Moving can be a beautiful thing. Whether you're moving to a new place or back to an old place (shout out to all my recent college grads moving home) it signifies a new chapter, and a new period of growth for both you and your foliated friends. Moving, however, does NOT signify that you must get rid of all your plants! For me, moving was always the natural course of my life. Growing up in Missouri, I knew I wanted to head west. After college in California, wanting something a little bigger than our college town, we moved north. Once we got to Portland, we knew it was a year long lease before on to the next place, this time in the same city. And now here we are at the end of that year, having just moved into our new home. Every step of the way, I have been able to bring my plants with me - and you can too!
Moving is widely considered one of the most stressful events in life by psychologists due to the infinite amount of minute details to consider and all of the changes happening at once. My hope is that this guide takes into consideration some of those details for you, and prevents dead plants from being another stressor in your life during a time of so much transition.
A Few Questions First:
What kind of plants do you have?
Do you have hardy plants like aloe, a Ficus elastica, or some snake plants that you can't live without in your new home? Those should be pretty easy! Do you have delicate beauty like a pilea or jade plant, or a long vining plant that could be prone to breaking? Might be a little trickier, but don't fret. You can get these plants where they need to go as well, you just have to accept that there may be a bit of damage in the end. But, part of the beauty of plants is their resiliency and ability to adapt. Where stems snap, new ones will grow. Where leaves are nicked, a story is told! So don't worry too much if one of your plants gets a little banged up in the process, at least it made the journey with you. And if you do happen to have some stems breaking, you can always propagate them (see how in my propagation post!)
How far are you going? How long will it take you to get there?
In my last big move, I made the journey from the middle of California to the top of Oregon with about 25 plants. My boyfriend and I drove caravan style, dragging both of our cars and the biggest uhaul you can tow up and down mountains for two days, with a stay in a hotel one night in between. This made it slightly more difficult to make my plant travel dreams come true, but with a little more effort and planning, it all worked out. Involved in this planning is taking into consideration what time of year it is.
It is likely that your move is dictated by your lease terms, not your plants needs, but thinking about how the current season will affect your plants is important. It is generally easier to move plants at the end of winter/ beginning of spring because they are likely still relatively dormant, but the temperature is more mild. An estimated 80% of people move between April and September, and during this time your main concern is heat. Switching environments can very stressful on a plant (as anyone who has tried to move a fiddle leaf fig 3 inches to the left can explain to you) and that is only exacerbated by the demands that heat puts on a plant. In this guide I provide some tips on how to minimize the stress your plants experience due to the heat. In addition I will say, learn from my mistake and if your plant is in your front seat getting blasted with sun for the whole duration of your trip, cover it up with some paper or fabric to avoid sunburn! Let's just say my ficus elastica was not the happiest with me after our 2 day journey. And just as plants can get sunburned, they can also get front bite! If you're moving in the middle of winter, it's really important to cover your plants. Some large paper bags will do the trick, as long as the plants aren't sitting in your car without you all night long, in which case I would recommend something more insulative like a blanket wrapped around your plants like the precious babies they are.
I will say that in all my moves I have been fortunate enough to travel by car.
Driving with your plants to you're new home is going to be the easiest way to ensure a successful trip with minimal plant damage!
But, on the chance that you are traveling by some other means, you can jump down to the section about flying with your plants below.
Getting Cross Country with Your Plants
If like us, you have the choice of packing your plants in a uhaul, or in the car you'll be driving, your car is the move. This way, you can more easily monitor the plants along the journey and make adjustments as needed. I moved in the middle of the summer so it was super hot, and keeping my plants inside my car meant that I could use the AC to cool them down and prevent them from getting too stressed. If you have a dramatic plant like a peace lily, you might have to water your plant mid-way through the trip, which will be much easier in your car than inside a jam packed uhaul. You will also have an easier time making sure your plants don't tip over inside of your car, or be able to notice when they do.
Grouping plants as close together as possible is a good idea.
This will stabilize the plants to prevent moving and breaking, as well as increase the humidity around the plants to reduce the transpiration rates and stress on the plant!
