Moving from Miami to El Paso. Two major problems!

Dear friends,
This is a long post with many questions in it, but I need all the advice I can get with this.
I will be moving at the end of May. We already reserved the truck. I want to take all my plants with me. I can also provide the list of plants; maybe some of them would have different requirements.

Before that, let me tell you the two issues:
1. How can I transport them safely? There will be probably 2-3 days of travel. I am quite concerned on what to do and how to make them comfortable on the road. Except for safely packing and hydration, what else?
2. Someone told me that there might be issues of transporting/transiting plants between states. He said something about being stopped after entering New Mexico and asked specifically about plants.
Now, my DH will do most of the driving, so he will be the one to know exactly the route. As far as I know now, we will go thru Florida (maybe brush slightly Georgia, but I’m not really sure), Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and then Texas.
The rental company said we will have to enter each weighing point.
Do you know of any plant issues from state to state? Where can I get this info? Will I require a phyto-sanitary certificate?
Do any of these plants present a concern for any state?

This is the list of plants in pots (so far):
Big pots:
8 roses
5 hibiscus rosa-sinensis
1 hibiscus siriacus
1 gardenia
1 mandevilla laxa (if it still survives)
1 lilac bush (that cannot wait for a drier weather!)
1 small fig tree
1 poinsettia
1 fern

Small pots (up to 6 inch):
1 small stephanotis floribunda (seedling)
12 orchids: 2 dendrobiums, 2 cattleyas, 1 dendrobium chrysotoxum, 1phalenopsis (if it survives, I’m bad with phals), 1 brassavola nodosa, 1 oncidium, 1 odontoglossum, 1 vanilla plant, 1 ascocentrum garayi and 1cattleytonia
Potted bulbs, corms and tubers (amaryllis, daffodils, freesias, tuberoses, Abyssinian Gladiolus/Acidanthera murieliae, hyacinths, crocus, calla lilies)
A few diverse plants in small pots: Greek basil, Cuban oregano, purple waffle plant, 3 tiny lavender and 3 tiny candy lilies that I’ve grown from seed, 3 pomegranate seedlings, 1 mango seedling (funny how I managed to sprout them…), 1 carissa macrocarpa rooted from a cutting, 1 viola “samurai”, 1 fern

The list is not complete, I have others as well, started from seed, but they are either easy to sprout or annuals and it is possible to start them over in El Paso. These I can leave behind, in the hands of a dear good friend. However, he cannot take them all, and I’m not willing to leave them behind.
Please, if you have any suggestions, or know somebody that does, help me! These are my babies, and some of them have been with me for more than 5 years!

A stressed out Goofy

The other factor you'll need to consider is heat--it can get very hot in the back of a truck driving around the south in May and I'm not sure if there's too much you can do about that short of renting a refrigerated truck or something.

You'll definitely need to find out Texas' rules on bringing plants in since that's your final destination (do a search for TX agriculture department, you should find something that way, at least someone to call and ask questions). The other states you may not have to worry since you're not leaving the plants there, and most states other than CA and maybe a few others don't have ag inspection stations at the border (I think the weigh stations are looking for overweight vehicles more so than anything else). But it wouldn't hurt to check on their rules too just to be safe, last thing you want is to get things confiscated along the way! But I can tell you I drove across country from OH to CA and there were no states in between that had ag inspections (I knew CA was picky about plants so I didn't even try, didn't have too many at the time anyway)

Fruit trees can be problematic sometimes if the state you're moving to has a signficant amount of that fruit as a crop, then they don't want people bringing in non-native pests that can destroy your fruit crop (for example, I can't buy a citrus tree from anywhere out of state no matter how many phyto certificates come with it). I'm not sure if TX is a big fruit growing state or not. And the other plants that can be problematic are ones that would be listed as invasive in TX--I don't see anything on your list that jumps out at me so you're probably OK there.

Thanks, Ecrane, I will check. About the heat, do you think it would help if at every stop we take, to open the truck?

That should help, I'm not sure how quickly heat will build up in there but I would imagine opening it every few hours will help. Hopefully someone else who's moved plants that way will have some more insights!

