--- title: "Out of curiosity.. does this pot look too big? I had a rough time…" description: "Out of curiosity.. does this pot look too big? I had a rough time wrangling the roots around but the surface looks so empty to me. It’s a 10” terracotta pot…" url: "https://getplanta.com/community/UeI834LBSHCioL8MwLcQxA/64f0dda970717368f84f8328?language=nl" community: "Monstera Maniacs" author: "Christine" published: "2023-08-31T18:36:25.51Z" language: "en" image: "https://images.getplanta.com/v1/resize/DFskPZtGSJazSgpsBs3kcYIoFeEp__snxvJaGrys7hg/344e331b0f814eed9887e3b0287a1440.webp?size=large" --- [Community](https://getplanta.com/community.md?language=nl) / [Monstera Maniacs](https://getplanta.com/community/UeI834LBSHCioL8MwLcQxA.md?language=nl) # Out of curiosity.. does this pot look too big? I had a rough time… _Geplaatst door Christine op 2023-08-31_ Out of curiosity.. does this pot look too big? I had a rough time wrangling the roots around but the surface looks so empty to me. It’s a 10” terracotta pot and I fear root rot and have nightmares about it lol ![Bijlage 1 van 1](https://images.getplanta.com/v1/resize/DFskPZtGSJazSgpsBs3kcYIoFeEp__snxvJaGrys7hg/344e331b0f814eed9887e3b0287a1440.webp?size=large) ## 7 reacties ### Danika reageerde op 2023-08-31 Its impossible for us to know since we can’t see your roots. A pot should be about 1” circ wider as your root ball is. It has nothing to do with how big your leaves on top are. #### Christine antwoordde op 2023-08-31 Right. I know it’s not about the leaves. It came to me with 2 plants and they were both facing opposite directions so I separated them and faced them both. So the root ball became 2. Hard to measure because they were no longer a ball :) ### carsandcalatheas reageerde op 2023-08-31 I think the terra-cotta pot should help! When you repotted, did the roots take up a lot of space in the pot? Or hardly any at all? You can also invest in a moisture meter as well (cheap on Amazon!) if you want to be able to check out how the soil is drying between waterings #### Christine antwoordde op 2023-08-31 I had to basically shove them in there and wrap them around each other. I did get a moisture meter but after almost killing my Zz raven ( only watered once in a month) I’m scared of rot :( #### Evil Plant Dad antwoordde op 2023-09-01 Zz plant is special it has rhizomes, I saw a YouTuber who hadn’t watered his ZZ in 10months and it still was fine. Don’t treat this the same. Your terracotta is going to dry everything out faster than any other type of pot. You don’t want to be shoving in roots into a pot, you want to fill the pot first ⅓ full with soil, then put the plant in, then fill the walls around it with soil. If you want extra help to drain your soil mix it with perlite. Maybe ⅓ perlite ⅔ soil. Tropical soil if you can. (Some people add even more than that) My house doesn’t get enough light and my plants stay wet too long because of it. I mix at least ⅓ perlite and it gets the plants to dry up an extra day or two quicker. As the person said above, there should be at least 1 inch of soil around the root ball, if your roots are already to the edge of the pot you likely will have to constantly water it. Without more soil it won’t have nutrients to grow so it will stay the same size. #### carsandcalatheas antwoordde op 2023-09-01 Uh oh… I think you need a little bigger pot. You definitely shouldn’t be forcing anything! Plants are like humans in a way.. we can’t force connections lol (unfortunately). Matthew makes a wonderful point! In fact I know the video he was talking about, I’ll link it in a separate comment! you could honestly water a ZZ plant once a year or even less. But yes - sizing up a pot (and keeping it terracotta if you’re really concerned) will help. Following Matthew’s pitting advice as well as creating your own substrate with a mix of perlite and other mediums is the key! #### carsandcalatheas antwoordde op 2023-09-01 Okay I’m not allowed to attach links so the video title is “I watered my ZZ plant 10 months ago. This happened.” By Sheffield Made Plants. Wonderful and interesting plant YouTuber! I suggest his content! --- _De Planta-community (https://getplanta.com). Iedereen kan meelezen. Om te posten, reageren en liken, download de Planta-app: https://getplanta.com/download_