How To Move Your Houseplants To A New Home

Moving Day is stressful on everyone, including your houseplants! And if you’re like us, you’re probably emotionally attached to many of them. Maybe you received them for a special occasion, or your Gram gave it to you years ago. Or perhaps you nurtured a plant from a single cutting, and now it’s a huge, lush specimen.

But in order to survive a move successfully, your plants are going to need a little TLC. “Obviously, in nature, plants aren’t moving around, so any change is stressful,” says Justin Hancock, horticulturalist with Costa Farms. “But you can take a few steps to help prepare them for the trip.”

• Justin Hancock is a horticulturalist with Costa Farms.

Here’s a step-by-step guide to how to move your houseplants so they’ll survive the trip:

1. Decide which plants to move.

Sometimes you just can’t take them all. “Evaluate your environment in the new space,” says Hancock. “Be realistic about what’s going to work or not.” For example, if you’ve always had large, sunny southern-facing windows, but now you only have north-facing windows, you may need to reassess which ones you’ll take, or invest in a grow light.

Large plants may need to be let go. Is there someone who will appreciate them? Friends, churches, a local community center, or assisted living facilities may welcome your plants if you need to find them new homes.

2. Get rid of the underperformers.

For plants that don’t look their best or those fighting a pest outbreak, it’s time to compost or toss them. Why drag them along if they haven’t performed well for you here? They’re not likely to do much better at the new location if they’ve been struggling all along. Plus, you don’t want to spread pests to your other plants while they’re all packed together in