Live Plant Shipping
Plants start shipping at the end of April/May after our climate has warmed up enough.
We continuously sow seeds and transplant year-round but please keep in mind that your entire order may not be ready all at the same time and is not considered ready until most or all of the items are available.
If your order is being held up by one or two plants we will substitute that variety for something as close as possible. If you do not want any substitutions please leave that in the notes during check out.
If you have a specific timeline that you need your plants by it is best to contact us BEFORE ordering so we can give you a better timeline.
We fulfill all orders in the order they are placed and will send you a notification email with pick up or shipping info.
If your order includes both seeds and plants when it is too cold to ship plants, they will arrive separately.
Live plants are sent USPS Priority with tracking.
We will hold plant orders until temperatures are reasonable, typically late April-November (WEATHER PERMITTING).
Order delays may occur when inclement weather is impacting our nursery location, our shipping carriers, or our production vendors. These delays help us protect your plant order to ensure it is received at its highest quality.
UNPACKING & CARE INSTRUCTIONS
We want you to be happy with your purchase. Please read the unpacking section below to ensure that you don’t cause more needless stress to the plant.
UNPACKING-
It is to be expected that your plants will show signs of stress after shipping. A wilted compacted plant is not a dead plant.
Use a razor blade or scissors to cut away the outside packaging and soil cover so that the plant isn’t damaged in the unpacking process.
Lightening, veining, and spotting of the leaves are normal and they will return to their natural color after the plant has recovered. We fertilize each plant before packing them up.
Plants may be trimmed, topped, or leaves folded a bit to minimize damage during transit. It is normal for your plant to look scrunched or compacted. It will slowly return to normal once it rehydrates. Sometimes we also trim boxes down to smaller dimensions to save on shipping costs.
WATERING/TRANSPLANTING-
Do not transplant while stressed and before hardening the plant.
Give the plant 7-10 days to fully stabilize before transplanting. It is important to keep the plant inside out of direct sunlight for 4-5 days to allow the plant to acclimate to your location. Without slowly hardening, your plants will die.
You should water the plant if the soil is dry. If the soil is already moist don’t add any water. Adding too much moisture will cause root rot.
Shipping is traumatic for plants. Most plants will bounce back from even the most stressful situations. By ordering a live plant mail-order you take the risk of receiving a wilted (not dying) plant, which in most cases, under proper care, will recover soon.
REMEMBER-
Even a package that has “Fragile” written all over it is subject to aggressively being stacked, dropped from conveyors, thrown, and bounced while driving down the road.
Remember that the plant has taken a flight or two causing wild swings in atmospheric pressure that plants are not adapted to experience.
LIVE PLANT GUARANTEE
We want you to be happy with your purchase. If your plants arrive dead please file a claim.
To email a claim you must/need -
Submit Claims To-
Email- Sylvia@HandMeDownFarms.com
Please include a picture of the package if it is damaged so we can file a claim with USPS.
Please remember that a wilted or stressed plant is not a dead plant.
We do not offer refunds for plants that look like they “may” die after the 3rd day.
Refunds will not be given after 3 days from delivery, for a revivable plant, if they have been transplanted, or without photos.
Your plants will show signs of stress after shipping.
A wilted, compacted plant is not a dead plant.
We have no control over the plant after delivery and can’t guarantee its growth after transplanting.
We will not assume responsibility for plants that have died as a result of improper planting or care.
