HELP! Transport Issues Coming Up!

[mauraec]

PLEASE! Do not tell me to have them shipped - I've looked into it and I can't afford it. What I CAN afford, is to figure out how to have them at least survive the 9-hour ride (an overnight, because my parents are coming along) back to Atlanta.

So... I have about 19 orchids that I have collected down here. I'm donating several to the kind housemaids, but I still have 15 or so that are truly special to me - some really amazing old classics (divisions from 40 year-old plants), some wildly healthy new seedlings, a few weird ones that Phillip would have liked....

Some are in bloom, and or bud/spike.

What is the best strategy for "packing" them for the ride?

I could really use some help with this, or my dad will throw them in a shopping bag and wedge them in where he thinks they'll fit best.

[Ron-NY]

I would put them standing in boxes with crumbled newspaper between pots.

[mauraec]

Well, that's a start...

[jeffrey6115]

Boxing and newspaper seem the best route. It's only a 9 hour ride and you are the one handling them. I don't see a need to get too carried away with packing. You will have to be careful of sun coming through windows depending on your vehicle. I got stuck in traffic on a very short trip and burned some leaves.

[Teena]

definitely in boxes with newspaper wedged to keep them from moving in the box. Also you can tape several sheets of newspaper around the pot, sorta making a cone around the plant while gently moving the leaves so that they make a nice straight(ish) shape up and down so that the plants fit nicely in boxes without the leaves spilling over the sides. I've sent two or three orchids home with my niece on a 12-15 hour drive back to Ohio from Boston this way and they all survived quite nicely. Usually use shoeboxes. If there are fewer orchids to a box and more small boxes then they will "fit" into odd spaces.

Maybe you should also volunteer to pack the car, there's a real artform to it.

Or maybe you could pack as many "coned" up orchids of a similar size into a rough neck bin so they would be fully protected by the cover and and you could actually pack something on top of it, maybe smaller boxes of orchids.

good luck - martha

[mauraec]

definitely in boxes with newspaper wedged to keep them from moving in the box. Also you can tape several sheets of newspaper around the pot, sorta making a cone around the plant while gently moving the leaves so that they make a nice straight(ish) shape up and down so that the plants fit nicely in boxes without the leaves spilling over the sides. I've sent two or three orchids home with my niece on a 12-15 hour drive back to Ohio from Boston this way and they all survived quite nicely. Usually use shoeboxes. If there are fewer orchids to a box and more small boxes then they will "fit" into odd spaces.

Maybe you should also volunteer to pack the car, there's a real artform to it.

Or maybe you could pack as many "coned" up orchids of a similar size into a rough neck bin so they would be fully protected by the cover and and you could actually pack something on top of it, maybe smaller boxes of orchids.

good luck - martha

Thanks, Martha - and Jeff and Ron - I'm starting to get a sense of how I'm going to do this. I guess I'll just do the best I can and whatever happens, happens. I just didn't want to do something that everyone else knows will cause a disaster. I'm not sure whether I'll have to take them out of the car (we have to split the trip up for my parents' sake) when we stop overnight. Overnight wouldn't be the problem - it would be in the morning when the sun hit the car....

[Ron-NY]

If in a few liquor boxes, they will be easy to move into a room, if needed.

[stateless]

you got some great advice, I wish you the best on the trip, if I was driving that far with my parents I know what would happen to all the liquor that was in the boxes Ron suggested, be safe

[Lizgeo]

I have collected several plastic soft drink trays, which I bring with me when I go on orchid shopping trip. I put several pots in one tray, and stuff newspaper between. You can pick them up easily for transporting too.

If you stop by any gas station, ask them if they have any coco-cola trays that you can have.

[mauraec]

I have collected several plastic soft drink trays, which I bring with me when I go on orchid shopping trip. I put several pots in one tray, and stuff newspaper between. You can pick them up easily for transporting too.

If you stop by any gas station, ask them if they have any coco-cola trays that you can have.

Thank you! I may need to do that to supplement all the liquor boxes...