shipping palms

[Stevetoad]

whats the best way to ship a palm? i was going to ship bare root with some moss or wet paper towel around the roots... any tips???

[ErikSJI]

What size and how far?

[The Silent Seed]

Steve - that's pretty much what you should do. Due to the nature / structure of palm roots, it's good to put moss in between them to avoid breakage. Or better yet, ship with the root ball, slightly shaken out. Wrap the whole thing (rootball) with moist paper towels and put that in a plastic bag to contain the moisture. Do not get the base or leaves wet.

Edited January 24, 2012 by santoury

[Laisla87]

Hmm how long are you shipping it for? What varieties are they?

Plams despise being bare rooted. It may be wothwhile paying a bit extra for the weight of having them shipped in pots, (if they are in pots). What you pay in extra dollars you will save in heartache as the palms take possibly years to recover.

[Stevetoad]

I'm just sending out some smallish ones up the coast. Should take 2 days in transit. They will be washies queens and butias. They will fit in a box.

[PalmatierMeg]

I ship bareroot palm seedlings most of the year in these steps:

1. Soak some sphaghnum moss in water for an hour to hydrate.

2. Gently unpot seedling. Place in a colander and rinse off excess soil.

3. Lay a paper towel on the driveway. Squeeze water from a handful of moss.

4. Place some moss on the paper towel. Lay seedling roots on moss. Place another layer of damp moss atop roots.

5. Roll up seedling roots and stem base in paper towel. Twist bottom end of towel and fold up.

6. Lay down a length of cling wrap. Roll up base of palm in the plastic wrap and secure. Make sure roots are not exposed.

7. Finally, wrap a piece of aluminum foil around rootball and carefully crimp. I try to have plastic wrap extend above foil to protect stem from bruising.

8. Before boxing palms I roll them in newspaper or white paper to pad and protect fronds from box (like a florist might wrap long stem roses).

This system has worked very well for me as long as postal workers don't use my boxes as baseball bats or footballs. I had a Cham oblongata arrive in Cali broken in half and its mailing tube taped back together. USPS said machinery damaged the box. I still suspect a lunchtime baseball game with the palm as bat.

[redant]

I'm just sending out some smallish ones up the coast. Should take 2 days in transit. They will be washies queens and butias. They will fit in a box.

Put them on ice, particularly the queens.

[Cycadcenter]

Be careful if you are sending them up the coast in California a couple of the major mail centers now send ALL packages through a scanner to pick up plant material, I had a couple of packages picked up as I didn't have the California Nursery Stock Certificate on the outside of the box but was inside the box. One box was destroyed and the other let through after I explained where the certificate was.

Bruce

[Laisla87]

I'm just sending out some smallish ones up the coast. Should take 2 days in transit. They will be washies queens and butias. They will fit in a box.

I bare-rooted some Carpentaria acuminatas and Caryota Mitis and sealed them in moist plastic bags. They were in transit for about 8 hours - not one survived. I also sent some of the same species as potted specimens in the same batch - all have survived.

[Stevetoad]

1327367337' post=508990]

I ship bareroot palm seedlings most of the year in these steps:

1. Soak some sphaghnum moss in water for an hour to hydrate.

2. Gently unpot seedling. Place in a colander and rinse off excess soil.

3. Lay a paper towel on the driveway. Squeeze water from a handful of moss.

4. Place some moss on the paper towel. Lay seedling roots on moss. Place another layer of damp moss atop roots.

5. Roll up seedling roots and stem base in paper towel. Twist bottom end of towel and fold up.

6. Lay down a length of cling wrap. Roll up base of palm in the plastic wrap and secure. Make sure roots are not exposed.

7. Finally, wrap a piece of aluminum foil around rootball and carefully crimp. I try to have plastic wrap extend above foil to protect stem from bruising.

8. Before boxing palms I roll them in newspaper or white paper to pad and protect fronds from box (like a florist might wrap long stem roses).

This system has worked very well for me as long as postal workers don't use my boxes as baseball bats or footballs. I had a Cham oblongata arrive in Cali broken in half and its mailing tube taped back together. USPS said machinery damaged the box. I still suspect a lunchtime baseball game with the palm as bat.

Thanks for the detailed packing tips. I' hope they make it...

[Stevetoad]

1327368152' post=508993]

Be careful if you are sending them up the coast in California a couple of the major mail centers now send ALL packages through a scanner to pick up plant material, I had a couple of packages picked up as I didn't have the California Nursery Stock Certificate on the outside of the box but was inside the box. One box was destroyed and the other let through after I explained where the certificate was.

Bruce

I don't have any paper work. I'm not selling any of these, there all free so I guess if they destroy them then it's not the end of the world. Who's more likely to hold/ destroy them? USPS , ups or fed ex? There going to Washington.

[ErikSJI]

1327367337' post=508990]

I ship bareroot palm seedlings most of the year in these steps:

1. Soak some sphaghnum moss in water for an hour to hydrate.

2. Gently unpot seedling. Place in a colander and rinse off excess soil.

3. Lay a paper towel on the driveway. Squeeze water from a handful of moss.

4. Place some moss on the paper towel. Lay seedling roots on moss. Place another layer of damp moss atop roots.

5. Roll up seedling roots and stem base in paper towel. Twist bottom end of towel and fold up.

6. Lay down a length of cling wrap. Roll up base of palm in the plastic wrap and secure. Make sure roots are not exposed.

