I don't think it's a good idea to ship plants bareroot in summer, Cathy. It's done on dormant winter plants with no ill effects, but not in the summer. I don't think too many of your shipped plants will even survive the trip, but even if they did, it's very unlikely they'd live and thrive after they were planted.
Sorry! You could do it next winter.
MissSherry

MissSherry, So you're saying that you don't even think that they would survive the trip at all now, even with having potting soil on them?? :( If that's the case, I wish I wouldn't have already mentioned it to them over there. They're already putting in their requests because I wanted an idea of what people would like. I have so many plants and didn't want to plant all of them here. I sent for a pack of 200 Rue seeds and wouldn't you know it, it seems like they mostly all came up! Probably if I'd have sent for only 50, none of them would have come up. I just don't know what to do with so many rue plants. I suppose I could plant them in our weed patch and hope that the weeds don't crowd them out. I'm not going to any bother to clear it out. It's just too big and weedy and I didn't finish planting my other plants yet that I want out. I guess if I wanted another couple of months, these plants would be so big that it would cost even more to ship them, and I also don't know if they'd have enough time to develop root systems before the cold weather would set in.

I had a plant sale here this weekend and in 3 days I had 2 customers and made a whole whoppin $12. I put much more money than that into the potting soil and the containers. I even spent hours typing out labels, cutting them, and taping them onto the containers! I'm so disappointed.

I thought you wanted to know if you could ship them bareroot now - if you keep some potting soil around the root, and pack them so that the roots stay moist, like with plastic wrapped around them and secured with a rubber band or twist tie, they might do. Still, most mail order nurseries don't ship in summer, and those who do only ship potted plants.
If people know before hand how you're shipping them, they can't complain, so I'd go ahead.
MissSherry

Someone shipped me a plant one time and I thought it was really a neat way of doing it. Now, it was small plant but should work on a larger one too. The person dug the plant up with some of the soil attached but not alot. Then they wrapped it with saran wrap to keep it moist, then stuck it in a toliet paper tube and wrapped that with saran wrap, covering the top just enough to keep the plant it the tube. The they tape the tube to the inside of the box so it wouldn't roll around. I have used the same idea and responses have been that the plants made it there in great shape.

MissSherry, Yes, you're right that I wanted to know if I could ship them bareroot now, and since you think it's not such a great idea, then I'm not going to try it that way. I'll make sure that at least some potting soil is left in the plant or else ship them in the containers that they're in. Wow, I hope that they don't have to end up paying $30 for me to ship two dozen plants. Thanks for the advice, and I will make sure that they are moist. I wonder if I should make holes in the package somehow or just leave it the way it is. I thought maybe if they had some air circulation that would help.
Cathy

thought you wanted to know if you could ship them bareroot now - if you keep some potting soil around the root, and pack them so that the roots stay moist, like with plastic wrapped around them and secured with a rubber band or twist tie, they might do. Still, most mail order nurseries don't ship in summer, and those who do only ship potted plants.
If people know before hand how you're shipping them, they can't complain, so I'd go ahead.
MissSherry

Mary, That's an ingenious way to pack something and I think I'll try that with at least some of the plants. I'll ask the people the shape of the plants when they arrive and if some look better than others, i.e. if one method worked better than the other. Thanks for the tips.
Cathy

Cathy,
Don't allow the leaves to be in direct contact with any plastic. They turn to mush. Better to wrap the stems and leaves loosely with newspaper or paper towels.

I received some potted plants last summer that the lady put the nursery pots into those cardboard cans, like fried onion rings or nuts come in, split the lid halfway across and cut a hole for the plant to poke out of, then packed it all tightly into a box. Plants traveled beautifully and soil stayed in the pots.

Janet

Thanks for the tips, Janet. I'll make sure that no plastic touches the leaves. I'd hate for my friends to receive mush in the mail. That was a good idea that the lady had too who sent you those plants.
Cathy

caterwallin
the postage cost is a big factor as well as the plants arriving intact.
I suggest you use the new USPS priority Flat Rate boxes. The boxes are free and you pay just one flat rate for any weight any zip code in US.
Go to usps.com and check it out. They'll ship the boxes to you, I think I paid $1 shipping to get them last time but I was ordering stamps too.
Shipping is an art and shipping live plants is the highest form of art. Good luck with your project.
I agree with the comment that as long as people understand that they are taking the risk and that you won't refund shipping costs you should go for it. Just don't try shipping clear across the country, it's just too far and too hot to make a long trip.

NG, Really?? One flat rate?? Gosh, I wonder why they the USPS would do that?! Is that the only way you can get the boxes, through the mail? Since my auctions are ending soon, I doubt if they'd get here in time, but I can always keep it in mind for some other time...unless I can get them at the p.o.

