Shipping or traveling with Bonsai/Plants

the.ecologist

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Hello!
I'm going to be travelling back and forth and will be gone from home for a few months so I want to bring some of my plants and bonsai with me but don't know how to travel or ship them so they are safe and how often I would be able to without putting too much risk on the plants.

Does anyone have any experience to share for shipping and caring in cold and warm weather after a sudden shift in temperature? is it even a good idea or should I try to get someone to care for them while I'm gone instead since there's a lot? how should I write instructions for any that I do ask someone else to care for if it's watering by intuition rather than in a systematic way?
 

sorce

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Missed you too....

Welcome to Crazy!

I think best would be contacting some locals to see if they'll home them.
Next an auto water.
Next bringing them.

Not letting someone else water them, cuz they'll just die!

Sorce
 

Shogun610

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Hello!
I'm going to be travelling back and forth and will be gone from home for a few months so I want to bring some of my plants and bonsai with me but don't know how to travel or ship them so they are safe and how often I would be able to without putting too much risk on the plants.

Does anyone have any experience to share for shipping and caring in cold and warm weather after a sudden shift in temperature? is it even a good idea or should I try to get someone to care for them while I'm gone instead since there's a lot? how should I write instructions for any that I do ask someone else to care for if it's watering by intuition rather than in a systematic way?
Can you lodge them at any nursery near you?
 

the.ecologist

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It looks like I can't lodge them anywhere, not even at the botanic gardens, though they run on public funds and tickets so it seems weird that they would've... I have family that can water and they usually only need to be watered once or maybe twice a month, but I don't know how I could ask or explain how they should be watered or where to put them so they're easier to water.
 

Mayank

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It looks like I can't lodge them anywhere, not even at the botanic gardens, though they run on public funds and tickets so it seems weird that they would've... I have family that can water and they usually only need to be watered once or maybe twice a month, but I don't know how I could ask or explain how they should be watered or where to put them so they're easier to water.
Once or twice a month?! What kind of bonsai are these?
 

the.ecologist

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haha, I guess since keep them inside the house, not outdoor Bonsai so more like house plants... it's too hot to keep them outside here
 

Forsoothe!

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You haven't said what species they are. Generally speaking you are not of a nature to be a bonsaiist. IMHO. If your occupation demands that you subject your plants to these kinds of moves, then you need to change hobbies. IMHO. This is a lot more like having a pet than having nice things that can boxed up and thrown in the trunk of your car and driven across the country. There are nurseries that lodge plants for snowbirds in Florida and in the northern states like Michigan and Illinois. You should call around in communities that have a larger transient (maybe the wrong word) population of retirees that migrate and follow the good weather north to south to north, ad infinitum. They have plants at both ends and nurseries lodging at both ends in the mid-west...
 

penumbra

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Must be cactus bonsai. My indoor bonsai need water at least twice a week, sometimes more.
Plants are not meant for traveling. They have roots, not legs.
 

Forsoothe!

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Most of my houseplants are figs that I water every 12 days, but the media, kind and size of pots are specifically set for this cycle. But I don't take them back-and-forth to Florida...
 

Carol 83

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Very curious to hear what kind of trees you keep inside all year and only water once or twice a month. All that traveling doesn't seem very conducive to doing bonsai.
 

the.ecologist

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OH MY WHAT A BUNCH OF KIND PEOPLE GIVING GOOD ADVICE. For one there are no nurseries for Bonsai where I am, I never said what the moves were for so don't judge my life decisions - I just want to know how often I can move them since I - not me and the plants - will be moving quite a bit and how to move them - ONCE OR TWICE A YEAR AS I CAN.

It's a tea tree and maple I want to bring with me since I just propagated them and the roots are still forming, trees I have a dome over that keeps water well retained when it evaporates in the day so it drains back to the soil at night. I said Bonsai/Plants because it is a Bonsai and I need actual advice to move them or give instructions for others to care for.
 

vp999

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I'll be traveling next week to Florida for 5 days and Im paying a kid next door to water my trees everyday. He is young (maybe 12-13) but he cuts grass, baby sit his siblings and seems like a really good kid that likes to do stuff and take his job very seriously, so I think he will do ok. I will show him how to water the day before I go.
 

Cadillactaste

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OH MY WHAT A BUNCH OF KIND PEOPLE GIVING GOOD ADVICE. For one there are no nurseries for Bonsai where I am, I never said what the moves were for so don't judge my life decisions - I just want to know how often I can move them since I - not me and the plants - will be moving quite a bit and how to move them - ONCE OR TWICE A YEAR AS I CAN.

It's a tea tree and maple I want to bring with me since I just propagated them and the roots are still forming, trees I have a dome over that keeps water well retained when it evaporates in the day so it drains back to the soil at night. I said Bonsai/Plants because it is a Bonsai and I need actual advice to move them or give instructions for others to care for.
It has nothing to do with bonsai...general horticulture is what is up for discussion. Sorry you were educated in horticulture and didn't like what was shared.

Maples won't do well indoors...heads up. They are deciduous and go dormant. Again falls under horticulture.

You don't apparently like the advice given...so best of luck to you...in your endeavor. But end of the day...horticulture care above all to keep living plants alive was discussed.
 

Leo in N E Illinois

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I've moved plants across country. It can be done. Actually pretty easy. If you are driving, put them in an open box, on the back seat of your auto. Be aware, a car can heat up rapidly when parked in the sun. A closed box with packing styrofoam peanuts, or pack them into a styrofoam cooler that you can seal to keep them cool while the car is parked.

Key is to avoid temperature extremes. Also pack them to avoid jostling, or disturbing the roots.
 

penumbra

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Of course it can be done, but should it be done? How about South Carolina to Arizona, or Minnesota to Texas? And what of the variety and species of plants involved? There are a hundred possibilities.
A little common sense here is what is required.
 
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