Hi, I am based in India. I plan to start a mail order potted plant delivery business but am unsure how I should do the packaging. I want to use pretty pots for my plants which will be in metal, ceramic, and fibreglass. Any ideas on how these can be best packaged and sent across the country via courier (ground or air) so that there is no breakage and the costs are kept minimal will be much appreciated. I would also like if someone could help me with the list of plants which can endure 1-3 days of travel and will not get damaged in transit.
packing potted plants
are you shipping just to your country? or other countries? shipping anything in a pot with soil in it is going to be costly.
I want to ship only within my country. I understand that it will raise costs but I want to capture this niche market - no one does that here and the interest for plants as decor items is growing in India. If I can cover the country with reliable and cost effective packaging and shipping, it would be a definite advantage.
I'm probably not the best person to help you, hopefully someone can come along and give you some good advice,
I roll the plants, pot and all in a double layer of newspaper and secure both ends. I use wadded newspaper, packing peanuts, shredded paper, even other plants to pad the plant end of the roll.
My biggest concern would be the weight of the pot or fear of the pot breaking. I've only mailed plastic nursery pots.
Bubblewrap the pot. If there is soil inside and bubblewrap outside the pots shouldn't break. Adding crumpled newspaper between pots. The important thing is to choose a box that fits the plants. anything way too big allows for the plants to move around. Less movement is best when sending items like your planning too.
Sandy
You must secure the soil in the pot so that it cannot come out the top of the pot. Fill the pot between the soil surface and the top of the pot with soil, straw, pine bark or something similar. Use wide packaging tape to completely enclose the top of the pot around the plant stem. Use a kind of tape and pot that won't damage the pot when removing the tape. Secure the pot to the box in some way. Many shippers will insert bamboo into the pot that is long enough to reach the other end of the box, so that the bamboo keeps the pot from shifting in the box and crushing the plant if the pot is turned upside down.
This message was edited Jul 30, 2008 8:45 AM
Hi,
Thank you all for your messages, much appreciated. I like your ideas - I was thinking of covering the top of the pot with moss and tying it down with a mesh or net so that the soil does not come out. The biggest challenge however, is to keep the pot from shifting. I like Krowten's bamboo idea, but how do you insert the bamboo in the pot? Wont that spoil the plant? The other option I thought was to fill the box with enough shredded paper so that there is just no space for any movement. I was checking out KimGaither's thead where she explains packing rooted plants. In a similar manner if I cover the plant (in the pot), shouldn't that work?
Has anybody ever used this site - http://www.givingplants.com/index.html - would love to know how they ship their products?
I personally have never shipped potted plants, I ship all mine bare root. I belive it would be best to pack the plant bare root, then wrap the pot separately with probably bubble wrap, peanuts, etc. This would prevent the mess of soil coming loose in the box.
I have rolled packing tape (sticky side out) and stuck the pot to bottom. Then used more tape to run side to side catching pot in the middle. Have tucked styrofoam peanuts in the top of pot to keep soil in place. Lots of tape, but worked well in shipping orchids.
I have only done this once, but hope this helps.
Thanks Azalea, Marcia - I'll try these methods out. One thing though, I hope I can find some tape which will not spoil the pot because I am planning to ship these as gift items. Also,wouldnt using moss be better than styrofoam since the former will keep the soil moist as well?
Hi, moss probably would, I was shipping orchids that were potted in bark. Freezer tape or tape for artists might work better, just depends on the finish of the pot.
Good luck