Quarantining house plants

WubbaLubbaDubDub

Well-Known Member
Hello everyone.
I have been into gardening and house plants since I could walk. I have lots of plants all around the house.

Recently my girlfriend has gotten into tropical houseplants,I have always done a ‘quarantine’ procedure with new arrivals.
They usually sit in my bathroom for 2-4 weeks getting sprayed with safers end all twice. Keeping an eye out for bugs or sickness.

I’m thinking,my bathroom door always gets left open and there is still a small chance of cross contamination.
I’m considering getting a small greenhouse or tent to setup as a official quarantine location.

so I would like to ask the community what they do to ensure their house plants are safely introduced.
What steps or procedures do you take with new arrivals?
 

WubbaLubbaDubDub

Well-Known Member
Sorry to double post but I have been searching the forum a lot the last two days.
I saw a picture someone posted somewhere, They had two decent sized tents and a little table between them. On the table is what looked like a 1ftX1ftX2ft tall tent.

I think something like that could be a perfect little quarantine spot, is anyone knows where that post is or what make/model that tent is i’d like to look into the price
 

Bareback

Well-Known Member
Hello everyone.
I have been into gardening and house plants since I could walk. I have lots of plants all around the house.

Recently my girlfriend has gotten into tropical houseplants,I have always done a ‘quarantine’ procedure with new arrivals.
They usually sit in my bathroom for 2-4 weeks getting sprayed with safers end all twice. Keeping an eye out for bugs or sickness.

I’m thinking,my bathroom door always gets left open and there is still a small chance of cross contamination.
I’m considering getting a small greenhouse or tent to setup as a official quarantine location.

so I would like to ask the community what they do to ensure their house plants are safely introduced.
What steps or procedures do you take with new arrivals?
I like what you’re saying about the quarantine, but I can’t offer any advice because I take plants in and out almost daily. Tomatoes, peppers and many many more garden starters. But I never cross contaminate my grows ..... you know

However a tiny tent, proper lighting and/or heat would be a concern for me.
Best of luck to you.
 

Blue brother

Well-Known Member
Clear plastic cold frame. Some extraction, so the cold frame has negative pressure. You can also use this as an acclimation area to get less hardy plants used to the environmental parameters within your house. Depending on how far you wanting to go with it there are other options. Like ozone treatment and co2 treatment. Both will kill bugs.
 

Blue brother

Well-Known Member
Clear plastic cold frame. Some extraction, so the cold frame has negative pressure. You can also use this as an acclimation area to get less hardy plants used to the environmental parameters within your house. Depending on how far you wanting to go with it there are other options. Like ozone treatment and co2 treatment. Both will kill bugs.
All our houseplants are in hydro and we have no pets, yellow sticky traps are used to investigate not as a prevention
 

WubbaLubbaDubDub

Well-Known Member
I like what you’re saying about the quarantine, but I can’t offer any advice because I take plants in and out almost daily. Tomatoes, peppers and many many more garden starters. But I never cross contaminate my grows ..... you know

However a tiny tent, proper lighting and/or heat would be a concern for me.
Best of luck to you.
I bring my garden starts in and out daily too. But they go in my heated garage away from my house. If I’m working in the yard I change clothing before going in my weed tent or working with my house plants.

Recently a lot of the local greenhouse have had the usual spring bug problems,people are bringing home plants and as leaves uncurl they show thrips.

if I set up a small quarantine space I’ll control the heat,humidity,light,etc
 

WubbaLubbaDubDub

Well-Known Member
Clear plastic cold frame. Some extraction, so the cold frame has negative pressure. You can also use this as an acclimation area to get less hardy plants used to the environmental parameters within your house. Depending on how far you wanting to go with it there are other options. Like ozone treatment and co2 treatment. Both will kill bugs.
I have a small ozone generator that I let run in my tent after each harvest,clean everything with 99.9% iso then let the ozone do its work.

I heard ozone is bad for plants,I have only used it when the plants are gone just to be safe
 

MICHI-CAN

Well-Known Member
I put them in the garage under my LED bench light. Spray with 6% H2O2 on day one. Spray with a soap,oil and water preventative the next. Wait 4 days and repeat. Bring them in after 2 weeks. Winter time I do the spray and keep the new ones separated and out of any fans or registers draft. Cross fingers.

I brought 3 Easter Lillies home for $0.99 clearance yesterday. One has a bacterial infection. All in the garage now being nursed.
 

mudballs

Well-Known Member
I microwave my soil before bringing it indoors.1gal at a time in a big plastic dish for 2min gets it up to 140deg. Then dump that in 5gal and repeat. Got 5gal of sterile potting soil lickity split. Then transplant into that before bringing indoors. I have no bug problems now it's freakin sweet. I add myco, so it goes right back to living soil, but what i introduce.
You can put a small tent for it but once you brought a certain amount of biomass into the house, that's it...sterilizing before bringing it in is imperative.
 

WubbaLubbaDubDub

Well-Known Member
Clear plastic cold frame. Some extraction, so the cold frame has negative pressure. You can also use this as an acclimation area to get less hardy plants used to the environmental parameters within your house. Depending on how far you wanting to go with it there are other options. Like ozone treatment and co2 treatment. Both will kill bugs.
Interesting.
I’ll probably continue to use Ozone while plants are out of the the area
 

Blue brother

Well-Known Member
Interesting.
I’ll probably continue to use Ozone while plants are out of the the area
Sorry I wasn’t specific, I spray the plants with freshly ozonated water, and I also have them plug In ozone generators at either side of the cold frame. I mainly do this quarantine when doing ornamental aquaponics, Lillies, orchids, ivy, pothos. Where the plants are gonna be sharing water with my tropical fish.
 

Don't Bogart

Well-Known Member
Damn I never considered quarantining anything. Most of my house plants are the staples.
Spiders, Aloe Vera and several other whatever-you-call-thems.
I have 6 rubber plants which I put outside every year. I started out with 2 that were given to me. Then learned by accident they easily clone.
 

Psyphish

Well-Known Member
I just spray all new arrivals with Spinosad. When I pot them up I stick a neonicotinoid thing in the soil. So far so good. Lately I've been putting cuttings in passive hydros, hydro pebbles / leca. Just about everything seems to like hydro.
 

vostok

Well-Known Member
Hello everyone.
I have been into gardening and house plants since I could walk. I have lots of plants all around the house.

Recently my girlfriend has gotten into tropical houseplants,I have always done a ‘quarantine’ procedure with new arrivals.
They usually sit in my bathroom for 2-4 weeks getting sprayed with safers end all twice. Keeping an eye out for bugs or sickness.

I’m thinking,my bathroom door always gets left open and there is still a small chance of cross contamination.
I’m considering getting a small greenhouse or tent to setup as a official quarantine location.

so I would like to ask the community what they do to ensure their house plants are safely introduced.
What steps or procedures do you take with new arrivals?
Like you I keep them in a seperate room for a week or so ...
seen as common sense here

Tho I often grow veg with my weed this time its cheery tomatoes
that I left out then put back in now
.... my weeds got aphids ..lol

my fault but the tomatoes are worth the risk ...lol

good luck
 
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