Prepare leaves for shipping |
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| My favourite time of year is soon upon us. I no longer have a spring, summer or fall, it is now shipping seasons. African violet exchanging time! Why not join in on the fun and excitement of growing new varieties? If you have no leaves to exchange with and would like to get in on the fun I will sell leaves so you can join in the fun next year. | |
| For those of you who are shipping for the first time I have some suggestions on how to prepare your leaves for the journey. | |
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First of all you need the leaf of course, remove one from the plant and wrap as
shown here below. Find a nice vigorous, unblemished leaf not too old
and not too young. You can find these some where in the center rows of
leaves. After all the person we are sending to is the same one who will
probably send to someone else not too far in the future. We do not want to be
the cause of bad habits. Some have found that the best way to ship leaves is just break them off the plant and put them in a baggie. While I have found that method good in high temperatures. I would still prefer wrapping them in slightly damp cotton balls. I wet them and press as much water as possible out before folding them over the stems. I feel it is the tin foil covering that makes the difference. It should be wrapped around the cotton so as not to let any air at the cotton ball at all. Just this summer I tested out the two different ways with my "share the joy" package. I sent one box of leaves unwrapped, then in a few weeks sent another package with the ends wrapped. The recipient was very sure she preferred the second method! Now this is in Canadian high temperatures, which is very different weather than some of the southern states. Of course I cannot speak for them. |
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put the leaf into a baggie with a little puff of air. |
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Not too much air as it will give the leaf too much room to bounce around and it could be bruised or broken before it gets to it's destination. |
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a small box and foam pellets, shredded or crumpled paper or even the pink insulation can be used to snug the box up again so the leaves do not bounce around. |
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roll tinfoil around the stem but do not fold the bottom piece of tinfoil up, rather use it to staple to the cardboard. |
| Or, an alternative method | |
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this cardboard is excellent but I save my paper towel and toilet tissue cores for this purpose. |
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stapled to the cardboard this leaf is not going to move anywhere.
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Roll the leaf in like so |
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secure with another staple or tape. pack them up in a small box and snug up as illustrated above. |
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Most people choose to mark "fragile" or this end up or live plants on the outside of the box. I feel it centers the box out and asks for trouble. Almost as if you were to hang a sign on your locked door with directions on finding the key. Not many people today respect the property of others. |
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