A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The House Plant Forum Plants and airline travel?

I'm going to be flying "home" to Iowa from Portland, OR in a couple days. My mom's got some spectacular plants that I'm sure would grow well for cuttings. My questions are: Will airlines let you take cuttings, or does that violate some laws about state boundaries? How should I pack them if I can take them?

Thanks a bunch,

ERN

Erinne, the only states I am sure of that do not allow plant transport are Arizona and California there may be others.

What I do is I take cuttings as close to my departure as possible. I wrap my cuttings in moist paper towels put them in a zip lock bag and put them in between my cloths in my checked luggage. I never put them in my carry-on.

I just brought a bunch of cuttings home in my carry on luggage two weeks ago. I live in Canada but I don't think the laws about carry ons are that much different.

I did the same as decribed above with wrapping the cuttings in moist paper towel and putting in a large ziploc bag. I even had 30 degrees below freezing C. temperatures to deal with and so I kept them in an ice chest on the way to the airport. They were still nice and healthy looking when I arrived home 2 days later. Before I put them in dirt I recut them to get rid of any part of the stem that was a little dried out.

good luck

karen, I do not know about the laws from US to Canada but I know we have some really crazy security people in the US.

Some like to flex their muscle even if there is nothing that says you cannot carry something they will still take it. I had one take my ink pen. It was a flashlight/ink pen. I just pack everything and only carry my computer and phone and files I am working on. Sometimes I forget a paperclip or two and they have stopped me for that. After 9/11 it has gotten so stupid. I cannot wait to retire and never get on a plane again.

It is so bad some people have started shipping their stuff ahead.

I do the same as Cinta,, I always put mine in the Checkin bags,, and use newspaper when I can to wrap them in,, as it will help insulate them and cushion stem cuttings ,, make sure they are the very last thing you put in the bag before you get out of the car,, that way they get +o2 as long as possible,,