What do you do when you have to move your place of residence for a considerable distance to another part of the country or even out of the country and move your entire succulent collection with you?
1. Apart from the question of how to move the succulents themselves, if you are moving to another country, it is important that you know there may be plant quarantine and inspection regulations that you should investigate. Your Department of Agriculture is the place to direct your inquiries.
2. If the plants are to be inspected, it is wise before having that done to thoroughly soak the soil and dip all plants in an insecticide solution. This should be done long enough before moving to allow time for a couple of normal waterings to leach out the excess (and the smell to disappear, hopefully) and then time for the soil to dry out thoroughly. In any event, before you attempt to pack your plants for moving, the soil in the pots should have time to dry out thoroughly.
3. If there are no restrictions about moving your succulents in their pots, soil and all, you can wrap each plant, pot, and soil in two or more layers of newspaper and pack them, right side up, into cartons provided by the movers—large plants on the bottom, progressively smaller and lighter ones on top.
4. Even if shipped bare-root (no pots and soil removed), plants need a thorough drying out period before packing to induce a state of partial dormancy so that they would not etiolate (lengthen and grow out of shape) and otherwise suffer from the time they are confined in wrappings, in a box, and the dark.
5. Most movers charge by weight as well as distance. If you have a large collection and weight is a factor in the shipping cost, you are better off moving your succulents bare-root with all soil removed. However, you would then be faced with the task of reporting the collection on arrival, on top of all the other chores of becoming settled in a new home. Succulents are wonderfully patient, though, and on arrival, if you can just manage to get them unwrapped and into the air and light, they will wait a few days until you can pot them up.
6. On each box of succulents ready for moving, affix a large piece of white paper, and with a heavy hand and a marking pen, write PLANTS – PERISHABLE on each box.
7. You must discuss the importance of packing your plants properly with your mover. If you do not explain that you are moving perishable plants, they could be packed on the bottom of the van with all your furniture on top of them!! Sometimes moving vans move the contents of more than one home in their vans. In this case, it is all the more important to arrange with your mover not to put your plants under everything else in the truck.
Source: theamateursdigest.com
Links
- Succupedia: Browse succulents by Scientific Name, Common Name, Genus, Family, USDA Hardiness Zone, Origin, or cacti by Genus