I've been a garden-web-er for several years, but have not posted in this forum. My 2 8-inch pots of Sans were alway fine. I have repoted (rarely) over the years; (I have had these for 35 years i think) -- they have bloomed several times. However-- even though i thought i was doing everything the same, they now seem to be suffering from root-rot. After reading many posts, i think the change was probably that we have been humidifying our home more and maybe they haven't been drying out as much between waterings. I was hoping to wait until i could do this job outside, but i keep losing leaves (they are 3+ feet long and with out much root strength they are top heavy.) I think i better not wait to repot.

I have new clay pots, cactus soil mix that I will add perlite to. My question is what are the pros and cons of letting the healthy plants dry out before repotting-- and for how long would you leave them, and under what conditions?

I would also like to see some opinions on bottom watering. The theory with garden annuals and grass is to water deeply less often to promote deeper root growth as opposed to wetting the top of the soil often and promoting surface roots. How does this apply to Sans ? Wouldn't they be stronger if encouraged to root deeper to get water? I am guilty of the opposite-- in trying to not over water, i have probably only been wetting the top portion of the soil. How can those poor roots hold up such large leaves?