Plan a stress-free move for your precious plants
Planning to move house with a collection of plants can be daunting. But experts tell Kylie Klein Nixon that with some planning it can be done without any problems.
Houseplant expert Anna Gervai admits she had some casualties when she moved her collection of 100 plants from her rental to her new home, so it can happen to the best of us.
Gervai, who runs online plant business Love That Leaf, blames under-watering them, so they would be soft, and not snap if knocked or bashed about a bit during the move.
She packed them carefully, and transported them herself, but even with her expert care a couple of her beloved plants died. Others now have ‘‘bald spots’’ where leaves were damaged, or turned yellow and dropped off afterwards.
Their suffering was not in vain, however. ‘‘There are a couple of different ways that you can move plants, and I think I chose the wrong way for me,’’ Gervai says.
‘‘I suddenly had to deal with huge amounts of yellow leaf and leaf drop, and that’s because you have the best intentions, but moving is a lot.’’
If you’re a pot plant fan, you might have some valuable, or sentimentally precious plants in your collection that make the idea of moving house daunting.
That could go double if you have dozens and dozens of plants, as Gervai did. But there are lots of things you can do to prepare your plants for the big move that will help them reach their destination in one stillflourishing piece.
How well you prepare your plants before the move is crucial, says Wellington company Pot Plant Studio’s Nicky Peauafi, who regularly ships plants all over the country.
Don’t let them dry out, but don’t water them just before you move.
‘‘It makes them heavier and water can leak,’’ she says.
She recommends using scrunched-up, dampened newspaper around the base of the plant, on top of the soil, to minimise soil spilling out. You can also wrap the body of the plant with a tube of cardboard to give it a little more sturdiness and protection.
Prepare the boxes to carry the plants with plenty of tape underneath to stop the bottom dropping out – and make sure you carry boxes from the bottom.
If you can, move plants on several trips to avoid overcrowding. If you have tall or large plants, it might be better to hire a truck or movers to help.
‘‘We based our first move around our tall fiddle leaf fig and hired movers. It made the process so much easier with the rest of our items too,’’ Peauafi says.
If you do use a moving company, check they are prepared to move plants, and that they know how to care for them in transit. It also pays to check what size plants they are prepared to move.
New Zealand Movers (newzealandmovers.co.nz) has a detailed list of things to ask moving companies before handing your plant babies over to them, as well as tips for preparing plants for transport.
Among them: re-potting into plastic nursery containers, which will be lighter and easier to pack into transport boxes than ceramic planters; trimming any branches that extend beyond the pot, to stop them being ripped off; using layers of newspaper between the plants to stop them shifting around in the transport box.
Label the box as ‘‘fragile’’ and ‘‘live plant’’, before handing them over to your movers.
‘‘Plants will take up floor to ceiling space and should never be stacked like other items,’’ says Bunnings garden category manager Matt Jensen. ‘‘Consider this when you are planning how much vehicle space and time you’ll need to move, as well as allowing for appropriate ventilation for your plants.’’
For delicate pots, such as terracotta, Jensen suggests wrapping a blanket around them for some extra protection.
‘‘Give them a spritz, so they’ve got a little bit of humidity around them, too,’’ says account designer Dumorah Mohammed, of commercial plant company, Outside In.
A plant parent herself, Mohammed has moved her own collection of almost 200 plants from one side of Auckland to the other, and says ‘‘there’s no one way to do it, really’’.
While transportation and having a plan are key, she thinks ensuring you’re moving your plants from like space to like space is the most important thing.
You should ‘‘be mindful that you’re placing the plants into similar lighting conditions as they had in your old home’’. You’ll also need to watch your plant’s watering needs in their new spot, as they may be more thirsty after a move.
‘‘If you were to move a plant that you’ve had in a nice sunny spot and then suddenly put it into a dark spot where it’s not getting as much light any more, you might run into some problems. It will hopefully settle with time but that can mean it’s a bit upset for a while and loses leaves.’’
And a final plant moving reminder: don’t forget about them. ‘‘It’s easy to forget about your plants when you’re busy unpacking your belongings in your new home,’’ Jensen says. ‘‘Give them a water as soon as you arrive.’’
Gervai seconds that tip. Her plants are bouncing back after her move. To deal with the bald spots, Gervais used cloning paste to help new leaves grow back.
Now her plants are bedded down for winter in their new home, waiting to start flourishing again in the spring.