Moving houseplants in Iowa
The guide to what movers will not move explains why plants are on the list: a cargo area has no light, no ventilation and no temperature control, and a mover who did take them would decline any liability. That leaves the plants as your job on move day, alongside the pets and the documents. This is how to do the job in a climate that swings ninety degrees across the year.
It covers a local move across the Des Moines metro, which is a few hours of car time, and the longer move where the plants are in a vehicle for a day or more. The difference between the two is small in effort and large in what the plants have to survive.
Two weeks out: prune, repot, and treat
A plant travels best compact, dry and not otherwise stressed. Two weeks out is the last sensible time to prune anything leggy, so the cuts seal before the plant is jostled, and to repot anything in clay or ceramic into plastic. Clay breaks in a car, ceramic is heavy, and plastic pots pack tightly against each other without damage. The good pots travel separately, wrapped like any other breakable.
Check every plant for pests and treat what you find now, because a move stresses a plant and a stressed plant with an infestation arrives in worse condition than it left. If the move crosses a state line, check whether the destination state restricts plants coming in; the rules mostly concern agricultural pests and outdoor plants, but they exist.
The last watering, and why the timing is the whole trick
Water two or three days before the move and then stop. A plant that was watered the morning of the move sits in wet soil that spills, weighs twice as much and, in a cold car, chills the roots. A plant that was watered three days earlier is damp, light and settled, and it can go a day or two more without harm.
In summer, err toward the earlier side of that and keep the plants out of direct sun in the days before. In winter, err later, because dry soil is a poor insulator and a slightly damp root ball holds warmth better on the trip from the front door to the car.
Packing the plants
Small and medium plants go in open boxes, pots packed tightly enough that they cannot tip, with newspaper or packing paper pushed between them. Tall plants get a sleeve: a loose cone of paper or a cut-open bag taped around the foliage, so the leaves are held upward and cannot snap against the seat. Trailing plants are wound loosely and tucked into the pot. Nothing is sealed, because a plant in a closed box in a car is in the dark and in still air.
The soil is held in with a layer of paper or a plastic bag over the surface, tied around the stem, which stops the pot emptying onto the seat on the first corner. Anything in a hanging basket comes down and travels as a floor plant.
Label every box with what is in it and which way is up, because a box of plants must never be stacked under anything, and a label is what stops a helpful relative doing exactly that.
- Open boxes, pots wedged against each other, paper between them
- Paper sleeves on tall plants, foliage held upward
- Soil covered and tied at the stem so the pot cannot empty
- Hanging baskets down and traveling as floor plants
- Nothing sealed, nothing stacked, everything labeled
Summer: the car is an oven
A parked car in an Iowa July or August goes past what any houseplant can take within minutes, and the move-day habit of loading the car early and leaving it in the driveway while the truck is loaded is what kills plants. Load the plants last, into a car that has been running with the air conditioning on, and drive straight to the new house.
At the other end, take them in first, before the furniture, to a room that is shaded and cool. Do not put them straight into a sunny window; a plant that has spent a day in a box wants a few days of indirect light before it goes back to its usual spot.
Winter: the door to the car is the dangerous part
Most tropical houseplants are damaged by a few minutes below freezing, and on a January move-day in Des Moines the walk from the front door to the car is that few minutes. Wrap each plant, pot and all, in a blanket or several layers of newspaper before it leaves the house, and have the car warm before the first plant goes into it. Do not leave the plants in a car that is then parked while other things are loaded, for the same reason as in summer, in reverse.
On a long winter drive, the plants come into the hotel overnight. On a local move, they go into the new house first, into a room away from the doors that will be opening all day for the crew, and they stay wrapped until the room is warm. A plant that arrives frozen looks fine for a day and collapses on the second, and by then it is too late.
The plants that are not worth it
Some plants do not move well and it is kinder to admit it. A large floor plant that has stood in one window for a decade may not survive the change of light however it travels. Potted outdoor plants depend on season and species. Cuttings in water travel better than the plant they came from.
For any of those, taking a cutting and giving the plant to a neighbor is often the better answer, and the same goes for the plant that is more trouble to move than it is loved. A move is a good moment to decide which ones those are.