How To Buy & Introduce New Houseplants
Spring is here, the weather is getting nicer and those plant nurseries are calling your name – I mean, thats what the weekends are for right?!
Buying new plants is super exciting, right? And if you’re reading this after buying a new plant – Congrats on your new addition!
But, you maybe thinking whats the right way to buy & introduce new houseplants?
Whenever I go out and buy a new houseplant from the store, I’m driving home with them riding shot gun (depending on the size, of course) On my drive home I’m super eager to plop them down on my plant shelves with all my other plants.
“This will look great mixed into my collection! Omg, next to (miscellaneous plant here), your going to look perfect! I can’t wait!”
What could go wrong?…
Well, you may want to do a few things before you introduce the new guy. I’m going to go over how to buy & introduce new houseplants into your collection.
I’ll go over reasons why you may want to rethink throwing your new plants onto their new homes for a little while, and also go over how and when is a good time to introduce those new plants.
Finding The Perfect Plant To Buy
So you’ve found a pallet of plants that you’ve been eyeing. Don’t rush to the checkout just yet.
Picking out the perfect plant can be kind of tricky. Make sure you give a few plants that stand out to you a good look over. You are looking for not only signs of poor health but also maybe some pests that could be lurking around.
First let’s take a look for some potential problems. Often times health issues can be found lurking on the leaves. Any yellowing leaves can be many different things, like over/under watering or even pests. To check for a watering problem you can check the plant like you do at home. Stick your finger into the soil to the second knuckle, is it super wet or is it bone dry?
To check for pests you can simply check both sides of the leaves and stems. You’ll want to look out for things like white powdery spots, or fine webbing. Sometimes you’ll even see the bugs on the leaves. If you do spot some kind of creatures, it’s not a lost cause, but you need to be aware that these things can run ramped on your plants, if not treated correctly.
Check out: Common Houseplant Pests & How To Treat For Them blog, here
Other than yellowing on the leaves, if you spot any black spots on leaves, ABORT! This can be a cause of a fungal disease. Unless you want to bring it home and try to save it – but, I wouldn’t recommend it. Fungal diseases can spread to other neighboring plants by their fungal spores becoming airborne and land on other plants or even via your hands, so keep that in mind.
Checking on the stem is a good idea as well. On most plants you can see/feel root rot from the base. Root rot makes the base of the plant mushy, and can also look black in color. I’d say that plant is probably a goner.
Bringing Your New Plant Home
When it comes to bringing a new plant home I would take the same precaution if you found something at the store or not.
Isolate your new plants!
This also goes for plants you get in the mail, as well.
Make sure they are away from any plants; I’d say around 10 feet, if not more. I usually put plants in my bathroom, which doesn’t have any plants in there, other than a little aloe plant.
Just make sure wherever you pick to isolate your plant, you make sure you pick a spot where it gets enough light and be sure to care for it as you normally would (watering and fertilizing wise).
Whenever you bring home a new plant, other than isolating it, I make sure I give it a light treatment, whether I found anything or not. I give the plant a little shower and a light mist of neem oil…just incase. The neem oil makes the leaves super shiny as well, so win-win. This will give you a little piece of mind. Think of it as a new plant initiation.
Putting your new plant in isolation will also help the plant acclimate to your home.
The newbies goes in isolation for a week and then I’ll thoroughly check on them again. If something pops up to say hi, treat it immediately. Wait another week, repeating this process until you have gone a full week (if not more) without seeing anything.
Obviously isolating you plants goes if you did find something on your new plant. But if you didn’t, they could be hiding and pop out in a few days. Believe me, I have been amazed on how well they can hide and it seems to be out of nowhere. BOOM there they are, and they have made a full colony over night, that could of spread across all your other plants. Now you have to treat all your plants!
Aren’t you glad you isolated them?
Time To Introduce Your New Plant To The Others
Hello everyone, this is your new roommate!
Now you can finally get to place your plant in that spot you were thinking about without any worry. Just that piece of mind is well worth the time and energy.
Even if you have bought your plants from the same place a thousand times, I’d still always isolate them. Most places you buy plants are outside and anything can come in. A lot of good nurseries do treat their plants, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.
I have had too many nightmare situations without isolating a new plant and I defiantly learned my lesson. Especially since my plant collection is growing and growing, I cant imaging treating all my plants.
Phew, I’m getting sweaty just thinking about it.
Are you now ready to buy & introduce new houseplants in your collection?