No, I wouldn't ship way across the country. Actually I think all of the people on that forum are from the midwest and eastward. As I recall, the furthest people west live in places like Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, North Dakota, Wisconsin. The people interested in the plants are from those states, some of the people anyway. I hope I a real artsy person so I can get these through the mail okay. Thanks for the advice.
Cathy

Yes you can get the boxes at most well run P.O.'s however I haven't been able to get any at mine (I just tried today and they had none for me and other people in line). I've just found it easier to get them delivered by my postman.

If the plants are small enough you could put them in a gallon sized ziploc bag to hold in the moisture, and there are also giant ziploc bags, but I'm not as sure about there ability to hold the moisture in.

Sometimes when I root cuttings I put them in a ziploc bag and leave them in it for a week or so. Depending on the type of plant you have to watch for fungus, but I've never had a problem with it while rooting cuttings in a ziploc bag moisture chamber.

If it is a plant with a tuberous root you could wrap it in some moist paper towels and seal it inside a ziploc bag.

It is best to ship herbs this time of year in a pot, but if it is a bulb or succulent it would be fine.

If you can get enough of the root ball with a sufficient amount of dirt you could put it in the bottom corner of a ziploc bag then roll the bag into a scroll around the root ball and soil, tape the bag so it stays rolled up, and then securely tape the bag to the box. I alway ship priority mail on something like this.

It really depends on the type of plant, and ofcourse whether or not it is left sitting in the hot sun on the porch.

NP, I called my post office today and they have the boxes, but they didn't sound very big, so I'm not sure if they'd work for any of my auctions or not. I think I'll go look at them to get a better idea. I'll probably bring some home since they're free even if I get them home and find out that they won't work for me.

btg, Thank you for all those good suggestions. I think I would probably just some of those plants I mentioned above to just wrap a paper towel around the roots and put it/them in a ziploc bag, like Cosmos for sure. It seems like that is a very tolerant plant. I've had some here sitting in a small bucket with little soil for days and they look just as nice as they did when they were outside in the ground. I will definitely leave the Rue and Anise Hyssop in plastic cups or small pots, but I guess I'd have to put another cup over that pot/cup upside down and tape it fast. Otherwise, I'm afraid that the plant might get damaged during shipping.
Yes, I will definitely ship Priority because I don't want the plants on route for a week or more. I'll have to cross my fingers that everything gets to its destination okay.

Cathy

"The bird website" sounds interesting , can i get that "bird website" your using?

Why sure! I'll include it below. We also talk about other nature things and chit chat. It's all one big happy family and I've met some of the people on it when I drove to TN in 2004 and 2005 for an annual get together when we were on another forum. Now that we're on this new one, I think that they want to get together in Missouri this year and I said I don't think I'll make it because TN was enough of a drive for me (about 1000 miles one way and it took me 3 days), as I can't stand driving more than 6-7 hours in a day). Anyway, it's a great bunch of people and you'll learn a lot there. We also talk about butterflies on there because I've been getting people over there into them too. :-) Some of them are raising them too. Not everyone likes to read about butterflies because they came there thinking it's strictly a birding website but the administrator doesn't care what we talk about basically. We show pet pictures, family pictures, it's just really a lot of fun, centered around birds but other things are enjoyed too and you won't get in trouble for posting other things of interest to you. I should know. If it were strict over there, I'd have gotten kicked off last year already for posting all my Monarch and other butterfly pictures. Ha. It's a My Family website and a different format than here. You go to that page and request a username and password and you will be sent one within two days. Just tell him Cathy sent you and he will know to let you on. :)

Here is a link that might be useful: This is my favorite birding website and where I hang out a lot

Hi Cathy,
Two years I ordered Aristolochia clematitis from a nursery in New Jersey. They were shipped to me bareroot. She rinsed the potting soil off and wrapped the roots in very wet paper towels then wrapped that in saran wrap. Just the wet towels with the roots not the whole plant. Then secured the saran wrap with a rubber band. This came to Texas in the middle of August. My temp on the day they arrvied was 105. The plants were beautiful and all survived.
Maybe you could try one just to see? I wouldn't mind buying one of your swamp milkweed. I'll take the risk as a trial and error.

Hope

Hope,
That's good to know that your plant arrived in such good shape. Yes, I did ship out some packages with plants in a similar fashiong and my birding friends said that they arrived just fine. I'll email you about the milkweed if you really want some, but you don't have to take it to be the guinea pig if that's what you meant. :) Now that I know that method works, I know I can do it that way now if I want to.
Cathy

I'm no expert at shipping plants, but my most recent technique has been to remove the plants from the pots, gently knock off any extra soil, and wrap the roots in a plastic bag tied at the base of the plant stem. Then I wrap the foliage in newspaper to protect it from rubbing anything else and tape the paper so it will stay in that shape. I use any packing material I have to keep everything fairly stable.

Carol, That sounds like a good idea too. Thanks for the advice!
Cathy

I learned a lot from all of you on this thread! And I enjoyed seeing what goes on inside a bluebird nest from the video on that birding website. Thanks, everybody!

Carol, I'm glad that you like the website, and I've learned a lot on this thread too.
Cathy