The care of air plants is simple and they are highly hardy. We have observed them surviving for up to two weeks without light or water in a shipping box (Do not try that at home). You should open the package as soon as your new air plants are delivered. As with all plants, air plants require light, air, and water. We ship them using Priority Mail, which delivers packages in 2 to 3 days.
You should soak your air plants in room-temperature water for 20 to 60 minutes to reduce the stress of transportation. Simply place the plants totally submerged in a dish of clean water. Municipal water frequently contains chemicals like fluoride or chlorine. Your air plants will thrive if you have well water, pond water, creek water, or rain water. Spring water in bottles is another option. Use tap water instead of distilled water since it has more nutrients and minerals that air plants need. Since air plants do not require soil to survive, all of their nutrients, light, and moisture are obtained through their leaves.
Your air plants’ leaves may have a white, fuzzy coating, especially after a thorough soaking. Trichomes is the name for them. Trichomes, which are tiny protrusions on the leaves, are what the plants use to absorb water and nutrients. They are not a fungus or a mold.
After soaking, take your air plants out of the water, carefully shake off the excess water, and then spread the plants out so they may dry completely before being placed in a display. The best spot to let them dry and soak up some sunlight is on a lovely sunny window sill. Avoid placing your air plants in the sun’s direct rays. They prefer direct, bright sunlight. Allowing your air plants to dry completely is crucial if you intend to place them in a glass terrarium, a wall hanging display, or any other type of enclosure (or in a hole to stand them up). Your plants are less likely to rot if you let the air plants completely dry.
Within an hour or two, your air plants ought to be dry. After they have dried, place them where they will receive a lot of bright, indirect sunlight. They will quickly dry out if you place them in the sunshine. Your air plants often simply require a weekly 30-minute soak in water. In addition to the soak, you might need to spritz them with water once a week if they are in an extremely dry or heated area. If their leaves start to curl, that is a sign that they are becoming too dry. If you observe this happening, give them a nice bath. Despite their name, air plants require a little bit more than just air to survive.
Spraying them with water two or three times a week would enough if you are unable to let your air plants soak in a bowl of water while they are on display.
Remove the Plant From the Soil
It is preferable to export most plants as bare roots as opposed to in their pots. Put on a pair of gardening gloves and carefully remove the roots of your plant from the pot, shaking off any extra soil. It’s not necessary to totally rinse the roots because part of the soil residue will keep the plant happy and healthy during transportation and potential repotting.
Wrap Roots With a Moist Paper Towel
Wrap the plant’s roots with a paper towel that has been lightly moistened with clean, room-temperature water. You can wrap your plant in numerous layers of paper towels if you’re transporting it a long way. The plant will receive water along the journey as a result of the paper’s gradual moisture release.
Wrap With Plastic Wrap
Wrap the paper towels and roots in a sheet of plastic wrap to keep everything in place. You might also put the plant in a plastic bag as an alternative. This will keep the moisture within and act as insulation for the roots’ delicate tissues.
Secure the Plant
By using rubber bands or wrapping the entire bundle in newspaper, secure the plant’s top. Both strategies will control wayward growth and guard against plant damage.
Place Plant Inside Box
Your plant should be packed in a robust corrugated cardboard box that can withstand any damage from vigorous handling. Find a box that is beautiful and sturdy to ensure that your plant gets to its destination intact.
Fill Extra Space
Finding a box that properly fits your goods can be challenging. After you’ve inserted your plant inside the sturdy corrugated box, fill any remaining space with newspaper or packing paper to provide additional padding. Your plant won’t have any room to move during handling if you do it this way. Useless paper, packing peanuts, or bubble wrap are more options.
Tape the Box Closed
Tape all box edges tightly with sturdy packing tape before sealing the lid. Add a lot of tape to the box’s edges to reinforce them if you’re concerned about how the product will be handled.
Tip
Punch a few ventilation holes in the box if your area is warm or if you’re moving the plant to a warm location. Make a few small holes in the box’s sides using your fingertips. Avoid doing this in cold weather because the cold may harm your plant.
Label the Box
Label the box “Live Plants,” “Fragile,” or “Perishable” using permanent ink so that shipment handlers can easily read it. This won’t ensure that the individuals handling your box will handle it delicately, but it might persuade some of them.
