Re: How Harvey packs banana plants for shipping
 

BTW when the USPS girl asked me what the content of my package I said "banana" . She did not understand so I repeat it. She still did not undesstand so I I repeat again "banana .....pup, you know....." but I still could see the puzzle in her leyes but she accepted the package anyways.

Re: How Harvey packs banana plants for shipping
 

That's the ideal package for me but where can I buy one of those? I have no clue even thinking at Home Depot.
So shipping a bigger banana is not out of the question if I can obtain them.

"To reduce the spread of pests and diseases, soil should usually be removed from banana plants, in my opinion. Small plants without a corm are weak and have little stored energy, so that's a different matter. It's best to ship those in soil-less medium, if pests are a potential problem. "


That's my way of thinking also in case the agrigods obtain a warrant for me.

Re: How Harvey packs banana plants for shipping
 

Benny, I would just make a box of 5.25" x 11" x 74" out of four of the tube boxes. It would bulge some at the bottom for a large corm but I would just wrap a lot of tape around it. I'm not into buying boxes when I can get them for free. Once you have done it a few times you can put them together pretty fast. Otherwise, you might drive in the back of some strip mall and see what kind of boxes they may have discarded.

Re: How Harvey packs banana plants for shipping
 

OK. Got it.
Thanks Harvey. Or I can drive past the recycle place and see what stuff I can get for free.
That's where I got my sliding glass doors.

Benny

Re: How Harvey packs banana plants for shipping
 

Great videos guys! Thank you for sharing. Harvey, did my Hawaiian Spider Lillies I mailed you pass your inspection? I now know who to call for wrapping Chistmas/Chaunukah gifts :ha:.

Re: How Harvey packs banana plants for shipping
 

Benny, one more thing you can do is get a get a bunch of the #4 Priority boxes Product: Priority Mail Box O-BOX4 (if you want your box to be 7" x 7" or a bunch of the #7 boxes Product: Priority Mail Box O-BOX4 to create a box 12" x 12". If you took 12 of the #4 boxes or 9 of the #7 boxes and stacked them on top of one another, you'd get a box 72" long. I would tape the flaps together inside the box as well as on the outside. It would take quite a bit of tape but the Post Office might have their tape at a table or counter. They used to let you order the Priority Mail tape online for free, but they no longer offer it (my local Postmaster will give me a roll if I ask for it, but I prefer to use the stronger 3M tape anyways).

I've done this before for some other smaller things, but not bananas. However, I was reminded about it when I got a plant shipped to me in 4 of the #4 boxes yesterday.

This can create a very rigid box since the entire box is double-walled.

You can order all of these supplies online and they'll deliver them in a week or so to your home. Category - Priority Mail

If you do this, let us know how it works and post a photo (or video)!

Harvey

Re: How Harvey packs banana plants for shipping
 

Thanks, Andrew. The spider lillies arrived in great shape and are doing well, though that was at least a couple of months ago and I don't remember one thing about the packaging. I told you I was getting old! :ha:

Re: How Harvey packs banana plants for shipping
 

OK.

Re: How Harvey packs banana plants for shipping
 

I'm one year older tomorrow. It's only a number but you are older than me :). We are taking the girls for a weekend trip to a water slide park.

I have used the USPS Priority mail shoe boxes and attached several together to make a longer wider box. I also shop at Costco and gather boxes there for odd shaped items I sell on ebay. They are free as well.

Re: How Harvey packs banana plants for shipping
 

I generally try and ship larger corms, if available. That improves viability during shipment. I generally uses a 12 x 12 x 36 box, and if the palnt is too big, I will take 2 boxes and telescope them. I strap the corm to the end of the box to keep if from shifting and damaging the plant and leaves (same thing I do for shipping things in pots). If you can keep the weight from shifting, there is lettle opportunity for damage. The only thing I do differently is to leave more leaf surface on the plant. If need be, I will carefully fold them, knowing that folded and shredded leaves still "work" to provide energy on an in-ground plant. The greater leaf surface should help recovery time by providing more energy input.

