by Saxicola » Wed Jul 25, 2012 2:26 am
I moved from central to southern California a couple years ago and had to move about 50 or 60 plants ranging from large rose bushes to tiny Lithops. It was a 5hr. drive. Not my idea of fun, but I had very little in the way of spilled pots and broken branches. The big plants went in a Uhaul, everything else went in my hatchback. In planning this the two main situations you need to prepare for are sudden stops and making turns. The highway is the easy part unless you have to screech on your brakes. In all likelihood if your plants are going to fall over it will happen just after you leave or just before you arrive as those are the times you will be making turns. Try to make them slow and wide if possible.
If you have tall columnar cacti that could get broken stems from bouncing around you may need to do the packing peanut thing, but for most of them I don't think it is necessary. Boxes are great if you have space for them. The most important thing is to pack the pots so there is no wiggle room. Maybe you will need to use a couple sheets of newspaper, but for the most part if you are careful about packing you can get the pots arranged in such a way that they hold tight on their own. Don't feel confined to just using boxes. Cars have nooks and crannies that should be exploited. Put newspaper or plastic on the floor behind your seats and load it up. The shape of that area in most cars works like a box and you can fit more plants in that way. Just make sure you don't run the seat back after doing that! Cupholders will also secure a few pots just fine. I look at something like this as a big jigsaw puzzle. Put some thought into it and you'll see lots of ways to keep packing in the plants. Don't water them for a few days before hand as well. Saves on a mess and is easy to do with succulents.
Good luck!