If you’re recycling a box, write the return address and mailing address on the outside and take off or black out any previous shipping labels.
Ship Your Plant
It’s time to transport your plant now that it has been beautifully prepared and boxed for travel. If your plant satisfies the USPS’s shipping regulations, you can always drop it off at the post office for delivery. Select priority mail. Because the plant is in such a vulnerable position while being transported, you should try to cut the shipping time as much as you can.
Another option is to use a private delivery firm, FedEx, UPS, or both. Although some will cost more than others, all will offer rapid shipping alternatives. Finding a service that can ship your plant swiftly and within your budget is the key.
Can wintertime air plant shipments be made?
It’s now time to bring any air plants you have left outside inside as the weather becomes colder! Since air plants are native to tropical climes, it will probably be required to move your plants indoors during the winter if you reside in a northern region. Moving air plants indoors is a good idea once the nights start getting cold (below 40 degrees Fahrenheit).
Your air plants will experience higher humidity and more light throughout the summer than they will during the winter. The plants may experience some stress as their habitat will quickly change as we bring them indoors. We offer some advice to assist you relocate your air plants indoors with as little stress as possible!
Your air plants won’t experience too many severe temperature changes because you’ll be relocating them inside your house, where the temperature is stable. Because your plants will be alright as long as you maintain your home’s temperature between 55 and 85 degrees (likely for most people), you shouldn’t worry too much about it. Your plants can be harmed and have issues more so when the humidity is changed to dryness and there is less sunlight.
Just be aware that the air will be a little dryer if you use a heater, fireplace, wood stove, etc. Keep in mind that placing your air plants too close to a fireplace can cause damage from the heat and embers. Just be careful not to place your plants directly in the path of any warm air flow, since forced air heating can also be harmful. Ensure that your air plants are located in a spot with some indirect sunlight as well.
If you don’t use mistings to counteract the dryness, it could be harmful to your air plants. Continually add an extra sprinkling while maintaining your regular water cycle. You can sprinkle the air or spray the plant directly. The misting of air differs slightly from that of plants. To assist restore some humidity to the air, spritz the area immediately surrounding the plant rather than spraying it directly. To aid with the dryness, you can also add humidity to the air by surrounding the plants with some decorative bowls or shells filled with water.
Decorate your bathroom with air plants and let it receive enough of natural light as another approach to fight winter dryness. Every time someone takes a shower, air plants receive a decent blast of humidity, which makes for lovely bathroom décor. You can purchase some gorgeous vases to display on various shelves or the bathroom counter. Another great alternative is to use cork bark, wood, or any other thing you’d like to cover with air plants to create a vertical garden on the walls of your bathroom! Just keep in mind that even though they will get soaked from the shower humidity, weekly soaking/watering will still be required.
It’s crucial to think about where you can get natural light in your house. The best places to survive the winter are not in dimly lit rooms, hallways, or shelves. Given that the sun is much weaker and there are fewer hours in the day during the winter, you do not need to totally avoid direct sunlight. Give your air plants at least 5 hours of the sunniest light each day during the winter. Try to keep your air plants 10 feet or less from windows.
If you keep a watch on all of your plants, especially in the beginning as you are figuring out your new watering schedule, you should be able to see any issues early enough to correct them, so don’t worry too much about the transition from outdoor to indoor! Your air plants may require a bit more moisture if, for instance, you notice curled leaves or dry tips. Simply check them frequently, then adjust your watering as necessary. Simply increase your weekly watering from once to twice and add mistings to see if that makes a difference. After a week or two, if they aren’t adapting to that shift sufficiently, it might be because they aren’t getting enough indirect sunlight. Simply try shifting them to a better location, and they ought to get better!
Other wintertime factors:
Fireplaces. Maintain a safe distance between your plants and the heat and embers of your fireplace.
circulation of air Your plants should not be too close to a heating duct, but they should have access to adequate air to dry out after watering.
Light. Bright light is essential, therefore if it cannot be provided naturally, utilize artificial lighting at all costs. However, please read my post on indoor lighting and don’t place your air plants too close to an incandescent bulb. Also, please don’t put your Christmas tree’s air plants indoors. Your plants will burn from the hot lights on the tree.
