in fertilizer burn which, in severe cases, can kill the roots.
You can read more about why watering after repotting is a great idea and why fertilizing is a terrible idea in this article.
Common Mistakes When Repotting Rosemary
Repotting is not the most complicated task involved with growing rosemary, but there are still several mistakes that are easy to make that can damage the plant.
Lucky for you, I have made most of these mistakes over the years and as a result, learned how to correct them or avoid them entirely.
Here is what you need to avoid:
- Picking a pot of the wrong size or material
- Repotting too early or late in the plant’s lifecycle
- Using the wrong type of soil
- Planting at the wrong depth
- Repotting at the wrong time of the year
- Overwatering or over fertilizing
- Not watering after repotting
- Repotting too often
If you can avoid these, you are very likely to be successful with repotting your rosemary. I go into more detail about each of these mistakes and the best ways to avoid them in this article.
Risk of Repotting Rosemary
As I have already covered in this article, repotting rosemary is not without risk.
Sure, it is not the most complicated task and once you have done it a handful of times, you probably never need this guide again, but until then, there are a few risks you should be aware of.
The primary risk when repotting is that your plant will suffer from transplant shock afterward. Transplant shock is a term used for a number of issues that can prevent a plant from adapting to a new spot.
You can read more about the risks of repotting rosemary in this article and I cover transplant shock in rosemary in this article.
If you’re very unlucky, your rosemary might even die after being repotted. This can be because of transplant shock or because you might have made some of the mistakes I listed above.
If your plant appears to be dying after you repotted it, I highly recommend that you head over to this article where I explain what you can do.
Does Rosemary Like Being Root Bound?
A question I have surprisingly often been asked or seen asked online is whether rosemary likes to be root bound or if it should be repotted before that happens. The answer is quite simple.
Rosemary hates being root bound as it prevents it from obtaining the water and nutrients it needs through the roots. This results in stunted growth and will eventually kill the plant if the problem is not solved.
I have another article where I go into more detail about this topic.
Is Rosemary Easy to Repot? My Opinion and Tips
All the information I have shared in this article might seem a bit overwhelming and I understand if you feel that way. Just remember, that repotting rosemary is not rocket science. In fact, it is not so complicated at all.
If you just follow the tips I have shared in this article, you are very likely to succeed.
Of course, mistakes can happen and things can go wrong, but rosemary usually transplants quite well. Especially if you’re just moving it from one pot to another. If you want to learn more about that, head over to this article where I discuss if rosemary is easy to transplant and share five useful tips.