Having said that, shipping intact bananas with leaves in always a challenge - balancing the weight of the corm with the tender/leafy parts of the plant.

Harvey, I guess I'll have to make a video of my suitcase technique. ;-))))

Re: How Harvey packs banana plants for shipping
 

Pitangdiego:
If the leaves are longer than the box do you folded them back into the box instead of cutting them? I think that's the way I understood you.
I was having difficulty wrapping the enlarged pup and I thought to myself never again. You all seem to say it was easy.
So please do some video so a lot of us can learn.

Benny

Re: How Harvey packs banana plants for shipping
 

Your pups are much bigger than mine, Jon. Tony and I were chatting yesterday about your big use of compost compared to our tight soils with high clay content. Even though I dig in manure, etc. it seems to not last very long. I don't think I've every had a banana root more than 2' away from a pseudostem while I've seen you pull up a pup with a root at least 5' long.

I'm axiously awaiting your video! :D

Re: How Harvey packs banana plants for shipping
 

If there is a fruit fly quarantine in effect -- such as we currently have in many parts of San Diego county, then the CDFA requires that the leaves be removed. If you also remove all the soil and dangling roots, then it can be shipped as "dormant plant material" with no inspection required -- provided you also list your nursery stock license on the label.

Re: How Harvey packs banana plants for shipping
 

Richard, you're located in a fruit fly quarantine area if I am looking at this map correctly, right? http://pi.cdfa.ca.gov/pqm/manual/pdf...lyMiraMesa.pdf It looks like you're almost out of the area; is there any progress being made to at least allow the area to be reduced? Of other active forum members it looks like Jon is located in http://pi.cdfa.ca.gov/pqm/manual/pdf...ringValley.pdf but Tony is in the clear (for now).

Re: How Harvey packs banana plants for shipping
 

Harvey, are ther any in my area?

Re: How Harvey packs banana plants for shipping
 

Maybe this deserves it's own thread, or maybe there is one already, but what exactly are the shipping rules? Can I legally ship plant material with no certs or licenses?

I'm also thinking of Chong and his box of beat up bananas that need to be inspected. Is the inspector just going to say hey you can't be shipping that stuff and confiscate the plants?

Re: How Harvey packs banana plants for shipping
 

Nope. A silver lining in the Med quarantine areas is that they can also look out for the Spotted Wing Drosophila (Cherry Vinegar Fruit Fly).

Re: How Harvey packs banana plants for shipping
 

Contact your county Ag department.

Re: How Harvey packs banana plants for shipping
 

Harvey,
That was a great video. Thanks!

I have two questions, though. When you manufacture new size boxes, they have to go by weight; correct? I can't see that these would be flat rate. Also, in the video, when you vere making a rectangular box out of two triangular ones, I noticed that one said, "Priority Mail" on it, and the other said, "Express Mail". Wouldn't that cause a problem, with Priority on one side of the box, and Express on the other?

Re: How Harvey packs banana plants for shipping
 

Thanks, John.

Yes, these are not flat rate boxes and they go based on weight. For most bananas, I've found it cheaper to ship by weight than a flat rate box (I'm a huge fan of flat rate boxes for other things and used over 600 of them for chestnut orders last year). If I was shipping a large corm I would readily used a flat rate box. If I chopped one of these bananas into a size that would fit into a medium flat rate box I could mail it in a regular box (priced by weight) to Tony 350-400 miles away for about $7 or to Randy in TN for about $11. Pricing is pretty good if it's light, but I think it's more important yet to leave as much of the banana intact as possible.

These tubes have one side that says Priority Mail and another side that says Express Mail. So when I make a box like I did, I'll end up with two sides that say each. I usually use free Priority Mail stickers to cover up the Express Mail print but I don't think it's really necessary. They go by my electronic mailing label anyways and I put that on the side that says Priority Mail though I don't think that matters either.