How to Transport a House Plant During a Move?

Are you someone who cannot stop buying houseplants? Be relieved to know that you are not the only one with a plant problem.

According to 2022’s Houseplant Statistics, 66% of American households have at least one houseplant, and nearly seven out of ten millennials call themselves plant parents.

In fact, according to most plant owners, shopping and caring for a houseplant is one of the healthiest hobbies for most people.

According to research, caring for a houseplant can improve productivity by 15%. Moreover, it helps reduce stress levels and is excellent self-practiced therapy, especially for young adults.

However, despite the obvious allure of owning beautiful houseplants, one cannot ignore the special care and grooming they require, especially when one has to pack up the plants and move homes.

Continue reading to learn how to transport a houseplant during a move.

Also, read; Houseplants That Like Wet Soil

Table of Contents

Things to Consider Before Moving Your Houseplants to a New Home

People are usually surprised to find out just how possessive and involved some people are regarding their houseplants.

When a person plans on moving homes, they usually choose to either pack up all their houseplants and transport them to their new home or sell them before proceeding with the move.

If you are a loyal houseplant parent, like most American citizens are, you probably will not want to leave your houseplant babies behind. It’s almost like leaving a pet dog or cat behind to some people.

However, it is important to know how complicated transporting a houseplant can be. Houseplants are living beings, unlike a table set, clothes, or kitchenware. This means that poor care and mishandling during the move can kill them.

Although houseplants do not require hours of sunlight exposure or regular watering, they still have their unique needs.

As a matter of fact, it becomes twice as challenging to care for a houseplant as opposed to an outdoor plant.

If the plant owner does not pack these plants properly, the moving process can result in the houseplant drying up, losing leaves, breaking, wilting, or simply dying.

Moreover, it also depends greatly on where or how far the person is planning to move and just how much money they can allocate to the moving process.

For instance, transporting houseplants will not be as complicated if a person plans to move to a new home just a few blocks away.

They can easily load up the plants in the trunk of their car and drive them to their new location.

However, if a person plans to move to a place a couple of hours away from their current residence or even to another state, the real challenge begins.

The plant owner cannot simply load up the plants in their car’s trunk and leave them in there without any fresh air for multiple hours.

Moreover, if a person is moving to a far-off state, they cannot just tape up the houseplants in a cardboard box and have them boarded on the airplane with the rest of their luggage.

Furthermore, at times, the budget required to hire a moving company to transport your houseplants can easily become far more than the price of purchasing new houseplants for your new home.

Hence, there are multiple things one needs to consider before they decide on the most feasible way to transport houseplants to their new home.

How to Transport a House Plant During a Move?

Transporting your houseplants during a move may sound challenging; however, one can make the process much easier by simply following some steps.

Before one proceeds with deciding how they are going to have their houseplants transported across the United States, they need to go through the following checklist:

How many houseplants do I have?
Do I plan on transporting all my houseplants, or am I only choosing some particular ones?
How do I prepare my plants for the move?
How far am I moving?
Can I transport my houseplants in my car?
Do I need to hire an external moving company to transport my houseplants?
Do I have the budget to hire an external moving company to transport my houseplants?
How many boxes or extra pots do I need for safe transportation?
How do I protect my houseplants from getting damaged during the move?
What do I do with the houseplants I do not plan on taking?

This checklist will help you ensure that no crucial detail or aspect worth considering is missed during the transporting process.

Continue reading to learn about the key points in the checklist mentioned above.

How Many Houseplants Do I Have, and Do I Need to Transport all of them?

If you live in the United States of America, you probably have multiple houseplants at home.

Some houseplants can easily grow in a mug and fit on a narrow bookshelf, while some tall houseplants, such as the money tree or the bamboo palm, need a wider space and a higher ceiling to grow.

However, do you plan on taking all your houseplants with you to your new home? If you do, it is important to count the number of houseplants you have.

This will help you determine whether they all will fit in your car or truck, considering you plan to move locally.

Tall houseplants ideally need a roofless truck to be moved, while smaller ones can be boxed together in different cartons.

However, if you are traveling far, you might want to select only your favorite houseplants and take them along.

Preparing Your House Plants for the Move

Regardless of how many plants you wish to transport or how far your new home is, you cannot simply pick up your houseplants and leave.

