A lot of people seem to forget that plants are living things when the moving day comes. While they will take care of a pet, they will consider plants as just another dead item they need to move. And our plant friends end up suffering or even dying because of that. In order to avoid such a situation, and to make sure that you take your green friends with you safely, we have come up with a list of tips for moving houseplants. We hope that you will keep them in mind and that you will take care of your plants even after the move. After all, plants are a great way to make your home more welcoming and to bring some much-needed nature into it.
Preparing your plants
Before you deal with moving houseplants, you need to prepare them. Only with proper preparations can you deal with relocation. There aren’t many things you need to do in order to prepare your plants, but it is very important that you do them. If you do not, there is little chance of success in you moving them. Also, you can ask your local moving company for some tips.
Clean and check
Start off by cleaning and checking your plants. Take off any dead leaves and cut away any dried up parts. You should be doing this on a regular basis if you want to keep your plants healthy. But, even if you haven’t done it before now is a great time to start. If there are any bugs or pests attacking your plant, you need to take care of it before relocation. There are chemicals you can use to disinfect your plant, but there are natural insecticides that can be just as effective but also be much better for the environment. If you do not take care of this, you plat will die out or get completely eaten by plant-eating bugs. Worse yet, it can start to rot, which will summon other pests. Do not let this happen to you. Take care of your plants.
Re-pot them
Quality plant pots are heavy. If they are made from ceramic or clay they will be good, environmental, and they will make the plant as a whole pleasing to look at. But, they will be a nightmare to relocate. Such pots are both heavy and fragile, two of the worst things a thing can be when it comes to relocation. A good and sometimes necessary idea is to re-pot your plants for relocation. Place them in lightweight plastic pots or even in thick plastic bags. This will make them more resilient and also much easier to transport. Also, you will be able to tackle transportation of your regular pots much easier, if they are not carrying plants in them. You can wrap them and simply transport them with your other possessions.
Transporting them
Now that you have your plants prepared for relocation it is time to transport them. The best advice that we can give you is to always keep in mind that plants are alive. Consider them as a puppy that has no fur, and that doesn’t move. Yup, that is a sad puppy once you think about it, but a puppy none the less. It needs air, water, and food in order to survive and it is up to you to provide them.
Taking care of them
If you want to make sure that your plants survive the relocation, you need to keep them with you. Do not let movers handle them, as they will probably treat it like any other moving item. Carry your plants with you, if possible. If not, figure out a way to ship them separately from your possessions. There are companies that offer plant shipping services and that will provide you with much better service than any regular mover ever could. Rember, there are plants that can only be moved by professionals. Whatever you end up doing, just remember that you need to take care of them during the move. Do not put them in storage. Even if you find the best Manhattan moving and storage services, your plants shouldn’t be stored. They are a living thing that will die if left without proper care.
Giving them enough water
Throughout your journey, you will need to rehydrate yourself. Well, your plants are in the same situation. Even if they are outside of their usual pot, you will need to water them. Study up on your particular plant and find out how much water does it actually need. There are even preferred water temperatures that you should be aware of if you want to give your plan the best care possible. But, whatever you do, do not forget to water them. Especially if you are moving during the summer. Even if you are in an air-conditioned car, you must make sure that your plant stays hydrated throughout the relocation.
Temperature issues
The thing you should also realize about moving houseplants, aside from the fact that plants are living things, is that plants don’t like to be moved. That is one of the reasons why they grow roots. And the reason why they don’t like to be moved is that moving usually entails sudden temperature changes. Try to keep your plants in roughly the same temperature as they are in your household. While animals can get accustomed to sudden temperature change, due to our metabolism, plants are pretty much done for if not taken care of. You can witness this throughout the year when unsuspecting farmers lose their crops due to frost.
A final tip for moving houseplants
What a lot of people forget to do when moving to a different state is to check the law. That is one of the most important things to do, besides finding the best cross-country movers NYC. State officials may inspect your plant at the state border, and may even deny access. Do not lose your plant simply because you couldn’t be bothered to check the law.