Keeping plants safe during cold-weather moves

Plants can grow for decades, serving as long-standing parts of your household. Along with providing a pleasing visual experience, they can freshen indoor air as well as remove toxins from it. Making sure these valuable belongings stay safe during a move is important, especially when a plant is expensive, has lived for a long time or simply has an association with positive memories. Let's look at how you can keep your plants safe during an especially trying time for flora: the winter.

Keeping your plants safe on the move

It's important to note that most movers won't carry house plants on long-distance trips due to their delicate nature. Atlas makes exceptions for some trips of 150 miles or less when the plants will be in storage for less than 24 hours. Your first step should be determining whether your plants will travel with you or if they might be able to make the trip with our movers.

With that distinction in mind, you can move onto preparing your plants for a safe arrival at your new abode. We offer a detailed guide to ensuring your plants arrive safely that starts three weeks before moving day, with re-potting your plants into unbreakable plastic, and ends with effective approaches for healing any damage they may incur during the trip. Let's highlight the cold-weather advice:

• Water your plants two days before moving day, and be conservative with the amount you give each. While you want your plants to avoid dehydration, they can freeze in cold weather when too much water is applied. You can always give them a little extra after they're safely situated inside your new home.
• Maintain a comfortable temperature in your vehicle on the way to your new home. Extreme temperatures on the warm and cold sides can both cause damage to your plants. If your trunk is separated from your vehicle, as opposed to a hatchback or SUV design, and isn't heated, you should avoid using it to carry your plants.
• Similarly, prioritize the placement of your plants in your home, making sure they're among the first boxes or items brought inside. Put them back in their regular pots, or new ones of the same size. Keep them away from an entryway that will be full of people moving large items in and out, along with gusts of cold air.

As far as aftercare following the move, consult our plant care chart for remedies for a variety of plant-specific issues in the days following a move. It's important to provide some recovery time - a few days in most cases - before you start treating your plant, as it might just be taking a little longer than expected to acclimate to such a jarring series of events.

Moving your plants in cold weather requires a little extra care, but you shouldn't be discouraged. Our guides will help you through the process, from start to finish.