Plants can be shipped with cold packs in the package to help prevent the plants from being killed by the heat. I don't know how effective they are. My last order of plants, with no cold pack, arrived looking like cooked spinach, due to the extreme heat on the East Coast, and the heat here on the West Coast. My personal "plan" is to wait for cool weather before ordering any more plants.
Shipping Plants
I've started my first tank and I'm interested in getting some more plants. My LFS is great but the plants I want they either don't have or look bad. My problem is I live in south Alabama. Do I need to wait until the weather gets cooler or are there other options? I could have them shipped to work so they're not sitting on my doorstep all day.
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I agree with the post above. I live in arkansas and I was transferring plants to a friend of mine, aand he left them in his car for a day and they looked like cooked spinich as well. And i hate being patient haha
ive been shipping plants with no problem...i always insulate mine in a heat reflective material though
I have received plants during summers, when it was hot, and they did fine. But, some plants don't ship very well even in good conditions. With hot weather those plants probably won't make it.
Yeah I think it depends a lot on the type of plants you're looking for. I'm from Alabama as well, and I've shipped a lot of plants fine this summer (although I didn't ship a while ago with the 100+ degree weather) without any reports of cooked plants. That being said, I've received cooked plants when it wasn't as hot as it is now, simply because of either packaging or because of the specific type of plant being shipped (ex. a lot of floaters don't ship too well in my experience).
As a novice, I foolishly ordered plants that took extra days to arrive and about half were so stressed they failed in a few days (thought they were coming from CA, but they were shipped from San Antonio, TX). Lesson learned. I feel the seller should have been more aware of the situation and passed on the sale. When the package arrived, the cold pack was 110*. I have no idea of the conditions while traveling the thousand miles to my city. Then package just sits in the carrier's truck for hours.
For now, I've driven to some LFS and purchased plants. I'll give a mail order supplier a shot in the late fall.
For now, I've driven to some LFS and purchased plants. I'll give a mail order supplier a shot in the late fall.
wrap in a lot of news paper and it should be fine but i do mean a lot of newspapers
Shipping requires insulated foam or paper shred. If temperatures are in the 80's you're safe.
When the temperatures are in the 90's-100's a package can cook pretty good even with a coldpack.
If things are packed right everything shipped should arrive safe and sound 99% of the time.
I'm shipping in the heat and there haven't been any issues but summer just started.
August is the hottest month to ship in the USA, then temperatures drop.
-Gordon
When the temperatures are in the 90's-100's a package can cook pretty good even with a coldpack.
If things are packed right everything shipped should arrive safe and sound 99% of the time.
I'm shipping in the heat and there haven't been any issues but summer just started.
August is the hottest month to ship in the USA, then temperatures drop.
-Gordon
There's a place called BamaPlants located in Red Level, AL. Not sure if that's too far to drive for you, but they do have some live sales events in different areas, maybe even in Mobile. You can contact them to see where they'll be. Check them out here: http://www.bamaplants.com/. I've never ordered or purchased from them so can't really comment on them. I saw them mentioned on another website while looking for native plants. I almost ordered from them but they have a limited selection of plants so went another place.
I ended up ordering from http://www.shop.plantedaquariumscentral.com/Live-Aquarium-Plants_c6.htm and was very pleased with my purchase. I bought from there in May so the weather was better but they were packaged really good ... wrapped in wet newspaper, placed in plastic bags, then the whole thing was wrapped in insulation. They do have a live arrival guarantee -- MAKE SURE TO READ IT -- it's located under Store Info then Shipping Info. The site says they pack to withstand heat & cold (not sure if that includes extreme heat though). I might order from there even in hot weather. More than likely, I would probably check the 7-day weather forecast and pick a time with more moderate temps between you and AZ where they're located.
I ended up ordering from http://www.shop.plantedaquariumscentral.com/Live-Aquarium-Plants_c6.htm and was very pleased with my purchase. I bought from there in May so the weather was better but they were packaged really good ... wrapped in wet newspaper, placed in plastic bags, then the whole thing was wrapped in insulation. They do have a live arrival guarantee -- MAKE SURE TO READ IT -- it's located under Store Info then Shipping Info. The site says they pack to withstand heat & cold (not sure if that includes extreme heat though). I might order from there even in hot weather. More than likely, I would probably check the 7-day weather forecast and pick a time with more moderate temps between you and AZ where they're located.
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