We had friends who moved plants over a long journey, and many large plants, and pots,
they didn't water the plants a couple of days before they filled the truck, they would have been too heavy with the watering and the plants would have been sitting in wet soil in an enclosed space for too long, but they did keep them in a shaded area during that time, once the plants were packed snug into the truck, and that meant backing plenty newspapers between the pots to stop them from moving and banging into each other causing breakage, even old drapes and bed sheets helped, once this was done, (cool Evening time) they then put soaked newspapers onto the pots, then set up a small cooler fan that was wired from the driving cab into the rear of the truck, fixed this well with tape and it ran for the best part of the daytime travel, they opened the truck evening stops without the fan running, open for a good hour or longer depending where they stopped, opened the truck in the morning again for as long as they could before setting off again, checked the newspaper and watered it down again if too dry, but it was not too dry, restarted the fan, and they traveled for the best part of five days, every day and night had the same routine, the plants looked a bit travel sick for a few days when unloaded, but they recovered well after a few weeks, they traveled from Scotland UK all the way over Europe, through France, Italy, Germany, etc, so it was a long journey,
the fan they bought from the hardware store plugged into the same connection that was used for the cool boxes that are made to stay cool from plugging into the front of your car, all it did was cause an air movement, but it did not keep the back or the truck cold, hope this can be of some help to you, as for all the rules and regulations for taking plants from one state to the next, I cant help you with at all, so Ecranes advice is the best I could think of too, get info from the authorities that will be concerned and be safe, best wishes with your move and many happy times there. good luck, WeeNel.

These are actually good ideas, and will help a lot.
My husband told me today that another way to stay away from the heat would be to drive night-time, and that he is thinking about it. What do you guys think about it?
I'm still waiting for more advice about the inter-state traveling. I looked up some info and went from link to link and I will contact the Florida Agr. Dept., supposedly they are in close contact with all the states and will ask them my question. Unfortunately, their website does not say where do I fit within their divisions, so I will just have to call until I get it right. My hubby will also contact AAA, and seek advice there. I'll keep browsing from link to link until I find something good.
But if you have better ideas, please let me know.

Thank you,
Alexandra

If it were just a one day trip then the night driving would work, but since it's a multi day trip if you drive during the night time, where is the truck going to be during the day? I would guess sitting in a parking lot somewhere baking in the sun. So I'd drive during the day when you can stop from time to time and open it up to ventilate, then at night while you're sleeping it'll be cooler and it won't matter that the truck's sitting there closed up for a number of hours.

yep, you're right! Didn't think of that!
On a different note, I am browsing now on the USDA pages, and I'm starting to believe that I will have to give up my plants. However, most of the info I found so far is about commercial stuff... so maybe is still hope.
I saw on another thread that someone else is relocating (MitchF) from Tx to some other place, and apparently he gave away many of his plants, at least temporarily? http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/832645/
Think I should bother him by asking if he tried to take them and found out it's too complicated/fees and procedures/more expensive than starting from scratch?

I wouldn't be surprised if the rules are very different for commercial than for individual people--one person moving into the state and bringing a few plants with them is a very different situation from a commercial grower who is going to regularly ship large quantities of plants into the state. From a risk management standpoint, it makes a lot more sense to focus on making sure the growers don't send bad insects, etc into the state.

Here are a couple links I found for you that may be helpful:
http://www.moversdirectory.com/moving-your-plants.html
http://www.learn2grow.com/problemsolvers/diseases/preventioncontrol/movingplants.aspx

Great links, and very quick to help as usual!
You are priceless! I am checking all the regulated lists for the states we'll be traveling to, and the final destination.
Hugs!

I'll cross my fingers that you're allowed to take most of your plants with you!

I think Mitch is giving away/temporarily storing a lot of his plants because he is moving into a much smaller place at first and there isn't room to put them, not because of any difficulty with moving them to Oklahoma.

You might e-mail the El Paso county extension office and ask them what you can and cannot bring with you. Hmm.. Their page isn't loading. Well, here's the next county over: http://hudspeth-tx.tamu.edu/ LOL

I hope that helps!

Hi folks, can someone tell me where you stop at the borders when traveling from state to state, we drove all the way from Seattle down to Florida 2 years ago and just drove and never noticed any border crossings, just welcome to Memphis or Wyoming etc, I can understand the difference between Mexico and the USA borders, but not from state to state if you are just passing through, or am I just a stupid tourist etc, enlighten me please.
WeeNel.

