When receiving a plant it is very important to provide it with the best possible conditions to allow it to acclimate to the new environment as soon as possible, especially after a stressful traveling period.

 

These are the most important factors to take into consideration when receiving a plant

When the plant is being mailed, the soil needs to have enough moist so the plant does not dry out during the mailing traveling period. Most likely, the soil will be still moist or wet when the plant arrives to your door. This is expected as there is a lack of air flow inside the mailing box, and that it is totally fine as long as the soil is allowed to dry before watering again.  Therefore, please only water the plant if the soil is dry.

 

If you receive the plant and the soil is moist or wet, you should be able to notice improvement in the drying process from one day to the next. It should not take more than a couple of days for the soil to show  drastic improvement in its drying process.

 

If the improvement is not very noticeable, it could be a variety of factors influencing the rate at which the soil dries such as high humidity levels, cool temperatures, lack of air flow, low light conditions, etc.  The soil never should take too long to dry out as it could be harmful for the plant and lead to root rot.

 

These are some recommendations that could help the soil to dry out sooner:

• Keep the original pot outside of any decorative pot. This allows air to circulate better through the draining holes of the pot it arrived in. A fan will also further facilitate air circulation.

 

• The most efficient method to dry wet plant soil is to move the plant to a clay or terracotta pot. Be very mindful as to not disturb the root system during the process.

 

• The most drastic but most effective measure is to replace the soil. However, please be mindful that this will add more stress to a plant that has already been stressed by the mailing process.

 

If you have gone through a couple of watering cycles and you notice that the soil is still taking too long to dry out,  you can move the plant to an area with more light, more air circulation or warmer temperatures. If you don’t want to move the plant from the position you have it,  replacing the soil for a more airy one could be all you need. Also  replacing the pot for a terracotta one could be an excellent option too.

Light

Sometimes we just get crazy wanting to have every single genus of plant that exists in the world and very soon we realize we are having  problems finding a good position for the new member of the plant collection.

When looking for a good lighting position Just two more feet away from a window or a couple of feet deeper into tree shade could make a difference in the amount of light a plant receives.

It is important when we receive a plant, to place it in a location with the best possible lighting condition. Once the plant shows signs of adaptation, then we may experiment moving the plant to places that receive less than great light.