Some of us just might want to join in on the frenzy, especially as we make new starts from our leggy, overwintered plants!
Links to existing threads would be fine; I just wanted to have a single point of reference so I don't get lost 'window shopping' along the way. ;)
Donna
I grow my cuttings in rockwool. When they are ready to go, I take them apart (I score the rockwool before planting) and then wrap the rockwool/roots in plastic wrap or foil. Then I either use a small piece of newspaper and roll them in it and slip into a toilet paper tube or sometimes, I don't use the newspaper. Then I put a piece of scotch tape across the bottom end of the tube so that the plastic wrap enclosing the root ball will be stuck to it and it won't slip out of the tube. I usually wrap mine for mailing when they look like these in the picture. I make sure I don't pile them too deep without using something to help hold some of the weight off those on the bottom, ie: foam peanuts or shredded paper. Sometimes crumpled newspaper, but we are usually short on that. When I run out of TP tubes, I just roll them in more paper. Newsprint works well. I save it when I get orders with it.
I brought home a bunch of coleus cuttings from Louisiana to Massachusetts on the airplane in my suitcase {carryon} I put each cutting in a ziploc bag and left it inflated. I then put them in two plastic shoeboxes and put those in the suitcase. they had no roots. In fact, my husband and my brother-in-law thought my sister and I were crazy sitting on her porch cutting the heads off of perfectly healthy coleus. I left her the roots and enough baby leaves on the stem to restart them. She had a beautiful bed of coleus by the end of the summer and so did I.
If I were mailing them with roots, I would be sure to have rooted them in some very light potting soil or vermiculite. Regular potting soil will weigh down your package and shift during transit unless you wrap it up in something. Newspaper would do, I suppose. I sometimes get plants from mail order wrapped in newspaper.
Donna, you got some great advice here, I usually wrap the stems in a moist paper towel and wrap with a plastic bag. I have found that they do better if you pack several together.