How To Pack Your Plants for a Long Drive
-Consider thinning out your collection. I know I know, I said you didn't have to get rid of your plants, and you don't, but take a look at your inventory and decide if they are all 100% worth the effort. Maybe there are some in rough shape that you could gift to someone else to take care of. Maybe you got that one for free and never really found the right pot for it, and don't feel like schlepping it with you. All I said was consider it!
-Leave packing your plants until the last step. Plants should be one of the last things that go into your car so they aren't exposed to the elements longer than they have to be. An added benefit is that you can group them all together in your empty apartment and have an impromptu photoshoot as you can see I did in the picture above.
-First, lay all of your plants out together to see how much room they will take up. Group plants by size. Pick which boxes you will use. Take those boxes out to the car and make space for them before they are filled with plants. This way you can make sure they will fit without having to jostle them around too much, and when you're ready, they can slide right in. Make sure to leave spaces for your biggest plants.
-If you are planning on doing watering before you leave, make sure the plants have adequately drained and any excess is poured off. Spilling dirt inside your car is one thing. Spilling wet dirt is a whole other.
-Box up your plants. You can really use any kind of box, but my preference is short and wide. The most ideal box would be a sturdy, open-topped cardboard box without flaps, like what produce comes to the grocery store in. Another great alternative is a milk crate or for small plants use a shoe box that can be closed and stacked upon. The main consideration is how sturdy it is - the last thing you want is to have made it to your new place, pick up the box, and the flimsy bottom fall out of it. Set aside some of your best boxes when packing to use for your plants. For my collection of about 35 plants plus a dozen bottles of propagations, I used 4 seperate boxes, with the biggest plants traveling solo.
Start with medium sized upright plants, for example, a peace lily in a 6" pot, or an Alocasia in an 8" pot. Try to distribute the weight evenly over the box; don't crowd one corner with all the heavy plants.
Place medium and small sized trailing plants in, gently grouping the vines and placing them on top of the plants around them, making sure all the stems are contained inside the box.
Fill in the spaces between the medium pots with your smaller plants like 4 and 2 inchers, making sure to tuck them under the stems of your trailing plants. This will help secure everything in place so the pots don't slide around.
Don't be afraid to arrange and rearrange. Find the best fit with the most plants in one box while still maintaining stability. Your plants may be top heavy, in which case it is extra important to make sure they are packed in and secure.
You can use other household items to pack in the small spaces too. A favorite pro-move of mine is to use rolled up socks!
If you have fragile decorative pots with liner pots inside, consider removing the pot to bubble wrap and pack separately.
If like me you are a hoarder of plants propagated in water, combine as many cuttings into as few containers as possible, and pour off about half of the water so they weigh less and are less prone to spilling. I made a box specifically for all my water propagations, which are pictured below, because they require more supervision than my potted plants, and this way I could make sure to unpack them first to refill and change out the water.
-Keep the foot wells open for your biggest plants. The foot wells of your passenger seat or behind your front seats is the tallest place in your car to put plants upright, and they can rest up against
the seat for stability. Try to keep some visibility out of the back window if you can. Pack in whatever extra bits and bobs you'd like around the pot to keep it from moving around much.
-If your plant is too tall, lay it on its side. Some plants, like a beautiful Ficus lyrata could be taller than the height of your car, so you might need to lay them flat horizontally or tilted on their side. If this is the case, wrap a plastic trash bag around the pot and soil and tie it tightly around the base of the plant. If there is still some space left, you can pack the top of the pot with paper towels to prevent spilling. If you happen to have a big tall cardboard box that the plant could fit inside of to protect its leaves, great! If not, and the stems are relatively flexible, use string to tie the stems a bit closer together to take up less space. Lay your plant down gingerly on top of your other boxes so it won't be crushed.
Ultimately, the key to packing plants in your car is thinking ahead. If you're going to the trouble of reading this whole thing, your plants are probably one of your highest priorities, so give them the forethought they deserve!
If driving isn't an option and you are planning on flying to your new home, this game plan is quite different, but it is still possible.
