OT shipping a live plant

G'day Polly!

I've regularly bought plants from ebay and it's not too hard to wrap them up safely for shipping.

Here are some of the solutions I've seen.

Plant seeds in a paper cup with drainage holes. When plantlet is old enough, water generously and wrap the whole thing in saran wrap. Mount in a cardboard box stuffed with newspaper.

Take cuttings or bare-rooted plants and wrap the 'roots' in wet sawdust or soil. Wrap thickly in paper towel and wet generously. Wrap the lot in saran wrap and then in bubble wrap to 'splint' the whole package.

Enclose the entire plant, pot and all, in an airtight container. Make sure the plant has been well-watered and that something is holding the soil in the pot (ie. so it can't fall out). Also, fill the container with, say, crumpled newspaper or packing beans so the pot can't rattle around inside and thus harm the plant. Wrap as for any parcel and post.

It's always good to post plants on a Monday morning so the likelihood of them spending a hot, dry weekend in a post office is lessened. Also, when putting them into the outer packaging, imagine that someone's going to be chucking a TV on top of them in transit: that's how strong your packaging needs to be. Marking them 'fragile' or 'handle with care' is absolutely pointless. IMHO.

HTH,

Somebody has to say it....

Polly's Packing a Peck of the Perfect Pepper Plants!

you can also put a big arrow ^^^^ or 4 on the outside of the box pointing up.....'this way up'. i think 'fragile' or 'live plant' might also be allowed on the outside of the box. i'd ask at the post office. something stiff and at least as tall as the plant. like a big cylinder shape, inside the box seems a good idea too. heck if they can ship bottles of plonk without breakage a plant shouldnt be so difficult in the scheme of things. if all else fails, drink the plonk and invite them all to your house for a visit and they can take the plants home themselves.....after they sober up of course. just a thot, j. oh another thot, can you find a website that ships plants of the size you're wanting to do and ask them how they do theirs with no damage to the plants. they might even have it showing on their website. ok, did you google 'how to ship a live plant' ??? doh, sorry, having issues focusing on various anythings lately, what with decisions to be made and not really doing well on those either. :/ j.

"Polly Esther" wrote... Thank you, Trish. I had some of the details figured out but certa> Polly Esther wrote:

Adding a small amount of those water absorbing crystals (I'm blanking out on the actual name) to the potting soil would help it retain moisture.

Jeri

;)

If they're growing in small plastic pots, water well, let drain and then take some masking tape and place across the pot, so the soil doesn't spill readily. Then wrap each pot with newspaper, and place in a box with more crushed newspaper around the pot. If you're sending just a couple of pots in a box, and you've got some spare cardboard, cut the cardboard to the height of the box and the width of the diagonal of the box. Tape the newspaper wrapped pots to the cardboard, slip them into the box, then add the extra cushioning.

Watch the temperatures where you're shipping -- try for quick transit times and a cool day.

Or just send 'em some seeds.

In some cases, you may need plant health permits to legally send live plants over state lines. You certainly need them internationally.

Kay (old botanist)