Quarantine of new plants - how long for?

[Fuerte Rav]

Hi

Our Lidl had a bunch of mini NOID Phals in today and 2 just jumped in my trolley begging to be rehomed in time for Christmas. I think they escaped from the store pretty promptly after arriving and before the roots had a chance to be fatally abused. At 6.99€ each they were a bargain where I live!

Each was directly in a very small glass jar with no drainage. There was a very solid plug of sphag about the size of a wine cork in the middle and 1 or 2 roots ran through these. The sphag plug was bone dry! There were a number of other roots between the sphag and the glass. Most roots were pale green although there were a couple of dead ones.

I removed the plants from the glasses, and gently poked out as much of the sphag as I could and then placed the roots in a bowl of tepid water for 20 minutes. I then rinsed the roots with fresh water to remove as much debris as possible. I very gently jiggled the plants around upside down for 10 minutes to get as much moisture out of the leaves/crown as possible that might have splashed in. They are now laying horizontally on layers of kitchen towel overnight in a warmish room (20C and RH 65-70) before I pot them up in the morning. Bark soaking in a bucket ready as well.



I looked as closely as I could for any sign of pests - nothing that I could see but I'll check again with a magnifying glass in the good light in the morning.

1. Are there any other precautions I can take?

2. How long do I need to quarantine new orchids? Days/weeks/months?

Thanks in advance for any help