So you made the leap and imported plants from another country…congrats! Now your plants have been delivered, and you’re super excited and eager (and anxious) to open them and get your first look! But before you do, you may want to consider implementing procedures to sanitize plants imported from overseas.
The process of sanitizing plants imported from overseas can vary from one gardener to another. In this post, I will provide my process of sanitizing the plants that I recently ordered from Indonesia.
Opening Your Package
If you are concerned about pests and diseases being spread to your houseplants, I would recommend opening your package in an area where you don’t usually keep the majority of your house plants. The bathroom, garage or balcony may be good options. However, if you live in an apartment and you’ve got no additional space and plants EVERYWHERE, then you don’t have much of a choice. (The shower or the bathtub may be possible options).
Overall, the risk of receiving infected plants is pretty low, especially since the vendor is required to sanitize your plant order before packing. Also, your package should have been inspected by Customs (at least twice! Once during the export process, and once more during the import process). As horrifying as it is to think about, any pests or pathogens in your imports would end up with Customs confiscating and destroying the shipment. This is where choosing a reliable, reputable vendor is so important.
When you unpackage your plant shipment, you will find that vendors will tend to stack them up and ship them with the leaves arranged as flat as possible. The leaves are wrapped in paper and the roots are (usually) wrapped in sterilized sphagnum moss and plastic wrap.
Carefully remove the paper and check the leaves. If you see any signs of bacterial infection, don’t hesitate to cut them right away. Cut away any wet and mushy leaves, as they will die anyway. Sterilize your clippers between each cut and between each plant with isopropyl alcohol.
If the plant’s leaves look fine, then the next thing to check are the roots. The sphagnum is usually tightly bundled around the roots, so work slowly and carefully to avoid ripping off too many roots.
The roots of Anthuriums should be thick and white when healthy. Philodendron roots are generally thinner, but healthy roots should also be a whitish color. The root tissue should be firm, not mushy and hollow. If any of it is mushy, slimy and clearly rotting, then it’s best to remove them.
Sanitizing Leaves of imported plants
The next step in the cleaning process is to sanitize the leaves. I mix up my own leaf cleaning/disinfecting solution.
Leaf Disinfectant Recipe
- 2 cups water
- 1 teaspoon of Dr. Bronner’s Peppermint Castile Soap
- 2 teaspoons of isopropyl alcohol (optional)
I purchased Dr. Bronner’s Peppermint Castile Soap from my local Trader Joe’s, but you can easily order some here.
If you don’t feel comfortable using isopropyl alcohol, just use the 2 cups of water and a teaspoon of Dr. Bronner’s Castile Soap.
I add isopropyl alcohol as (mostly) an insurance policy against spider mites, thrips and other soft-bodied insects as the alcohol kills them instantly.
The most efficient way to sanitize your plants is to place them in a sink or bathtub and spray them down all at once. This is a huge timesaver if you have many plants that need cleaning. Once you saturate the leaves (not the roots!) with the leaf cleaning solution, leave them for 15-20 minutes.
After the 15-20 minutes have passed, rinse off the leaves thoroughly with clean, fresh water.
Sanitizing Roots of imported plants
The last step in this process is sanitizing the roots of your new plants. I do not use the same leaf cleaning solution for the roots, especially if the solution contains isopropyl alcohol.
Root Disinfectant Recipe
- 2 cups water
- 3 tablespoons 3% hydrogen peroxide
You can find 3% hydrogen peroxide easily in drug stores and grocery stores. Hydrogen peroxide is quite effective at killing bacteria, viruses, and fungi, but it can also damage living tissue if the concentration is too strong. Make sure to dilute it down according to the recipe. And make sure that you purchased the right hydrogen peroxide! You don’t want to burn your plants after you accidentally purchased 35% hydrogen peroxide instead of the standard 3%.
This solution is sprayed onto the roots until saturated, or the plants can be soaked in it. Leave for 5 minutes and then rinse everything off with fresh water.
Another potential option to disinfect your plants is to use Physan 20. This is a commercially available solution that functions as an all-encompassing algaecide, bactericide, fungicide, and viricide. It pretty much kills everything, but make sure to follow the instructions and dilute it A LOT. It’s extremely concentrated and can definitely cause chemical burns to your plant. I would recommend using gloves to handle this and avoid getting it on your skin as much as possible. Personally, I prefer hydrogen peroxide because I don’t need to worry about getting it on my skin.
Final Steps
Now that your new plants are fully cleaned and disinfected, it’s time for the final steps: potting up and acclimation!
I will leave the potting step up to you, as you may have your own preferences for aroid soil or a semi-hydro setup with LECA. I hope this post helped you develop a process to sanitize your own plants imported from overseas. Next, take a look at my post on acclimating your new plants!
Always Keep Growing,
Heather (a.k.a. The Botanical Chick)
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