Advice on Repotting for a newbie

[ACrawl]

Hi everyone. I’m glad to have found this community - I see all the wisdom and willing to share here. Hopefully, I’ll reach the point to sharing rather than asking only, one day.

I have a Ficus microcarpa. I bought it a few months ago, Sept ‘25. Seems like it’s due to be repotted next year (I lifted the tree, and not very hard, and all the soil came up with it). I have tropical mix soil with clay, lava rocks, pumice and pine bark.

Please see the picture below. It’s in a 5 inch pot, I bought 6 inch rectangular pot and an 8 inch round. Does anyone have any suggestions on which is a better idea, considering root health and size (and the many other things I don’t know to ask)? This tree is roughly 9.5”, or slightly below. Thank you for any insight you may offer.

 

[darzuo]

Either pot would be fine. A larger pot will allow more growth and thickening if that's what you're looking for, but both look large enough to work. When repotting, do it when you see the tree actively growing, sometime in Spring or early Summer. Exact timing depends on where you're located (you can add this to your profile to make it easier), but most ficus are very tolerant of work regardless. Also, make sure to get as much of the old soil out as possible when repotting and tease the roots outward so they sit in the new soil. Otherwise, it can become very difficult to saturate the rootball if the new soil mix drains much faster than the current one. Good Luck!

 

[rockm]

Please fill out your geographic location (country/state etc). Important since freezing weather will kill a ficus

The optimal time to repot ficus is midsummer when it is hot and humid. Ficus love heat and humidity and don’t like the low sunlight and cold dry air of winter

So basically if you’re someplace where it’s winter best to wait until summer for best repotting results. If you repot in winter the tree won’t do much but sulk (drop leaves etc) until spring summer arrives

Also. Tropicals like ficus do best by being outside in the sun from mid spring until late summer. Keeping them indoors al the time complicates their care tenfold

 

[ACrawl]

Please fill out your geographic location (country/state etc). Important since freezing weather will kill a ficus

The optimal time to repot ficus is midsummer when it is hot and humid. Ficus love heat and humidity and don’t like the low sunlight and cold dry air of winter

So basically if you’re someplace where it’s winter best to wait until summer for best repotting results. If you repot in winter the tree won’t do much but sulk (drop leaves etc) until spring summer arrives

Also. Tropicals like ficus do best by being outside in the sun from mid spring until late summer. Keeping them indoors al the time complicates their care tenfold

Great. Thank you. I've added location. It's hitting about 30-35 degrees during the night lately. It's indoors now, southwest facing window. I'll put it back out in the Spring.

 

[ACrawl]

...make sure to get as much of the old soil out as possible when repotting and tease the roots outward so they sit in the new soil.

Thank you!