qt plants?

[RWinn]

Should new plants be quarantined or are they alright to put right in the pond?

[Julles]

Oh man, I wish I had quarantined the freebie mosaic plant and anachras I got a few weeks ago... Turned out they were infested with string algae, which is a bear to get out of your pond. 

Luckily, I did put it only in a lily tub, not the main pond.  Still, it was a mess to clean it out, and I had to use some Algae-Rid, which many people here recommended against.  At least I prevented it from spreading to the main pond.

Others will chime in here, but I believe there is some disinfectant procedure you can follow, before introducing the plants to your pond.

[PondmaninAL]

Quarantining is a good thing for anything going into a pond.

Happy ponding,
Scott

[marla]

You can always dip it in a bleach solution or a PP solution and then rinse very good.

[RWinn]

what is a PP solution?

[tranquility]

Pottasium permeganate....or other wised called the purple passion....it is what I use on any plants I ship or recieve....I got mine from e-bay...here are Tammie's PP instructions....
Lawanna

PP doesn't kill everything. It won't kill leeches. And (maybe my snails are tough!) but, Alum didn't kill my snails. PP kills snails. And bacteria along with other critters. Alum for leeches. Seems the only posts I answer are about snails, leeches and aphids! I'm the Queen of critters! So, for disinfecting plants - I have a bit of experience here, I ship plants every week, and they are inspected by the USDA prior to shipping. So, here goes - Mix 4 oz of PP into 32 oz or water. This becomes your stock solution. Use 1 drop of stock solution in 1 gallon of water to achieve 2ppm. You want 24ppm to disinfect plants. You want to mix the PP stock solution into the container that your plants are going to be in, so I just run the hose until it is all mixed up. CAUTION #1 DO NOT USE THIS STRENGTH OF PP WHEN THERE ARE FISH PRESENT!! You'll kill them for sure! Since PP works on the "organic" material if you leave the dirt on your plants you will use up the PP before it can disinfect anything! You must wash off all of the dirt, and remove any leaves, pads that are history, before you put the plant into the PP. Most plants I leave in over night, but some are more sensitive and I only leave it in a couple of hours. CAUTION #2 - PP WILL STAIN ANYTHING IT TOUCHES! WEAR GLOVES AND OLD CLOTHES! CAUTION #3 - LIKE ALMOST EVERYTHING IN LIFE, PP HAS IT'S DANGERS! WEAR A DUST MASK, AND DON'T WORK WHERE THE WIND CAN BLOW THE PP BACK INTO YOUR FACE! PP should be treated with the same respect you would use while working with any other chemical - read the precautions and don't get cocky.
Alum will kill leeches (Ucky! I don’t like them!) 1 Tablespoon per 100 gallons. Now, look, I’ve been told that Alum will crash your Ph, so don’t use it in your pond! Use it as a pre-treater. I only found leeches in one of my marginal tanks, the only fish in there were guppies. I way overdosed the tank, and didn’t have a single guppy casualty. But I would never try it in the Koi pond! Tammie

[marla]

Thanks for the very informative PP/alum lesson....I hate those leeches also!

[PondmaninAL]

Marla, not all leeches are bad. Some eat the vegetable matter on the bottom of the pond. I've actually had those. They are small and light in color. The ones that you don't want are big and dark in color. I, myself, don't like using any type of chemical unless it's to improve the plant, like fertilizer. Of course, if I think a plant might be infested with something, I won't offer it to anyone and I don't put a new plant in the pond until I've observed it for two weeks in a separate container.

Happy ponding,
Scott