7. Finally, wrap a piece of aluminum foil around rootball and carefully crimp. I try to have plastic wrap extend above foil to protect stem from bruising.

8. Before boxing palms I roll them in newspaper or white paper to pad and protect fronds from box (like a florist might wrap long stem roses).

This system has worked very well for me as long as postal workers don't use my boxes as baseball bats or footballs. I had a Cham oblongata arrive in Cali broken in half and its mailing tube taped back together. USPS said machinery damaged the box. I still suspect a lunchtime baseball game with the palm as bat.

Thanks for the detailed packing tips. I' hope they make it...

What Meg did is what I like to call the seedling burrito and works great. If your just sending a few seedlings up the coast a wet paper towel and a zip lock baggy is all that is needed. When you get to liner you can just use plastic wrap or 1 gallon size you can use a plastic grocery bag and place the moss and some moist ripped newspaper and tape it at the base so the moss does not come out and it holds its moisture. Depending on the size you may want to tape it to the inside of the box as well to reduce it from bouncing around.

[ErikSJI]

1327368152' post=508993]

Be careful if you are sending them up the coast in California a couple of the major mail centers now send ALL packages through a scanner to pick up plant material, I had a couple of packages picked up as I didn't have the California Nursery Stock Certificate on the outside of the box but was inside the box. One box was destroyed and the other let through after I explained where the certificate was.

Bruce

I don't have any paper work. I'm not selling any of these, there all free so I guess if they destroy them then it's not the end of the world. Who's more likely to hold/ destroy them? USPS , ups or fed ex? There going to Washington.

Your sending out of California not bringing them in. Washington has very relaxed laws on the import of plants. I get them all the time.USPS is the best.

[Stevetoad]

1327371009' post=509005]

1327369483' post=508999]

1327368152' post=508993]

Be careful if you are sending them up the coast in California a couple of the major mail centers now send ALL packages through a scanner to pick up plant material, I had a couple of packages picked up as I didn't have the California Nursery Stock Certificate on the outside of the box but was inside the box. One box was destroyed and the other let through after I explained where the certificate was.

Bruce

I don't have any paper work. I'm not selling any of these, there all free so I guess if they destroy them then it's not the end of the world. Who's more likely to hold/ destroy them? USPS , ups or fed ex? There going to Washington.

Your sending out of California not bringing them in. Washington has very relaxed laws on the import of plants. I get them all the time.USPS is the best.

Thanks Erik. I know shipping into Cali is a nightmare but I didn't know if shipping out was bad too.

[dalmatiansoap]

I ship bareroot palm seedlings most of the year in these steps:

1. Soak some sphaghnum moss in water for an hour to hydrate.

2. Gently unpot seedling. Place in a colander and rinse off excess soil.

3. Lay a paper towel on the driveway. Squeeze water from a handful of moss.

4. Place some moss on the paper towel. Lay seedling roots on moss. Place another layer of damp moss atop roots.

5. Roll up seedling roots and stem base in paper towel. Twist bottom end of towel and fold up.

6. Lay down a length of cling wrap. Roll up base of palm in the plastic wrap and secure. Make sure roots are not exposed.

7. Finally, wrap a piece of aluminum foil around rootball and carefully crimp. I try to have plastic wrap extend above foil to protect stem from bruising.

8. Before boxing palms I roll them in newspaper or white paper to pad and protect fronds from box (like a florist might wrap long stem roses).

I recived palm seedlings from US, both from Florida and California packed like this, more then 2 weeks in postal system, no damadge at all.

[dp92651]

Also, a helpful note for the receiver- I have had palms go into shock upon arrival..I have been told soaking the roots in seaweed extract helps w/ this and prevents fungus.

[paulgila]

1327367337' post=508990]

I ship bareroot palm seedlings most of the year in these steps:

1. Soak some sphaghnum moss in water for an hour to hydrate.

2. Gently unpot seedling. Place in a colander and rinse off excess soil.

3. Lay a paper towel on the driveway. Squeeze water from a handful of moss.

4. Place some moss on the paper towel. Lay seedling roots on moss. Place another layer of damp moss atop roots.

5. Roll up seedling roots and stem base in paper towel. Twist bottom end of towel and fold up.

6. Lay down a length of cling wrap. Roll up base of palm in the plastic wrap and secure. Make sure roots are not exposed.

7. Finally, wrap a piece of aluminum foil around rootball and carefully crimp. I try to have plastic wrap extend above foil to protect stem from bruising.

8. Before boxing palms I roll them in newspaper or white paper to pad and protect fronds from box (like a florist might wrap long stem roses).

This system has worked very well for me as long as postal workers don't use my boxes as baseball bats or footballs. I had a Cham oblongata arrive in Cali broken in half and its mailing tube taped back together. USPS said machinery damaged the box. I still suspect a lunchtime baseball game with the palm as bat.

Thanks for the detailed packing tips. I' hope they make it...

What Meg did is what I like to call the seedling burrito and works great. If your just sending a few seedlings up the coast a wet paper towel and a zip lock baggy is all that is needed. When you get to liner you can just use plastic wrap or 1 gallon size you can use a plastic grocery bag and place the moss and some moist ripped newspaper and tape it at the base so the moss does not come out and it holds its moisture. Depending on the size you may want to tape it to the inside of the box as well to reduce it from bouncing around.

looks more like sushi roll than burrito,to me