Can plants be sent via USPS?
To begin with, you must ascertain whether you can actually send your plant. You cannot send a plant that is listed as endangered or protected! The Baja rose, the Santa Inez goldenbanner, and the Yreka phlox are a few instances of endangered plants.
By looking up your plant in this database maintained by the United States Department of Agriculture, you can learn whether it is endangered or protected.
The Parcel Needs to Identify that Live Plants and Vegetation Are Inside
One of the most crucial things you must do after determining whether your plant can be transported is to indicate that the package contains a plant. The Terminal Inspection Act of 1916 mandates that all packages containing plants be properly labelled, according to USPS. Fortunately, you don’t always have to purchase specialized stickers, as is the case when transporting ORM-D goods. Simply mark your box with a marker to indicate that it includes plants. Simple enough!
Properly Preparing Your Plants for Shipment
In order to ensure that live plants and other vegetation travel safely, adequate packaging is essential. To keep moisture in the plant’s roots, USPS always needs waterproof material, like waxed Kraft paper. Additionally, this will prevent transit-related leaks in your package. Every plant, however, has a unique requirement, therefore you must wrap each one individually. For instance, you must use puncture-proof paper to cover spiky plants like cacti.
Here are some easy measures to take as a basic checklist while exporting plants:
- a few sheets of packing paper or newspaper should be mildly dampened.
- Place the plant with the roots and stem in the center after folding the papers in half (if your plant has foliage, make sure you place the foliage outside the edge of the paper)
- Gently wrap the roots with the paper.
- To keep moisture from getting into the roots, wrap the bottom of the plants in waterproof waxed Kraft paper. Don’t seal the paper, though, as your plants require oxygen to survive.
- To safeguard the plant and stop moisture damage to your box, wrap the entire plant in at least two substantial plastic supermarket bags.
- Put the plant into a fresh corrugated cardboard box, being careful to select one that not only fits it best but also doesn’t overly restrict it.
- We advise sending a letter inside the package describing the plant’s species and how to take care of it (paper will become wet from the moisture of the plant, so laminating the note is always a good idea).
- Indicate that there are plants within the packaging.
- Send it off as soon as you can!
Which USPS Mail Class Should I Use?
The USPS postal class you select will be based on the weight of your plant and how quickly you need it to arrive. In general, First Class Package will be the preferred method of shipping plants because many of them weigh less than 16 ounces. The plant will arrive with this service in an anticipated 1-3 business days and will be the least expensive choice. Priority Mail will typically be your best option if your shipment weighs more than 16 ounces (sometimes this is the case if you end up including soil).
While some plants, like succulents and desert vegetation, don’t require a lot of water to grow, other plants don’t function in the same way. As a result, there are times when you’ll want your plant to arrive at its location as soon as feasible. The ideal service in this situation will be Priority Mail Express. Although Priority Mail Express will set you back quite a little more money, the Postal Service promises same-day delivery (2 days if the parcel is going to a rural area).
Pro Tip: The least expensive shipping option will be chosen for you when you utilize shipping software to purchase postage online! Just be careful to input the total weight and dimensions of your package accurately to avoid being charged extra postage by the USPS Automated Package Verification system.
You May Not Be Eligible for Insurance
One issue to keep in mind is that you might not be able to acquire shipping insurance through your carrier or your shipping software provider if you’re sending plants. All carriers and insurance firms classify plants as “perishables,” and as a result, they won’t cover them under their policies.
Pay Attention to Individual State Guidelines
Keep in mind that some states have limitations on the importation of specific plant species. For instance, you cannot send citrus plants from any other state in the union to California. Additionally, you cannot send the Mauna Loa plant or fresh jade vine blooms from Hawaii to the continental United States or Alaska. As a result, we advise conducting preliminary study. All it takes is a fast Google search for your plant and the state you’re sending to!
Most Countries Also Have Restrictions for Importing Plants
This is where things become a little trickier if you intend to ship a plant over foreign borders. Some nations place limitations on the kind of plants that can be imported. For instance, any plant entering the United Kingdom needs to have an import authorization. Therefore, before you buy any postage, you should research the specific country’s regulations that you wish to export your plant to. On the USPS website, you may get a list of the various nations and the import limitations that apply to them.