A kind plant gift turned into a pest nightmare

A friend gave me a spider plant from her garden. I didn't think to check it for bugs. Within a week, my other plants had aphids all over them. Now I'm spending hours cleaning them up. Please, always isolate new plants for a while.

4 comments

4 Comments

laura8413mo ago

Same thing happened with a fern I got last month. It had scale insects and spread to my peace lily. Now I always quarantine new plants for weeks.

grant4783mo ago

My local nursery says quarantine is overkill for healthy-looking plants.

kimfisher3mo ago

Seems like a good routine catches problems before they get bigger, right?

shane_hayes2mo ago

Quarantine sounds like a lot of extra work for a tiny chance of bugs. Most plants from a good store are fine right away. You could just check them over really well and skip the waiting around. It seems like making a simple hobby way more stressful than it needs to be.