Deflask the day it arrives. Some guides suggest waiting a day or two to "let it adjust" — we don't recommend that. A plantlet sealed in a bag has already been stressed by transit, and leaving it sealed longer just adds a second stress on top of the first, plus more time for whatever's on the agar to grow. Open it, rinse it, pot it. This is the process we use in-house when adding new arrivals to our own acclimation tent.

What you'll need

• Clean water
• Coir plugs (standard) or a perlite/stratum blend (for higher-value or rarer plants — see note below)
• A prop tray or small cups with a humidity dome
• Fungicide (optional — more useful at volume than for one or two plants)

1. Get it out of the bag

Ease the plantlet out with clean fingers or tweezers. The roots are brittle at this stage — a snapped root is the easiest way to invite rot, so go slow here and nowhere else.

2. Rinse off the gel

Rinse under running water and work off every trace of the agar gel clinging to the roots and crown. This is the step that actually matters — leftover gel is what feeds mold and bacteria, not the plant itself. For a handful of plants, a thorough rinse is enough. Doing a large batch at once, a quick fungicide dip afterward adds a consistent buffer, but it's not required for most people.

Whether or not you do the dip, let the plant rest on a paper towel for a few minutes afterward so excess water can drip off before potting — this matters more than it sounds. Plants with a thicker crown, Monstera especially, can trap water right at the base, and potting while it's still dripping wet is an easy way to invite rot before the plant's even in its medium.

3. Pot into something airy — not soil

Skip potting mix for now. For a full tray running 40 at a time, coir plugs are the standard — quick to load, consistent, and plenty airy for most plants. For anything higher-value or a rarer specimen where you want a bit more margin for error, a perlite/stratum blend gives you more control and a closer eye on individual moisture — worth the extra time on the plants you can't afford to lose. Either way, dampen it to a wrung-out-sponge feel and nestle the roots in without burying the crown.

4. Dome it, then wean it

Seal it under a humidity dome with bright indirect light for the first week. After that, crack the dome for 10 minutes a day and stretch that window out over 3–4 weeks until it holds up in normal room air.

Humidity ≠ soggy medium

Humidity is about moisture in the air, not water sitting around the roots. The dome handles the air side — the medium itself should stay at "wrung-out sponge," not squeezable-wet. Standing water in the medium suffocates roots and causes rot even under a dome that's doing its job. Check by feel every couple of days and let it approach dry before adding more. Large condensation bubbles pooling on the inside of the dome are a warning sign too — a bit of fogging is normal, but heavy dripping means there's too much moisture in there and it's worth cracking the dome briefly to let some of it out.

Quick answers

I don't have fungicide — do I need to buy some first?
No, skip it. A thorough rinse is the step that actually matters; the dip is extra insurance, mostly useful when you're processing a large batch at once.

Can I skip straight to potting soil?
Not for the first month. If you're using coir plugs already, that's fine as your standard medium — the point is avoiding heavy potting mix early on, not avoiding coir specifically.

Mine's turning mushy or see-through — what happened?
Usually leftover agar gel or an oversaturated medium. Check both.

When can I move to regular soil?
Once you see real new growth, generally around the 4-week mark — soil holds too much moisture for roots that aren't established yet.

When do I start fertilizing?
Hold off until you see a new leaf under the dome, then a quarter-strength feed is fine.

Questions on a specific batch or variety — send us a message.