Packing and shipping tips for seeds and plants as provided by our knowledgeable members I'll attempt to categorise them for easy reading. If you see errors let me know and add your tips also! [IMPORTANT] International seed swaps Woody Plants - "Dormant saplings with most of the soil shaken off and a moistened paper towel wraped by saran-wrap keeps bulk and weight down. Bubble wrap or peanuts to fill any voids fills the gaps." Bare Root - "...wrap the loose soil packed bare root with sphagnum moss, dry newspaper, and then tape bubble wrap around the whole plant depending on the needs of the plant around the bubble wrap." Potted Plants - "...wrap a piece of plastic over the soil and taped the plastic to the pot. Wrap with bubble wrap, pack in priority mail box with stryo peanuts or newspaper." Tender Leaved Plants - "For tender leaved plants like violets, a corrugated cardboard to make a tube. You need to be able to gently fold the leaves to the diameter of the pot, then roll pot and plant into the tube, bottom of pot can be at the bottom of tube. Secure the tube with tape. Take wooden kitchen skewers and insert at the upper rim of pot, to hold in place. Cut off excess tube, and pack a soft fiber material (aquarium filter floss or quilt batting) at the top of tube. Tape top and bottom of tube without crushing. " - "Wrap with bubble wrap, pack in priority mail box with stryo peanuts or newspaper." General Tips - "I've had and gotten my best result(s) by shipping on a monday, in cool months." - USA oriented tip - "USPS has flat rate boxes that 'almost' fits most plants." - USA oriented tip Member Credits: Coppice, waretrop
[b[Woody plants[/b] I've had and gotten my best result(s) by shipping on a monday, in cool months. USPS has flat rate boxes that 'almost' fits most plants. Dormant saplings with most of the soil shaken off and a moistened paper towel wraped by saran-wrap keeps bulk and weight down. Bubble wrap or peanuts to fill any voids fills the gaps.
Any senior plant traders interested in helping out? I can advise you all on shipping plants as I shipped violet plants all over the country (USA). For bare root shipping, just wrap the loose soil packed bare root with sphagnum moss, dry newspaper, and then tape bubble wrap around the whole plant depending on the needs of the plant around the bubble wrap. For potted plants, wrap a piece of plastic over the soil and taped the plastic to the pot. Wrap with bubble wrap, pack in priority mail box with stryo peanuts or newspaper. For tender leaved plants like violets, a corrugated cardboard to make a tube. You need to be able to gently fold the leaves to the diameter of the pot, then roll pot and plant into the tube, bottom of pot can be at the bottom of tube. Secure the tube with tape. Take wooden kitchen skewers and insert at the upper rim of pot, to hold in place. Cut off excess tube, and pack a soft fiber material (aquarium filter floss or quilt batting) at the top of tube. Tape top and bottom of tube without crushing. Wrap with bubble wrap, pack in priority mail box with stryo peanuts or newspaper. Priority Mail goes March to Nov except extreme north and Express mail the rest of the year. We have tried heat packs for Dec to March but, to us, it's not worth worrying about since we can ship all the other times. Barb in Pa.
This is good guys, keep the tips coming and I'll update the first post in this topic as more come in Thanks!
I received seeds from a member for the second time as the first ones were crushed in the postal machines and the second envelope, even though it was a bubble mailer and marked to hand stamp it, it still went through the machines and they were mostly crushed again I have planted them (what is left) with high hopes! I hope the seeds I sent out didn't meet the same fate. I did add a sheet of left over building material foam. It was the roll of vapor barrier that was left over from my greenhouse addition on the house. The envelope was pretty thick, but when I went to mail it there was a piece of cardboard with a cutout section that the lady slid the envelope through to measure the thickness of it and it was none to fat . I was surprised at how thick the opening was, (maybe 1/2") so I wouldn't hesitate to send it with the foam again. Recycle any packing material/foam sheets and re use them to send a fairly thick envelope through the mail when sending your seeds.
When I send seeds, Use thicker bubble wrap+ add a small piece of card board so far so good.But have got seeds before person did not dry them long enough-was moldy.
For many plants, cardboard paper towel and TP rolls work well, to expand on the original idea above. I've gotten lots of positive feedback about using them.
