What to do when you bring a new plant home

You’ve got your beautiful new plant, fertilizer and a ceramic pot (with drainage holes!) in tow, so it’s ready to be set on the windowsill and displayed, right? Not so fast. There are a few steps you must take to ensure that your plant thrives in your environment — and that you aren’t tossing yet another pot of dry soil and brown leaves into the trash in a few weeks.

First, quarantine your plant - When you bring it home, set it in a quarantine area for a couple of days before you mix it with your other plants. Don't worry if it's not by a window, they can take that kind of light condition, only for a couple of days before they start dropping leaves.

Spray it with insecticide - You want to spray it down with some kind of insecticide or pesticide. You can use different things: we recommend you use horticulture oil, which is a petroleum distillate. You mix it with water and spray the plant top and bottom and all in between the leaves. You want to make sure any insect, whether it’s a mite or a mealy bug, is killed before you integrate it with your other plants so you don’t have an infestation on your hands.

If you can, re-pot your plant - Go about an inch or two larger than the plastic pot that they’re in. A 6-inch plant should go in a 7- or 8-inch pot so it has room to grow, because the goal is always to have your plants grow.