Any sellers on here?

I know alot of you guys sell your extra plants on ebay. I do too but I always have a problem with the plants arriving in poor condition, dried, wilted, leaves fallen completely off the plant etc.

I package plants the same way I do for all my trades and I've almost never had any problems with plants arriving like that through my trading. Does anybody have the same problem???? I'm in the dark, I have no idea what to do. I ship priority so they arrive pretty quickly.

Help please?

It can depend on a lot of things, not least which kind of plants, there are some plants I'd never send through the post and one I do send but with warnings that it wilts and sulks for a couple of months prior to the trade or selling. Sometimes it's a matter of perspective from the buyers point of view, if they are used to buying in from a company, then a lot of times they have exactly the right kind of packing material and are a little put off by a more 'rustic' home made approach, do you tell your buyers that these are from your own garden?

How are you packing (from start to finish)?Also when are you selling, if you sell through the growing season, plants can end up in a much worse condition than at the beginning or end of the growing season, hence why many small nurseries only do mail order at these times.

Well, I used to send bare root but had HORRIBLE results. So now, I root the plant in plastic drinking cups and ship it cup and all. This way the roots will not be disturbed. I place the cup part in plastic and tie it around the base of the plant. I usually always have great results with this when I do trades but for some reason selling just never seems to work out right!

Then I wrap the plant in a few layers of newspaper and carefully place inside of a priority box and so it fits snugly enough so the plant shouldn't be moving around but not so tight that the plant will be damaged during shipping. Priority here takes 2-3 days for delivery and I usually send on Mondays so the plant won't sit anywhere during the weekend. I'm considering packing in peanuts now but I don't see how that will make any difference with the plant drying out.

And I always write "Fragile! Please do not leave in sun!" I just can't figure out what is going wrong!

The best results I have had is by wrapping the root ball with moistened paper towel, then with plastic wrap. I seal around the base of the stem with rubber bands or tape. I make sure the roots have plenty of moisture. Next, I wrap a cone of newspaper around the whole plant, then add extra newspaper in the box so the plant doesn't shift around. I send 1st class mail early in the week.

I would do that too but the soil is moist, I always make sure.

I'm always concerned when shipping plants to hotter climates. Who knows what they go through in the post offices, and our temps are pretty mild here. I've received plants that were pretty dry by the time I got them. They were wrapped well in paper, but the rootball was not sealed in plastic. On the other hand, when the rootball is wrapped in plastic, it remains moist. I think the issue may be the conditions your plants go through in the mail process.