Quarantine period for new plants-How long

[rbarata]

Just like the title says...
A month isn't too much?

[jkofferdahl]

For me, the answer depends upon the seller. With Peter Lin, Andy's, Louisiana Orchid, and maybe 1 or 2 others the quarantine period lasts as long as it takes me to inspect the plant. These are sellers less likely to introduce a virus to their plants than am I, and years of experience have shown me that I can trust their plants. Most other sellers, however, I like to separate the plant and keep a close watch on it. My thought is that if nothing develops with the plant in a week or so then it's pretty unlikely to be a patient zero for a major problem.

A month? Really?

[estación seca]

I had scale show up in my collection more than 6 months after I bought new plants. I strongly suspect plants I had bought more than a year before that, because those tiny seedlings did not grow at all for over a year, while all my other plants were growing well. Some of those tiny seedlings dwindled and died for no apparent reason. Now I suspect they had scale I did not recognize.

When the scale showed up it suddenly appeared on a large number of plants from many vendors. I lost quite a few plants before I got the scale under control. If I had treated my entire collection I might have lost fewer plants, instead of treating the plants one by one as the scale appeared on them.

In some US states commercial growers are no longer allowed to use effective pesticides. They can only use products that knock down the populations of the pests. When the product loses effectiveness or is washed off, pests re-emerge.

A few weeks ago I bought a house plant at Home Depot. It is a creeping Charlie. This is the common name for various Plectranthus species. The brand is Ahhxygen. Most of the plants our Home Depot sells are grown in California. I repotted to a larger container and set it near a window in a room with no other plants. Three weeks later it has a substantial infestation of mealy bugs. By the way, the label says "Creeping Charlie - Pilea nummularifolia." It is flowering, and is clearly not a Pilea, but a Plectranthus.

[rbarata]

A month? Really?

No, I was just asking.

Over the last two years I bought several plants from this vendor and never had problems. The plant in quarentine now is my new Onc Twinkle. I seems healthy, even the youngest pbulbs, that are smaller than a pea, are looking healthy and the plant is blooming with a dried spike from previous blooms.
So, all the signals of an infestion/pest are not existent.
I'm tempted to move it to a more suitable location, with higher humidity.

[Ray]

I think a quarantine period is only of help in the insect/mite area. Viruses may not induce symptoms for years, so unless you're going to home test the plants upon arrival (which is not 100% accurate), you're better off following John's lead and stick to reputable vendors.

Back to the insects, as the life cycle pretty much dictates when they'll appear, a few weeks is likely fine.

E.S., I doubt your scale stated dormant or hidden that long, but was inadvertently introduced closer to the time you saw them. Dormancy typically requires very poor conditions for the bug, and your growing environment sure isn't hostile!