How To Pack Plants for a Flight
There are a couple ways your can prepare your plants for an avian adventure. Which one you should pick is based on the size and and type of plants you have.
-In checked luggage: This method works best for cuttings and hardier plants that are less sensitive.
The game plan if they are bare root cuttings is to first wrap them up in a slightly damp paper towel to keep the roots from drying out.
The underside of a plane gets really cold, so you want to provide some insulation by wrapping it next with aluminum foil.
And last, you don't want your bag to get wet, so put the whole thing in a new ziplock bag, or if you are afraid of it getting crushed, put it in a clean tupperware.
Keep in mind that while it is legal to carry plants in a checked bag, the foil and weird packaging might alert the TSA in the X-ray, so it is better to pack it close to the top of your suitcase to make it easier to inspect.
-As a carry on: If you are traveling with small or sensitive plants that you don't trust with the bag handler (I mean, have you seen them throw them on the conveyor???) you can bring them along with you on to the plane.
Restrictions vary by airline, but in general, it is a good idea to have your plant in a box or bag in which it won't make a mess. In a shoe box in your hands is great; packed in the way I described below and in your backpack is even better.
You may be required to put in the overhead bin if it doesn't fit below the seat. It is always a good play to wrap the soil or roots with plastic and pack it in a way where it isn't easily jostled around.
Keep in mind that plants will count towards your luggage allowance.
-Shipping them: Plants are shipped around the world every day, and there is a tried and true way to do it - it just takes a bit more preparation.
The best way that I have seen is to get a tall cardboard box that is just the right size so your plant is not crushed, but not swimming with room.
Make sure your plants have a tiny amount of water in the soil - enough to keep the plant happy without adding too much weight to your package.
Use a packing material like balled up paper or cardboard or packing peanuts and place a flat layer in the box to protect the bottom.
Cover the soil with plastic or paper and place gingerly inside the box so you aren't crushing any leaves or stems.
Fill the rest of the box with your packing material, or with more plants so that nothing moves around, close it up, tape, and address!
You can ship them to your new address if you already have one. If on the other hand you won't be to your new destination for a couple of days, and can spring for express shipping, you can ship them to someone you know in the area who could unpack them for you until you get there so they don't spend any more time in their dark cardboard prison than they have to. Make sure to write "FRAGILE, handle with care" on the box, and "this side up."
Once You Get There
When you've finally gotten to your destination, it is time to unpack. I understand the urge to set up a blanket on the floor and crash out immediately after a long journey, leaving the heavy lifting till the morning, and honestly I am in support of that decision because moving is hard, both physically and emotionally. That being said, when you're grabbing your toiletries and pjs, grab and unpack your plants. You're stressed out, and it's very likely your plants are too. Taking them out of your car and placing them on the floor of your empty home is better than them spending a night uninsulated. I put all my boxes of plants in one room of our house that I knew wasn't going to get too much direct sun (we still don't have any blinds) and put my long trailing plants on the tall part of the counter so they could start unfurling themselves. Make sure none of your plants have become unpotted during the trip, refill the water from your propagations so their roots don't dry out, drink some water, and go to sleep. If you've shipped your plants or flown with them, get them out of their packaging as soon as you can and put them somewhere that they won't get in the way of you moving the rest of your things in.
There are going to be things that have higher priority than your houseplants when you're setting up your new place, and that is completely okay. I personally moved into a fixer upper in need of a LOT of fixing, so my first (and second, and third..) priorities were to make the space livable. We had scraping and spackling and tarping and painting and cleaning to do before we could even move furniture upstairs, so my plants were not at the forefront of my mind. But the beauty of that is that when it is all too much and your to-do list is getting too long, you can take a breath, step back, and focus in on taking care of your plants. Pull some yellowed leaves, do some likely much needed watering, dust, and admire your plants. Just think about all the growth to come, and appreciate how far you both have come.
Know someone who is moving soon? Share this post to your friends and fellow houseplant lovers! Have any other tips that have helped you in your moves? comment below <3
And keep an eye out for a coming post about how to choose the right apartment for you and your plants, as well as content about how to style your plants in your new space, and some fun new stuff about my home renovations and DIYs!
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