AaronT

Yes, the paper towels just need to be damp. When you put the wet plants into them they get wet enough again. You don't want them too wet or you have a recipe for plant soup in the hotter months.

 

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newellcr

Howdy,

As a hobbyist, I've been shipping and receiving plants for about 10 years now, which constitutes ~lots~ of packages, and would like to share some of my thoughts. During this time I have seen just about every packing method and some real failures. I know some folks will disagree with what I'm going to say, especially a couple of commercial groups. They are entitled to their opinion.

Water that isn't absorbed by paper is a serious no-no. Newspaper is usually a bad idea and it has a tendency to flatten and fold and snap leaves. If you insist on using paper, go very, very light with it. The only time I have found damp paper necessary is with the more delicate stem plants. Paper towel is better because it clings to itself when wet and doesn't tend flatten as much as newspaper.

This is the most effective shipping method I've found. Pull the plants out of the water and let them air dry for a minute or two to allow the excess water to drain. Lightly wrap the plants in paper if you insist. Then put the plants in a bag (ideally a fish bag and not a zip lock) and trap enough air in the bag to nearly fully inflate it and tie or rubber band it closed. Try to find a bag that fits the plants size without smashing the plant or having the plant bang back and forth when you give the bag a couple of short shakes. Don't cram loads of plants into the same bag. If the plants still thump around after the short shake test, open the bag and remove some of the plants to another bag. Write the plant name on the bag with a sharpie. If you put more than one specie of plant in the bag, make sure they are identifiable, like a crypt and a stem plant. Please don't put 40 stems of 10 different stem plant species together. What would you do with this if you received it?

Ideally, ship in a styrofoam lined box. This is less important with good shipping weather. Put the bags into your box and fill the empty space with packing material or fill a couple of empty fish bags with air and put them in too.

You can cut corners and still have the plants arrive in good condition, but it's pretty easy to follow this process and have a better likelihood of success.

Cheers,

Chris

ianiwane

I ship all my plants out in filter floss. I've been recomending this to people for a while. Ask anyone who has recieved plants from me in this maner. It looks like you have just taken them out of the tank. Even after 4-5 days.

BryceM

I had an opportunity to listen to Claus Christensen's (from Tropica) advice about this recently. He suggests an absolute minimum of water, shipping them moist, but definately not damp. He will often refrigerate plants while on collecting expeditions and reports that many of them will do fine for up to 4 weeks when stored in this manner. The idea is to slow the rate of metabolism.

One very good (IMO) internet site recently shipped several varieties of stem and rosette plants to me essentially dry, alone in air-filled ziplock type bags. Everything including Didiplis and R. wallachi arrived in perfect condition after 4 days in transit.

EDGE

Forget about paper towel or anything that take up space beside the plant. Just use plain ziplock bag with a few drops of water. Tape the ziplock up and stick the ziplock in a bubble envelop.

aquasox

I think I will try the simplest method...ie. guiac boy/edge. All great suggestions. Hopefully it goes smoothly or I will be trying some of the other methods very shortly.

aquasox

Thanks again for the advice...all the plants arrived perfectly.

Got Greens

I usually soak 2 sheets of newspaper using tank water.Then put them in freezer ziplocks add about quater inch of water in ziplock.

xcooperx

i found out that shipping with no Newspaper or towelpaper wrap on the plant is the best way, i recieve lots of plants that are wrap with paper towel and they look like stress and melted, not like the plants that are place on a ziplock with few of water and air tight they look more healthy and perfect

rodmarquezjr

I've got better success with sending the plants with damp paper towels, not wet nor with water; double bagged with just enough air to cushion the plants, in a bubblewrap-lined envelope with cardboard stiffeners. I've tried sending emerse cuttings and rhizomes dry but they came a little worse than those shipped damp. They re-hehdrated right away after bing put in water. I bag half of each species (each species is bagged into two ziplocks) before putting them all in a big bag. It may seem a lot of work but even if a few of the plants go bad, the others don't get fouled by the rotting plants and the plants are well insulated from temperature extremes and mechanical handling and compaction. They arrive ok even after 10-11 days of travel.

 

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