No, you're pretty much right. I really think the only state with a border crossing is California. I've driven through quite a few states, and the only times there's ever been a border station was on the way from Oregon into California, and from Nevada into California. Nobody else has them that I've seen. Most (if not all) states have rules about what plants are allowed/not, and what sort of inspections you might need to have done on your plants before you bring them in, but I'm not sure how the rest of them enforce those rules since they don't have the border stations, I don't think the plant police come around to people's backyards too often (unless you're growing certain types of plants, but then that's probably the regular police who will come calling! LOL)

Thanks Ecrane, I began to think we were on the most wanted list for just casually driving along minding the wonderful scenery and never noticed a border crossing, kind of like (Bonny and Clyde) but no, it turns out were just the usual run of the mill tourists after all eh,
Darn it, I was kinda hoping I would get sent back to Florida to answer a few questions that could probably take me months to remember the answers, gees, that could shorten my dull dark winter eh, ha, ha, ha. My 2 old Chow dogs were called Bonny and Clyde, maybe an Oman, thanks for the info. WeeNel.

Well, maybe you ought to go back to Florida just in case! LOL

Wee Nel you are such a hoot! ...here in Australia we are stopped at our state borders and must declare if we have any plants or fruit.
If you are caught telling whoppers you would be in trouble ...bananas are the biggest no no.
All the best with your move goofybulb ...there is a product that stops plants from wilting for a few days ...you spray it on ...sorry I can't remember the American one but I am sure someone will pop in and tell you. You spray it on and the leaves won't lose moisture.
chrissy

Gardening season about to start Ecrane, even the idea is out of the question, that's why we always try to do any trips earlier on before the season starts, this place of mine could turn into a forest if I was away after March, got lots of stuff starting to break through the soil now and getting excited at the sign of spring at last, I just have to dream on for now, WeeNel.

Hi Chrissy , Good to hear from you, the spray stuff you were talking about, is that similar to the stuff people spray on their Christmas trees to stop the needles falling off due to dehydration indoors, I must remember not to bring my Banana's to Auzie land if I ever get there, ha, ha, ha. take care, WeeNel.

Hi WeeNel ...that's right no bannanas or salamies*grinning* a relative (on the Italian side) was dismayed when her huge salami was taken off her with with a fine and a big lecture ...about that spray on stuff it is designed for transplanting plants to stop them wilting ...I never gave Christmas trees a thought I guess it's good for that too.
chrissy

Thanks again, Ecrane and Marylyn! I think that with your help I really got on good tracks. I composed emails that I'm going to send today (when I will have a bit of time for myself) to Texas Agr, El Paso County Hort office and to Fl Agr. I might make more fuss than I should, but, as I said, these are my kids.
Chrissy, the father of my best friend, when he came to US, wanted to bring some traditionally-prepared pork specialties, though he was told that he cannot do that. He also does not speak any English. The dog-officer came and sniffed him and barked at his luggage... he tried to shoo him away, buy the dog did not understand Romanian. He was so upset when they confiscated his pork thingies!... lucky for him they did just that, no fines or anything else. He rumbled for weeks about the stupid dog going for his pork!
I will look for a spray like that, maybe in a florist shop, because I didn't see it in other places.
WeeNel, we went to NY and back with our car and never realized borders exist, but the rental truck company saidwehave to enter all weighing points, than this friend said he was questioned specifically about plants when entering NM, so that's when I started to worry.
Or maybe it WAS about THOSE kind of plants!?!
I will miss Miami though!...

I really hope you will be able to take your babies with you Goofy, after all the trouble you are going to, these babies do belong to you as there carer, so Good luck, you can let us all know how things are progressing, it is very interesting, especially people like me who visit different places and dont ever think of all those problems, but I guess when you are a tourist, you dont go into all that stuff, too busy dragging husband around gardens etc, Miami will still be there if you return, go yonder and conquer your new place. WeeNel.

