If you look on the ‘gram, most plant influencers have an amazing number of healthy-looking plants and very seldom will you see any sick plants around. But believe you me, they do exist. Most plant experts I talk to have a sick bay for all their plants.
It’s very important you keep these ‘sick’ plants separate from the rest of your collection to curb the spread of diseases and pests. Some people put them outside in the hope that the elements and predatory insects will sort them out. I tend to have lots of outdoor plants that I don’t want to get infected so I usually keep my sick plants in the garage. I also find this effective because I have these plants in a controlled environment. Perhaps on a different post, I’ll go a bit more in-depth into what I do to try and get rid of these pests and diseases.
After I’ve implemented the necessary interventions I keep them in place for a few weeks. If I see them improving I move those specific plants further away from the very sick plants so that in the end a spectrum of plants from least infected to most infected has been formed. I also group ‘sicknesses’ together so for example, all plants experiencing mealybug problems will be together and all plants with spider mite issues will be grouped together. This way I avoid the cross contaminations of pests and diseases.
Once I’m 99% sure that the pest and disease is no longer, I move said plant to my nursery. The nursery is a term I use for an area where propagations, newly rooted plants and baby plants all congregate. I see this area almost daily so I can keep a very sharp eye on developments. Once 2 weeks has passed with no resurgence of issues, this plant is deemed healthy and moves back indoors.
In most cases, the average plant takes about 3-4 weeks to fully recover but I have had the odd bad case of ferns that have remained in this sick bay for 6 months.
Everyone has their own method for treating pests and diseases but I do feel like it should be as organised as possible to avoid mixups and further contamination.
If you have any questions regarding the process of getting your plants healthier please don’t hesitate to contact me, or if you’d like to let me know what you do, let me know!