The plant is watered on Sunday, two days before it posts. Damp compost holds together in the pot. Wet compost slides, and dry compost turns to dust and falls out of the drainage holes. By Tuesday morning the top is dry to the touch and the pot is heavy but not dripping.
We start with the pot. Kraft paper goes round the nursery pot and is taped to itself, then a second strip of tape goes across the top of the compost from rim to rim, twice, in a cross. That is what keeps the plant in the pot if the box ends up on its side.
The collar is a strip of double-wall cardboard, scored and folded into a ring that sits round the pot and is fixed to the base of the box. The pot cannot move sideways, and the moss pole is tied to the collar with two lengths of jute so the plant cannot pivot.
Why not a bigger box? Extra space is where damage happens. A box that fits the plant with two fingers to spare on each side is safer than one with a hand’s width.
Scrunched kraft paper goes between the collar and the walls and loosely over the leaves. The tallest leaf is folded gently down along the pole and held with a paper band that pulls off without tearing.
What to do in the first hour
- Open the box straight away and lift the plant by the pot, never the stem.
- Cut the jute, take off the collar and peel the paper band from the folded leaf.
- Leave the plant in indirect light for a day before watering.
- If anything snapped, photograph it as it came out of the box and send us the picture.
The same collar and paper method scales down to smaller plants. Delivery days and prices are on the delivery and returns page.