Hello, my dear friends!
Thanks to you, I am happy to announce that all of my plants, except two, made it to El Paso.
We arrived a week ago, and finally we have everything (well, except of the phone service...)
This past month was hectic for me, and I am sorry for missing all the good fun and priceless info here on DG! Though I have to admit, my DH practically did all the packing, I was in the lab, working 15 hours a day...
I want to share my experience, in return for all the help given by you for my safe move! So, here it comes!!!
THE LEGAL ASPECT:
All the advice here was great. From the links provided by Ecrane and Marylyn, I browsed a bit further, and got to these:
1. http://nationalplantboard.org/laws/index.html that gives regulations and restrictions for all the states. It has pdf files for each and every state, with their lists of plants and pests, and with very useful contact info for each state.
2. http://www.agr.state.tx.us/agr/index/0,1911,1848_0_0_0,00.html Since this was my final destination, this page was also a good source. A bit more complicated to navigate, the Texas DA page however has more info. If you go for rules and regulations, you will not only find the law for moving plants from state to state, but also quarantine procedures, seed quality, regulations for food distribution and processing, certification and standards for organic cultures, and much, much more. (as a sidenote, my chapter of interest here was chapter 19).
I emailed (with the approximate list that I wrote above, plus a few more plant that I've got in the meantime - yes, I guess I'm crazy... and thank you greenthumb0_7) and called Texas (my final destination) while my DH called Florida. Both states' representatives were really nice, and seemed to understand that I am a crazy woman wanting to take all her plants with her. It really helped that I didn't have any citrus plants or cotton, apparently the rules are more complicated for such plants.
Since I did not have any of the "forbidden plants" for Texas, I was relieved to find that most states have a "houseplant" policy. Florida has it, and Texas has it too. And probably every state as well. So, all I needed to do was to have an inspector coming over to certify that my plants are healthy and house-grown.
Well, here was a little problem: my plants were (some of them) grown inside, while most of them were grown outside, on a balcony or a concrete patio. I explained this to both parties. The final note was that the inspector will come the day before our move (practically the first day of the truck rental), see the plants and conditions, and decide.
The inspector came on May 30th. He seemed a little puzzled to see the number of pots awaiting the verdict. He looked carefully at my plants, thought a bit (for the outside-grown in no contact with the Florida soil issue), then started counting them. Guys, you won't believe: I had 83 pots for the move! From my list only one plant did not pass (the blue hibiscus, darn aphids proved resistant to all my DH efforts to remove them). Plus the little mango that I managed to germinate from seed, that I gave away to a dear friend, out of fear that it might get discarded along the way. The blue hibiscus I left behind, to my dear friend that took care of my flowers while I was away on vacations.
The inspector wrote me a certificate for the 83 pots, asked us for an estimate for the number of boxes that would fit the plants, and left me crying tears of joy!
THE PACKING
Well, as I told you, I didn't really participate in the packing. My DH took care of this, while I was trying to wrap up my work in the lab. He actually did not put the plants in boxes. They were all the last things to put in the truck. he gave them a good sip of water about two hours before. The plants were pot-next-to-pot, on cartons on the truck floor. Some of them were on an old desk, that had a "box-like" structure atop, and under it. Only the orchids were in a big box, with no top, in our car (that was to be towed to Texas).
THE TRIP ITSELF
We drove a total of approx. 2000 miles in 3 days and two nights. We left Miami at 2pm on May 31st and arrived in El Paso at 2 am on tuesday June 3rd.
The first day was really great, cloudy, even some rain along Florida. Plants were happy, didn't move in the truck. Misted the orchids.
Second day we kind of run int bad luck. We had a flat tire on the tow-dolly and we sat for about two hours in the sun. We opened the truck and found out it was cool and nice inside, so we shut the door fast! I misted the orchids in our car and left a window cracked for ventilation. The end of this day we went nuts. The I10 in Louisiana was so bad and bumpy, that we thought we will have nothing left in the truck in one piece! Moreover, the ties that anchored our car on the tow-dolly kept untie-ing and we prayed that we don't loose the car. We called it a day as soon as we entered Texas. Practically, after barely finishing half of the trip. I did not gave the guts to look in the truck that night, but my DH did. Surprisingly, OK! He also checked the soil, and it was still moist for all the babies.
Third day in the morning i realized that three of my orchids were not doing well. They started to show signs of sunburn on some of their leaves. So, we just placed a t-shirt in the window to protect them from sun (darn, we did not think of it before!!!), misted the again, and on the road again...
As I told you, we arrived in the middle of the night to our new home. We had to take out the plants so we could take a mattress to sleep for the night. All were doing great! My hibiscus plants are generally the best indicator for water, or the lack of it! the first ones to droop their leaves. They were fine! Only the yellow one had some trauma (a box fell on it), but nothing major.
BOTTOM LINES
On our trip, only Florida DA stopped us. If we were to have citrus plants, they would have confiscated them (not to be removed from the state, as well as not to be allowed to enter the state). They stamped my certificate, saying that we successfully passed their inspection.
I do not try to advertise for any truck company. But it just happens that the truck that we rented had semi-transparent ceiling. So my plants did not have to recover from the light deprivation. This type of ceiling might come with a certain size of the trucks, or it might be company-dependent, I don't know. But this was great. And, maybe, also the reason why the truck didn't overheat (unlike the cabin, where we had to sit for the flat tire...)
If the plants are well placed, you don't have to box them. This way, they have a lot of breathing space. Only one plant got some damage, due to a box falling over it.
We slept for 3 hours, then watered my plants. They are all happy so far. However, I will have to adjust to the dryness of the air here, in El Paso, especially since we came from Miami (90% humidity...), and I guess so do my plants. Right now, I have some problems with my roses, but this is not move/transport related, and it will be another story.
Thank you all for your help and support, and forgive my long post!

