How to ship bare root perennials

[pcs2009]

Hi - I want to ship some bare root perennials (hellebores).
Can some give me some detailed instructions on how to prepare and wrap plants for shipping? A link with photos would be great!

Thanks,
Pete

[kHT]

pcs2009, welcome to HG! If we ship bear rooted perennials we ship priority mail in hte states, get the boxes from the postal service. Only ship seeds international and that is sometimes risky. Dig up the said plant and rinse all the soil away. Let air dry over night and they wrap in a damp paper towels ( one can also add some moisture crystals if one selects to), when wrap them in newspaper before putting them in a baggy. Slide in the box and add extra padding if need. I'm a stripper so I remove all the added leaves, if a person knows their plants this should be no problem but make sure the other person on the other end knows as some folks are leaf crazy and think these are needed. Sorry no photos but if you google I'm sure you can find information on this?

[John]

I do mine a bit differently.

I like to dig the plant, wash away the soil, then let the plant hydrate overnight in a bucket of water.

The plant then has its rootball wrapped in damp paper towels. Following this, cover the rootball/paper-towels with plastic wrap, and fasten with rubber bands. Do not wrap the entire plant in plastic. Remember to add a label!

The plant is then rolled up in a piece of dry newspaper, and is now ready for the box. Priority Mail is best, and the boxes are free at the post office or even online.

NEVER remove the leaves, this is how plants manufacture their food! I say this with regard especially to the hellebores you plan to mail.

Some plants, such as tall bearded iris, and daylilies (Hemerocallis) are better shipped dry, bare-root, just wrapped in dry newspaper.

Hope this helps!

[Chris_W]

Two very different takes from the two above methods, but I think both should work just fine.

Over the years we've experimented with different methods of preparing and shipping many different plants and have had many different results.

First, some plants are not at all tolerant of being rinsed off, soaked, or shipped wet. With some it doesn't take much to be TOO wet - with some plants soaking overnight can be too much, others might be too much after an hour, and others don't even like to be rinsed off. (For example, Geranium Purple Pillows likes to be dug dry, kept dry, and planted dry, without being watered even once or they rot quickly...)

If you plan to ship them without foliage, your best bet is to rinse off the dirt and then let the roots dry out a bit, then package them in dry peat moss in a plastic bag. The Hellebores sprout new foliage in the fall, and will bounce back quickly without trouble. This is the best time to be transplanting these, by the way. When we are shipping these without foliage we actually use an air compressor to remove the dirt because they are not tolerant of excess moisture in a sealed bag and they don't have foliage to rid them of extra water.

If you are going to ship with the foliage, then rinse them off, soak them for a short period of time. We've tested this with a 15 minute soak and a 2 hour soak, and found that some plants were OVER hydrated at 2 hours and experienced some root rot later, though still recovered. Wrap the roots in moist paper towel and put a bag just over the roots. You would probably want to trim off any of the really old leaves and just keep the nicest new leaves attached. Then you can wrap them in newspaper or kraft paper.

Hope that helps!

Chris

Disclaimer: Remember it is illegal to ship plants across state lines that are not inspected and are not accompanied by a quarantine compliance certificate with usually requires soil testing to be performed. Nurseries can ship across state lines when they are licensed, inspected, and have a quarantine compliance agreement for interstate shipping.

[Spider]

KHT, that's pretty bold saying your a stripper online! Does your hubby know?

Couldn't let that slide.

[kHT]

Spider, I hate to say it but yep he knows! Better strip things in the yard than . . . . . . ya know that commercial when I grow up I want to be an old woman??
When ya get over 55, the only strippin' is plants!

John, the reason to strip is less mess as we see what shipping does to plants. Also if you leave the leaves on you need to treat for critters so that they don't spread.
I would rather see a stripped plant arrive than one that is covered with signs of critters or one that smells of someone that smokes. Leaves grow back fast!