I never knew people break the pots when repotting! Is there a reason? Like you can’t dig out the plant?
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It’s not the usual, but it is a thing. First time I’ve ever had to do it.
As I was trying to free it up, I could feel/see that the bit connecting the cactus to the root system was pretty thin. Risk of breaking it, especially with the weight of the cactus. The substrate was like a brick and I didn’t feel comfortable trying to force it anymore.
Standard $2/$3 terracotta pot, easy call to just break it rather than risk the plant. It’d be a tough call if it was a fancier pot.
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Hi Plant People!
Since I started my recovery road, I now have a lot of plants/succulents. Im super excited for this new one, I want to join the butt plant party! Hi @TMAC how do they look?
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This is a saguaro that I planted from a seed on May 21, 2007. The seed came from a fruit grown on my land in Tucson. I gave away or planted a couple hundred while living there. I took just two with me when I moved up north nearish to the Canadian border. She’s currently about 22 inches tall.
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Give it shade and rainwater at that bowl so his feet are always wet.
That’s all I know and did. In the summer I placed the plant outside, he liked that. But again into the shade and always with the pot into water.
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Gorgeous! I love that you’ve brought a piece of Tucson with you.
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The landscape and life there are really enthralling to me. Thank you so much for sharing. I think I might want to visit this region one day.
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That was a big reason why I picked the southwest - the plants and wildlife. Unlike anywhere else and certainly the near total opposite of where I am from originally.
Great place to visit, but if you do, I’d recommend you do it between October and April 
Interesting thing, that it can push 120ºf here in the summer, but up in those mountains it’s quite temperate - much like the forests back home. Plenty of snow up there in the winter.
It would definitely have to be a winter vacation 
. We are currently slowly recovering from the dark days and the idea of a dry, warm and sunlit place still sounds moths away 
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getting beds ready for veg roll on spring using what space i have
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front garden
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A very odd, warm February day in the Midwest calls for some sun time for Cuervo. 
Don’t worry, pup was not poked in the process. 
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Stenocereus thurberii, “Organ Pipe Cactus”. Grew this one from very small, nearly killed it at the start. The spines are horribly fine and go right through the gloves 
This one will be able to live outside of the greenhouse someday, too.
Found this cool, pink concrete planter at the antique mall.
Nov 2021
Today
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Hi, this may be a dumb question, I have a lot of smaller succulents. How do you know when they need to be repotted in a bigger pot? All of mine are indoors, I live in the Midwest.
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Here’s a few others I picked up. The corn plant in the back has seen better days. 
The ones in the purple skull were cuttings from a dying succulent, I didn’t think it would make it, didn’t have any roots, but they started to grow straight up.
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Not a dumb question - there’s not really a specific answer! In my experience, sometimes you don’t even have to - it’ll just limit the plants’ potential, depending on maximum size. However I’ve seen cactus that people have in the same pot for 30 years with no problem.
The rule of thumb I go by is every 2 years or so. Depends on how fast the plant is growing etc. But every couple years has been fine for me. Ultimately you have to read and know your plants - are they extending beyond the edges of the pot? Is growth slowing/stopped (could be dormancy or something else, but also a sign of needing new substrate)?
If a plant hasn’t been doing well or is just stagnating, and other sources of issue have been examined (watering, light, etc). then a repot will often do the trick to get them going again.
and then, a lot of times I just repot for the hell of it, as long as it isn’t overly frequent to the point of being too stressful for the plant.
Edit to add: If a plant is still in the soil it was purchased in, I’d change it. Often times the soil they are kept in at commercial nurseries and big-box retail environments is no good. Specialty plant stores, generally OK, but I still change it.
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This is very helpful, thank you!! I’ve purchased books on houseplants and succulents to identify and hopefully give them what they need. I sometimes Google, but you get conflicting answers there too. I do my best to not kill them.
Have a great day!! 
** I do have some cactus soil I purchased, I’m going to change soil in the ones that are in their original soil. Many of my plants came from Mariano’s (grocery) and Trader Joes, those are all the skull ones, it was around Halloween.
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