Quarantine Methods

[lotis146]

1) How long should one quarantine new plants for?

2) Let's say you have a group of Orchids in one place, two rescues from oh 3.5 wks ago that are "quarantined" (place in the next room), and 3 maybe 4 new ones (all different sellers) coming in the next week (tomorrow, maybe next couple days, then next week...)? Do the new, new guys go with the two in quarantine? Can those two be placed with the rest of the group now? (One is clinging to life having suffocated as one member put it. The other looks really good though some fuzzy mold on the medium I noticed the other day before I let it dry COMPLETELY then watered.) Then do I put all the newbies together in this room?

3) As of today I isolated what looked like a perfectly good Phal due to it having - thanks for ID help - Springtails. Which I will repot today. After repotting can it go back in the group?

Thanks for all your help! Hopefully your advice spreads to other newbies too so they know what to do!
Lotis

[RandomGemini]

I quarantine my plants on the dining room table, which is in another part of the house from my main growing space.

If they came home in the same month, they are quarantined together.

I leave them there for about a month. I watch my plants pretty closely while they are in the dining room, because I see them all the time and if I see anything going wrong, then I can deal with it as I find an issue. So far, I haven't found anything horribly bad, but if I do have problems with a plant, it usually shows itself within that month of isolation.

[james mickelso]

First, get some Bayer Complete or 3 in 1 and spray the plants and media outside and let dry. Then just keep them from touching one another. Don't touch one without washing your hands. This way you won't transmit any fungus/bacteria/ molds from one to another. You don't need to keep them in separate rooms. Just practice good hygene. The spray will eliminate most if not all your problems. Virus are transmitted by touch or water from one to another. You won't know whether there is a virused plant without testing by a lab. A week is about the time frame for transmission and symptoms. Spring tails can be eliminated by an insecticide spray. They usually come in the bark we buy to repot. Or from a plant we introduce to our collection. I have lots of them and they haven't caused any harm. Some day I'll spray for them. You're not running a surgical suite. Just collecting orchids.