Goofy

Congrats, from a fellow Texan. We've traveled through and in El Paso several times (and some of NW there to) and let me tell ya, it surprised us---we think it's the prettiest desert town you can get. The city does a marvelous job of making xeriscaping truly beautiful and colorful. And I believe they've got a bridge there with a gorgeous painted mural to. And can't forget----have a Kmart and a Krisy Kreme---both pretty rare finds in Texas lol. And the commuting through there is a gem compared to other cities (course El Paso is smaller) but I think on the hwy the speed was a nice 65 and sure made the commute more friendly.

Hello, Tir_Na_Nog!
Thank you for the encouragement! I will be here for the next three years. I did not yet see much of El Paso. The plants were only a small part of the work after arrival. Let me put it this way: my hobby and my DH's hobby occupied equal volumes in the truck. But mine were flowers, his were boxes and boxes full of books. We are starting to see the end of the unpacking as I am writing. Hopefully, we will start going out a bit before he starts his job.
We went shopping a bit for necessities and to grab some food (the kitchen is still work-in-progress), and I have to admit: there is no comparison for the traffic! Miami vs El Paso: El Paso wins! Just a bit of sight-seeing along these short trips, but i bet there's more to see!
Goofy

Welcome home, Goofy.
And please join us on the Texas Gardening Forum.

Glad you and your plants arrived safely!

the main problem you will have if they go by truck is the tempurature will be so hot your plants may all be dead at the other end I moved last year and I can tell you that my tropicals did ok and it was the end of september so not so hot and furthur north like I am in canada so the tropicals arrived with lots of new blooms and they did great but I lost my two rose bushes since they just could not take it so do your research and see what temp they can take as far as papers it is only required when transporting out of the country florida will not let you bring anything citrus in the state so check with each state and see what happens if you are just driving by and see what your destination state says all states and provinces have some banded plants.

scicciarella, I already moved. You have good points of view. I am just sharing my own experience, since this move wes very stressful for me, and luckily things went fine.
True, one should be very careful with different plants and different requirements. I guess I was lucky because most of my plants were either tropicals, or plants grown in a tropical environment. And honestly, when we had that flat tire, in the driver's cabin (the passenger zone) it was crazy hot (we stopped the A/C for a short while), but had to turn it again. And we stayed there for almost two hours. But in the truck it was cool and nice, so we closed the doors quite fast. I believe it has something to do with that semitransparent roof, but I might be wrong.
In the beginning, i mumbled and rumbled about how my DH loaded the plants in the truck. But I couldn't comment too much, since he did all the hard work with all the luggage AND my plants, while I was still working in the lab, finishing last-minute stuff... But I was really surprised and relieved to see the good condition of my plants.
Knowing banned plants for the final destination state is crucial. I did not have any citrus. But, I had a mango seedling, and because it was somewhere on the Texas list for whatever fruiting tree disease, I gave it to a friend. She just gave birth to a baby-girl, and we have such a custom as to plant a tree for such an event. Maybe it would have been allright, but I didn't want to complicate things more.
And, also, I believe that if you just go with your own car, things are different. It was only trucks pulled into the DA zone.