Shipping live acacia seedlings - best practice?

[fyzygy]

Somebody sent me an acacia seedling, bare-rooted, in a plastic bag lined with wood shavings. (Acacia wood? I don't know). 

I was skeptical at first, but that plant travelled well and is now absolutely booming.

Has anyone got experience with sending bare-rooted acacia seedlings in the post -- how best to pack them for lightweight and safe transport? I was thinking perlite or sphagnum moss might work as well as wood shavings.

I don't know where I would get some (untreated etc.) sawdust or wood shavings. 

Last lot of potted seedlings I sent were killed by Australia Post. 

[Zedo]

Yeah it’s tricky. I had a dozen plants sent from VIC to QLD for my Xmas present. 2 died, the others all good. They all came in 50mm tubes and the soil looked like normal potting mix mixed with water crystals and then packing taped up to keep the soil in. 
 

I think it’s a combination of a lot of things,

type of plant, the stress of posting, how longs it takes, the conditions during post (oops box left in the sun etc) and the climatization of the plant on its new environment. 
last time I had acacias sent to me they were in 50mm tubes as well... and well. Now one of those is 10m tall lol. 

[funghi-man]

Eazyplugs might be a good solution if you know you want to send them in the post.

 

[fyzygy]

Good to know. Probably beyond my budget though. 

 

Packing the roots in wood shavings (as commercial operators do fruit trees) seems to work fine for Acacias, it's a great space saver and makes a seedling easy to pack bare-rooted in a mailing tube or envelope. Obviously wood shavings come in many different grades and qualities ... I scored big bags of clean native-timber wood shavings from a manufacturer of picture frames. So far, so good.