How to move plants
Researched and written by Ashley Davis · Reviewed by Emily Johnson · Last reviewed August 2026
Plants are the cargo nobody insures. Most household moving companies decline them or exclude them from any liability, because a plant that arrives dead cannot be shown to have been alive when it was loaded. Add to that the agricultural rules that apply when a move crosses a state line, and plants become a job for the car rather than the truck.
Why will a mover not take plants?
Because a trailer is dark, sealed and uncontrolled in temperature, and a plant in one for two days is a plant in a dark oven or a dark freezer. Movers exclude what they cannot be liable for, and living cargo is at the top of that list. Ask the company directly rather than assuming, and get the exclusion in writing with the estimate.
What about crossing a state line?
Several states operate agricultural inspection or restrict which plants and soils may be brought in, and the rules differ by state and change. Check what the destination state's department of agriculture requires before the move rather than at a border station, since the practical outcome of getting it wrong is confiscation. This site states no state's requirement, because they vary and are revised.
How do you prepare a plant for the journey?
Repot into plastic from anything ceramic a fortnight ahead, so the plant recovers from the repot before it also has to survive a journey. Prune back dead growth, check for pests, and water two days before rather than on the morning: a saturated pot is heavy, leaks, and makes root rot more likely in a warm car. Bag the pot and soil.
How do plants travel in the car?
Upright in open boxes so the pots cannot tip, in the passenger space rather than the trunk, which has no light and no air. Keep them out of direct sun through glass, which cooks foliage faster than open air. On an overnight stop they come into the room with you, because a car left standing swings through a wider temperature range than anything the plant has met indoors.
What happens after they arrive?
Unpack them first, before furniture, and put them somewhere with light while they recover. Expect leaf drop for a fortnight; that is the plant reacting to a change of light and humidity rather than a sign it is dying. Do not repot again, feed, or move them around the new house for a month, because a plant recovers from one change at a time.