I've ordered many, many plants in the mail and many have come in soil. I've yet to see a pest in any of them. I've been lucky I'm sure. With that being said, I always closely inspect the plants upon arrival and isolate them for at least 2 weeks. By isolate, I mean keeping them in a different room from my other plants.

There are soil drenches you can use. One is a hydrogen peroxide drench. You can google it up if you like.

My advice is to be sure to order from a reputable source, inspect and isolate, then sit back and relax.

Oh and post pics of your new acquisitions!

Some make it a point (and I lean in that direction...surprisingly to me) to immediately repot AVs into the soil mixture of their choice anyway.

Hello Joan,

Yes, you should absolutely quarantine / isolate a new African Violet plant you just purchased. This is especially true if its from a big box store and was neglected. Choose a nice location away from your current plants and keep them for at least a month. Re-potting in new soil, depends on the condition of the plant, if its heavily rooted and seems large enough, go ahead and re-pot. If its a baby plant and has delicate roots, I would leave it in the same soil, till its more stronger. There is an article about isolating African Violet plants, its more detailed, https://www.babyviolets.com/what-to-do-when-bringing-home-a-new-african-violet-plant/

Best of Luck

Cooks.

In the article Cooks cites the author certainly paints a pretty apocalyptic picture of what can happen if you don't isolate new plants. I've ordered from a reputable specialist source, so I'm hopeful. But anything can happen to any grower, so I'll be careful. Thanks, everybody.

Joan,

who did you order from? We on this forum know many of the sources. If you can tell us where you ordered from, we can probably tell you our experience. Some on this forum have vast experience to share.

In any case, you should keep the new plants in a separate room for the first few weks or months.

Even the most reputable grower can suddenly have an outbreak of thrips, which are the most common pest, and one you do not want to bring home.

Maybe order some mini's for your daughter.

Or if you have very, very reputable garden centers, you can buy from there. You can ask where they got their plants.

Avoid hardware stores that have a handful of neglected plants they got from a commercial source. Those are highly likely to have thrips.

Do abide by the advice of dbarron.

It is very hard, but you must train yourself and your daughter to pass by most of the store-bought plants.

We have all been there, so we know.

Keep in mind, commercial stores sell plants as if they are cut flowers. They are meant to last a few weeks then tossed.

Whereas, actual growers sell plants meant for the long haul.

Also, go slowly, as you are an outdoor gardener. AVs are beguiling and "innocently" tend to proliferate. They must be grown indoors. However, they do grow. They also grow in the round. It does not take long for them to accumulate. Because they spend more time out of bloom than in. Therefore, the tendency is to buy more in bloom when others are resting.

They are unlike orchids that remain in perfect bloom for months, looking pristine, elegant, and so perfect they look fake, as you noted.

Also, cats get jealous! They tend to snuggle up to furry violets! Sometimes it is good to place the AVs in sturdy cache pots for that reason.

Well, now that you are officially into Avs, you might enjoy some of the "wild and wooly" Russian or Ukrainian varieties.

Joanne