How to transport plants when moving house.

ian166 · 3 February

Hello, we're moving house soon and have lots of outdoor plants in pots, but too many, too heavy and taking up too much space to just lift as they are and put in a van. Is there another way? Could we take the plants from the pots, put each in a bag with soil/compost and take them separately from the pots, so long as they're not in the bags for days on end? Any better ideas anyone, please?
Thanks.

Ceres · 3 February

I found this on a removal company's site:

Place the plant in some damp sacking with extra, good quality soil.
Keep the root covered at all times to avoid it drying out.
Keep the plant cool and dry (our vans are the perfect place!).
If it is hot continually water the plant throughout the day.

If you need sacking, you can buy used coffee sacks for next to nothing from places like ebay or from coffee importers. The sacks are huge and can be used for leaf mould or other garden storage after you have moved your plants.

rowlandscastle444 · 3 February

Hi @ian166
We moved house at the end of November last year. Two months has shot by.
Yes, moving house, AND garden is a challenge. We kept a number of plants in their pots, and didn't consider bagging them up.

We were paying a removal company to do all the heavy lifting for us, and they never complained.

We actually borrowed some large containers, solely to house plants taken from the ground, and transfer. We considered buying some cheap, lightweight planters, to ensure safe transit, not knowing how long it would be before we could get them transplanted.

As it turned out, we didn't need to buy any, and we finally opted to leave many plants behind, and reinvest for the new garden.

The new garden has a different aspect, and different plants will grow better here. Where I brought plants along, some may have been better left.

Still, I felt that rigid planters were better for transporting than bags or sacks. Each person is different.

GardenerSuze · 3 February

I moved last July. With all the things you need to do when moving the easy route is the best in rigid containers. However some plants then had to be potted on as the season progressed. I created a nursery bed and have now moved plants to a new home.
Some of these plants have been moved so many times.
If you know you will have time to plant them in a ready to go nursery bed then bags or sacks are a possible. With so much to do the concern is they will come off second best when things in the new house take up your time.

CrankyYankee · 3 February

I've brought many plants with me in my last three moves. I don't generally have plants in decorative pots, just in the ground. I dug them up, potted them in appropriate sized lightweight nursery pots, and moved them myself from one house to the next in my car. Like GardenerSuze, I moved most of them into holding beds as soon as I could, but the last move was too close to winter so they remained in their pots, covered with fleece and then a tarp over that for the winter. That was five years ago and some of them were only taken out of their plastic pots just last summer.

clematisdorset · 3 February

What sizes are your plants? For bigger plants, or for many smaller plants, plastic tubs with handles are light to carry and easy to move. I have bought from this company. The tubs have always arrived quickly (within days) with full tracking:

https://www.scotplantsdirect.co.uk/growing-needs/containers-baskets/large-plant-pots

ian166 · 4 February

Thanks for the tips everyone!

How to transport plants when moving house.

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