Plant De-Bugging procedure wanted

[wcstory]

Over the course of the past couple of weeks I traded some divisions of bog irises with other ponders for new plants. All of these plants came from great people, but I'm OCD about bad bugs getting into the pond. For safety's sake I always assume every Koi or plant I bring home is bugged. I also bought a lotus (50% off) and two tropical lilies (75% off) at a end of season sale at a local pond shop.

A while age someone (Bonnie Hale??) posted a plant treatment plan to De-Bug incoming plants. I know it started out with a 25 ppm PP nuking, but can't remember the rest. Everything is out in my outdoor QT pond with NO FISH so there's no dange of frying anyone.

Bill

[tammie]

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

[Rebekah]

Wow tammie your snails must be tough. Alum worked on my snails and the snail eggs. I will never be without it. I hate sending someone plants with snail eggs all over them. That is why I do a soak in Alum to get the snails.

[wcstory]

With all the treatments from PP to Proform C having great results in one pond on XX pest and little effect in another pond at the same "stated" dosage I have to really wonder the effect of water parameters. Ph, KH, GH, Dissolved Oxygen and trace mineral content.


Thanks,
Bill