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katlandreth

What would you do? Moving a fiddle leaf fig across country.

katlandreth
8 years ago

I've read other threads about this, but would love your thoughts since my situation is a little, er, unique.


TL;DR

I've got a fiddle leaf fig that's about 9 feet tall, but I'm moving across country and am not sure how to get it to the new location.

Please take a look at the rest of this post as I have some pretty specific concerns/obstacles.


THE DETAILS

In a couple of weeks, my husband and I will drive our Ford Fiesta (i.e. jelly bean on wheels) across country from town A to city B. Hubs and I will be in city B for about a month getting oriented and looking for an apartment. We'll only have what we can pack in our jelly bean... ahem... car. Then he will fly back to town A, rent a UHaul, load it up, and drive our stuff back out to our new home.

The 9' fiddle leaf fig won't fit in our Fiesta in the pot. I've got an ad on Craigslist for it, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to sell it by the time we move and I would rather keep it anyway. So I have this dilemma. What to do with this giant houseplant?


OPTIONS I'VE CONSIDERED

Option One would be to move it in the UHaul - stuff crumpled paper around it to keep the dirt stable yadda yadda yadda. Unfortunately, to move it in the UHaul would also mean leaving it unattended in town A for a month while we're in city B. It's also likely that I won't be able to fly back and help hubs move our stuff, and he isn't confidant that he would be able to pack it up and move it correctly - he doesn't want to disappoint me and I don't want to lay that burden on him.

Option Two - the only other option I can think of - is to bare root the tree and somehow stuff it into our small car - then repot it when we get to city B.

Honestly I'm not sure it will even fit in the car bare rooted. I suppose I should measure the available space in the car.

But do you think it would survive 3 or 4 days of driving bare rooted in the car? I mean, I would wrap the roots in damp paper or cloth or something and probably put the root ball in a garbage bag to lock the moisture in... but still... do you think it could survive?


Do any of you have any experience moving a potted tree across country, or any ideas on how you might do this if you were in my shoes?

Thanks!!


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