Whether you’re a new or OG plant lover, odds are you are brining a new plant home from time to time. In this post I’m going to share with you what to do when you bring a new plant home.
So you bought another plant, or maybe someone is sharing some of their cuttings/propagations with you; whatever the case, I’ve learned that I need to have a new plant regimen to ensure its health and safety of the rest of my plants.
Now, I don’t have a room full of plants. None of my plants are actually touching each other as I like to think of my plant collection as plant styling and I focus on getting plants that I know I can provide the correct environment for. None the less, my collection is still growing and eventually I will group a few plants together.
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However, I recently found spider mites in my office, which has the most plants of any room (pause for internal scream). To be fair, it was on a calathea, which are prone to spider mites. Either way, still a cause for concern for the calathea and other plants in the room, or the whole house for that matter as these suckers can travel on your clothes or your pets.
The new plant regimen
To ensure I’m keeping all plants safe, when I bring a new plant home I follow these simple steps:
- Depending on size, I either take it outside and spray with the water hose or put in the sink. This is to [hopefully] remove any potential pest that might be on the plant.
- I allow it to air dry and bring inside to it’s designated “quarantine” spot. I’m a bit dramatic and err on the side of caution, so this is typically in my laundry room away from any other plants.
- In the sun, or with a flashlight, I wipe down all it’s leaves and stems with my soapy water/peppermint mixture.
Then I just let them be and acclimate to the new environment. I will check in [almost] daily, because that’s just me, but you can check in about a week later and see if you notice any pests. Hopefully you don’t, but if you do, then you would proceed with the appropriate treatment.
After two weeks, I know they are safe and are placed wherever their home is going to be in the house.
Are you a visual learner?
Here’s a quick video I did on my new plant regimen.
That’s it! Tell me about your new plant regimens. What else should I be doing?
xx,
Claudia
iamclaudiaq 
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