Instead, you need to properly prepare your houseplants for the move to make sure they survive the transportation process without enduring any damage.

Twenty Days Before the Move

Most people usually grow their houseplants in ceramic or clay pots and vases. While such containers enhance the aesthetics of a house’s interior, they are easily breakable.

Hence, once you have selected the houseplants you will be taking along with you to your new home, begin shifting the plants along with the soil out of the ceramic pots and into unbreakable plastic containers.

Fourteen Days Before the Move

You need to groom and prune your houseplants at least fourteen days before the move. Take a pair of gardening scissors and cut off any dead leaves, broken or weakened stems, dead flowers, and thorns.

Not only will doing so improve your houseplants’ health, but it will also increase the transportability and handleability of the plants by making their shape and size more compact.

Seven Days Before the Move

Make sure to check all your houseplants for pests and insects at least seven days before the move. If you do spot any pests or insects, use biodegradable insecticides and pesticides to prepare your plants for the move.

Last Day Before the Move

Finally, remember to water your plants at least twenty-four hours before you begin loading them onto your car or a truck. Do not overwater your plants before leaving, as it may create a mess in your vehicle.

How Far Are Your Planning to Move?

This perhaps is one of the most important factors that can influence the houseplant transportation process. Go through the following information to plan your move:

Moving to a Close by Town

It is common for people to move houses or apartments just a few blocks away from their current residence when they come across an attractive opportunity. This could include lower rent, a better neighborhood, etc.

If you are moving to a nearby town, you can load your houseplants into a car or hire a moving truck if your plants are too many or too tall to fit in your vehicle.

To do so, you need to:

Place the plastic houseplant pots into open boxes before loading them into your car. Doing so will help avoid spillage while also preventing excessive movement.
Cover the tall and sensitive houseplants with airy bedsheets or a large cheesecloth-like fabric, and tie it at the bottom.
Doing so will prevent different houseplant stems and shoots from intertwining or damaging one another.
Add extra foam, rolled-up paper, or cushioning between different pots to limit their movement further and act as a protective shock absorber.
Label the boxes and make a list to know exactly where you have to keep your houseplants.

Moving to a Far-off Town

If you are relocating to another part of your city or a far-off town, you must repeat the steps above while also taking care of some extra details.

If the trip will take more than half a day, carry a portable water sprayer to keep the houseplants fresh and well-hydrated.
Try to control the temperature of the vehicle carrying the houseplants. Do not let the conditions get too warm or too cold for too long.
Roll down your vehicle’s windows for two to three minutes once every hour to allow fresh air to pass through the plants.
If you have packed some small plants into a box, punch holes into the box to create inlets for air.

Moving to a Different State

The first thing you need to check before preparing your plants for a move to a different state is the regional laws. Not all houseplants are permitted by all American states.

For instance, transporting any kind of citrus plants or indoor nut trees is illegal in the state of California and can lead to confiscation along with a fine.

Moreover, if you are traveling via airplane or train, you perhaps cannot carry boxes of packed houseplants with you.

For this, you will have to contact special moving companies that have a whole department allocated to packing and safely transporting houseplants across different states.

Moving to a Different Country

Usually, people do not transport their houseplants when moving to a different country as the process can be extremely expensive.

However, if you cannot leave behind a special or rare houseplant species, you can contact the airline service for this special request.

What to Do if You Cannot Transport Your House Plants During a Move?

Although many people have emotional sentiments towards their houseplants, transporting them is not always affordable, especially when moving across the country.

In such situations, you can do the following to find a new home for your houseplants:

Sell your houseplants online. eBay is a great platform, and you will probably get a great deal for your plants as long as they’re kept well.
Gift your houseplants to a former employer, coworkers, friends, or neighbors before leaving.
Sell the houseplants to a plant nursery.
Donate the houseplants to a public school or a hospital. This is probably the best use for them if you don’t want to make money off your plants. Plus, they’re going to a good cause.

Final Thoughts

You are not alone if you are not ready to say goodbye to your houseplants when moving to a new place. Fortunately, if you plan to relocate locally, you do not have to do this.

Simply buy boxes, airy sheets, and plastic containers along with portable water sprayers to safely transport your houseplants to your new home. Moreover, if you are moving to another city or state, you can always contact a moving company to take care of all the transportation work for you; however, this may be a costly option.