Have any of you sucessfully shipped plants in cold weather?
I received my gift certificate that I won on last month's bingo for 20.00 from Rob' Violet barn. I called today to order plants but they said the shipping on any order would be 22.80 because they had to ship overnight express. It is hanging around 40 degrees here at night and around 50 during the day.
Have any of you received or shipped plants by prioity mail in the cold weather? Thanks, Lou
I need some opinions, please.
Robs said that they can ship during any time of the year to anywhere. Here in North Texas I have shipped in every month except January and February. Good luck.
I've had plants of all types shipped to me all year 'round.
The only time you need to worry is if the night-time and day-time temperatures are *consistently* below freezing.
I think the temperature inside the box is likely a good 10-15 degrees higher than the outdoor temps.
In fact, I feel that this is the best time of year to ship, as long as the plants are properly wrapped, and it never hurts to tell the vendor (though you usually don't have to) that you have cool temps and will need the plants wrapped in several layers of newspaper, etc..
I don't think your plants needs to be shipped 'overnight' with the temperatures you're having....but try to convince the vendor of that?!
I just had a box delivered from robs and it was packed in a double layer of very thick insulation, plus lots of wadded newspaper. Exellent packing!!! Not to worry at all!!
Cindy
I had Rob's ship plants to me last March here in Florida ... it was pretty warm here and I got a package with thick insulation! It was regular priority mail.
I believe what they are telling you is they will not guarantee or replace plants at this time of year if you don't use the next day air shipping. In other words you will be taking the risk. I think most houseplants prefer the cooler temps but I'm not real certain how some Gesneriads would do with temp's that low, going from a warm, heated greenhouse environment to the post office and airplanes and postal trucks - might shock them. If you can request good insulation when they pack for shipment maybe that would suffice since your temps are still pretty mild!
Oh, I should have added. My package was shipped priority.
Thanks for all the info, everyone. I called back and ask them to ship it priorty mail and they will , just without any warranty. They will ship next week and it is supposed to be even warmer here then, so they should be alright. Lou
I ordered and received violets from as far away as New York all last winter when temps here were sometimes down to 20 degrees. All were shipped Priority and all arrived fine. I am in Washington state. If heat packs are offered, I usually pay the extra couple dollars if its really cold. It seemed no matter where plants were shipped from, if they went out Monday, I got them Wednesday. Karen
there are also heat pacs they use in the winter months that work very well. i have used them for shipping myself & have had them shipped to me. so they do work.
mrsbonnie
I received my order yesterday and they were fine. Whew! I'm glad I went ahead and ordered. The plants were in good shape, just smaller than I expected. I ordered from Bluebird nursery last year and their plants were twice the size of the babies I received from Rob's. I hope they grow fast and bloom fast. LOL Lou