Question
My plant is about 20yrs old.  Live in Cleveland OH and in the fall I bring the plant into the house and put out again in the spring.  It takes two of us to move it.  Pot is 30" in diameter and 10" deep.  Looks like a giant pasta dish, plastic due to weight of plant.  Plant is about 6' tall and 8' accross.  Over the years it has grown another 3 minor stems.  Does it need to be repotted and how much larger should I go?  Plant only gets rain water from my barrels, all year long.  Is it time to split it apart?  I can fit a 36" saucer pot through my door to get it in and out of the house.  Outside it sits under a 150 yr old pine tree on the northeast side of the house and seems to love it there.  I have it raised up on a triple stack of cement blocks due to the roots growing into my yard.  In the house it sits near a south facing window, but gets no direct sunlight.  At any given time it has 30-40 or more leaves on it.

Answer
Denise,

Your plant is beautiful and obviously well taken care of. I would not repot it because repotting it will make it more and more difficult to get in and out. I would like to suggest an alternative. Borrow a method from the art of bonsai. When you take it outside remove it from it's pot and if possible I would remove the 3 smaller plants or if there are 2 or more large plants in the pot I would use a large butcher knife or a machete and split the plants in half. Put one back in the original pot and the other in a 2nd pot that has a diameter no larger than 24 inches. That should give you at least 3 years before the plants are rootbound again. I would also give the 2nd plant away to a friend or family.

If this giant plant is actually only 1 plant with 1 center you cannot divide it. At that point I recommend that you remove the plant from the pot and use that large butcher knife or a machete and literally cut away the soil and roots around the edge of the rootball cutting at least 2 inches off all the way around and 2 inches off the bottom. Then repot the plant back into the same pot. That is called root pruning and it gives the roots room to grow again without outgrowing the pot. It should be fine for 3 years before you need to do it again.

Most tropical plants actually like being rootbound a bit, it keeps them healthier. Most plants only need repotted ever 3-5 years and only if they are very rootbound. If you keep moving plants such as this to larger pots they will soon be impossible to care for.  Root pruning will  resolve this.  It will stop the plant from growing too large. If you have more questions feel free to write again. Good luck!!

Darlene