Table of Contents
- Why Moving with Houseplants Requires Extra Preparation
- Which Houseplants Can and Can’t be Moved
- How to Prepare Houseplants Before Moving Day
- Packing Houseplants Safely for Transport
- Temperature and Seasonal Considerations in Connecticut
- Transporting Houseplants on Moving Day
- What Movers Can and Can’t Handle When it Comes to Plants
- Common Mistakes to Avoid When Moving Plants
- Keeping Your Houseplants Healthy During a Move
Why Moving with Houseplants Requires Extra Preparation
Houseplants can be an incredibly rewarding experience to have around the house. The visual appeal, the care connection, and the health benefits can all be experienced when you bring a piece of the jungle into your home. But come moving day, relocating precious, fragile plants can be stressful. Below, we’ll explore how best to prepare your plants, both large and small, for the big move to ensure everyone arrives in your piece!
Looking to Plan Your Move with Large Houseplants? Contact CT Best Movers to get started!
Which Houseplants Can and Can’t be Moved
An unfortunate reality to moving with houseplants is that sometimes, not all plants can make the move. Your smaller plants like golden pothos, tradescantia, and ZZ plants are generally not an issue with proper prep.
However, larger plants such as monstera, birds of paradise, or a rubber plant might not be easy to transport without causing a major headache. Between the cargo space they need to be moved, their fragile nature, and the need for a suitable location after the move, these large plants are sometimes better off being given away to a friend if you don’t have the ambition to carry out the moving operation. If you run into this problem with a large plant, you can always take a clipping for propagation before you say goodbye.
How to Prepare Houseplants Before Moving Day
For the plants making the move with you, proper preparation is key. Plus, with the plants in focus, now is a great time to check in with their health regardless. Here are some steps you should take before moving:
Watering and pruning ahead of time
Be sure plants that are moving are watered and pruned ahead of time. Proper hydration levels keep your plant healthy and more resilient to the stressful moving process. Pruning not only creates a smaller entity to carry, which reduces the risk of unnecessary snagging/ripping of the plant, but also is good for the health of the plant as it establishes in its new home.
Checking for pests and disease
At the same time, this intimate look at your plants is a fantastic time to check for pests and disease. One of the last things you want is to transport a pest-ridden plan to infest your new home. Risk of pest/disease transfer can be especially high during moving due to the close proximity of these plants to each other as well as the stress from the experience.
Packing Houseplants Safely for Transport
With proper preparation in place, now it’s time to safely pack your plants. Packing your plants can turn into a more abstract process. Don’t be afraid to mess around with your boxes/configurations to find a situation that protects your plants properly.
Choosing the right containers and boxes
The right boxes play a huge role in carrying and protecting your plants. The right boxes for the job can vary wildly depending on the size and shape of the plant at hand. Preferably, plants are snug in their boxes to avoid spillage or catastrophic plant drops.
Protecting leaves, stems, and soil
When packing, keeping leaves free from other plants is key to prevent damages. This is when pruning can create vital space for transport. At the same time, keeping stems free from pressure is also key; a broken stem can be disastrous to a plant’s health. What’s more, the soil is always there to keep an eye on. Not only can spilled soil create a gigantic mess to clean, but can also risk spilling your plant if enough of the soil structure is lost. Plants that are snugly packed, but free from crushing each other is the middle line to find for optimal safety.
Temperature and Seasonal Considerations in Connecticut
Depending on the time of year, moving with houseplants in Connecticut can be made a little more complicated. Winter in particular presents a threat as the freezing temperatures can quickly cause damage to houseplants left outside. Winter-moving raises the stakes where you should ensure your plants are efficiently transported from one warm area to another throughout the moving process.
Transporting Houseplants on Moving Day
By moving day, your plants should already be pruned, watered, and relatively ready to go. From there, getting them all situated in boxes and ready to move is the play. Some people prefer to wait to physically pack plants until the last minute to keep them in favorable light conditions.
When moving on to physically moving them, ensure your plants remain at the top of the pile to avoid costly crushing. Should you be moving in the winter, keeping these plants moving quickly into warm areas is essential for their survival. While delicate, the labor is worth the love and beauty on the backend with houseplants.
What Movers Can and Can’t Handle When it Comes to Plants
When hiring movers, best practice is to have your plants already prepared. Movers will not participate in the watering or pruning part of your equation, which are essential steps to moving houseplants. Instead, you should give movers ready-to-move boxes with plants or direct them to already prepared larger plants that need to be moved on their own. Having specific directions for where you want to see your plants go and how you want them handled can help reduce any costly mistakes.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Moving Plants
When we see mistakes with moving houseplants, most commonly they stem from carelessness. This can look like poorly prepared plants, overly dry and not pruned, as well as poorly packed plants where leaves are being crushed and soil spilling. Ultimately, being extra careful is the best practice to increase the success of your houseplant move.
Keeping Your Houseplants Healthy During a Move
Moving houseplants is truly a labor of love; their delicate nature leaves a lot of things to potentially go wrong. However, with proper preparation, packing, and caution during a move, moving houseplants can be a successful endeavour. To ensure your plants have the best chance to survive, contracting trusted home movers like those at CT Best Movers is the ultimate way to get peace of mind. Our experienced team has moved tons of plants before and knows what works and what doesn’t. We’ll be able to work with you to produce the best results! If you’re in need of moving help, call or go online to CT Best Movers to get your spot on the calendar today!