Garden

[CJC]

Anyone know if the larger national moving companies, like United Van Lines, will move plants?  I'm speaking of 2 or 3 very large potted plants that I hate to leave behind.  Is there some law preventing this?  I've seen an agricultural check point as we cross state line into Florida on I-95.

[SilleeMee]

Each state has it's own regulatory guidelines. You need to contact the state dept of agriculture. 

This might help:

contact@nationalplantboard dot org

I might add...many moving companies don't do plant moves because of regulations...fyi.

[aggravated]

My personal experience, I could not get any of them to even move the outdoor concrete planters, absolutely no plants.  This was a local move not across state borders.  We were at one point considering a move to Florida.  We have relatives who live in Florida and without asking, volunteered to drive our plants for the move in their SUV - they were unable to get their plants to Florida from Virginia when they moved.

[millieshops]

Unless things have changed, I don't think you'll find a large company to do that.  If their trucks have to ever go through any states where laws forbid plant transfer, they won't accept plants.

We once helped a neighbor who was moving by transferring 2 pick-up truck beds full of plants from the house as well as from their specimen garden.  His company was paying all their moving expenses except for our moving the plants which they would not touch!

[gardenman]

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@CJC wrote:

Anyone know if the larger national moving companies, like United Van Lines, will move plants?  I'm speaking of 2 or 3 very large potted plants that I hate to leave behind.  Is there some law preventing this?  I've seen an agricultural check point as we cross state line into Florida on I-95.

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It's challenging for moving companies to move plants due to their fragility in addition to the various quarantine laws states have. The warmer states are the most restricitve. If you're moving to Florida, California, or a similarly warm state, chances are you just can't move them at all unless you're willing to have the plants quarantined and fumigated. (In some cases all of the soil on the plants will have to be removed and replaced also.) If you're moving locally, say from NJ to PA you'd have fewer restrictions but finding a mover will still be a challenge. Packing a large houseplant for shipping is not an easy endeavor.

[Perkup]

I've moved nine or ten times and never had any difficulty moving plants.  I have a huge Royal Cape Jasmine that came from my Grandmother's old home place in Georgia (burned by the Yankees)  It's the only thing left from there, and I've had it for over 60 years - she had it before me and her Mother prior to that.  It's very special to me and I won't let it go.  No one ever said they wouldn't carry it. I used at least five different carriers.  The only thing they did ask was that I understand they could not be responsible for its' survival during very hot weather - sitting in the truck for some time without water. 

[CJC]

Thank you all.  I'm going to look into this with various movers.  The move is from SC to FL.

[athenian]

I'll never forget a move when Allied wouldn't move my plants.  I ended up driving with a dog, a cat, a big ficus tree, a passionflower and a mother-in-law's-tongue.  When I stopped for the night, for some reason I thought the plants would be better in the motel room than the car, and hauled them in there.  The plants were much more trouble than the pets.

@Perkup I envy you your heirloom jasmine.  60 years is unbelievable!

[Lucky Charm]

My parents can't take potted plants to their place in Calif.  Or maybe it's some hassle they don't want to deal with. 

The only other time I've ever heard of a problem with plants was coming/going to Hawaii.  I think you had to get special permission.  Not that I wanted to bring anything back or take anything there for that matter!