How We Ship Japanese Maples and Conifers

Welcome back to Maple Ridge Musings! It’s been a while, but we will try to be back for good this time. I want to talk with you all today about shipping Japanese maples and conifers. This has really become one of the biggest and most important aspects of our nursery and our business over the past couple of years. Over the last two years we have shipped thousands of trees all over the country with very few mishaps. We have been shipping trees for years before really ramping it up over the past two years. During that time, we have learned the best ways for us to safely deliver your trees to your door. Today I want to walk you through the process that we go through to get a Japanese maple or conifer from our nursery to your home.

We begin by selecting the best tree we have of the variety that was purchased. This is probably where our biggest problems come. People have different opinions on which trees are the best. Sometimes we will pick out a tree with a particular shape that we like, but the person that receives the tree doesn’t like the shape as much. It’s all a matter of personal opinion, which is tough when you have nothing else to go on. That being said most people love the trees that we pick out for them, I am just trying to be overly honest here with the whole process. We then take the tree and cover the top of the container with some kind of paper and tape the paper down to the pot. We then put a bag around the container and tape the bag down as well. The purpose of this is to keep all of the dirt in place during transit.

The next few steps depend on the size tree that was purchased. While we sell many sizes all the way up to 25 gallon containers at the nursery, we only offer 1 gallon and 3 gallon trees online. These are the only sizes that are cost effective at all to ship. We have done 7 gallons and even 15 gallons in the past, but the cost of shipping gets to be worth more than the tree itself. If we are shipping a 3 gallon tree, it is always packaged individually. We have not figured out a safe way of packaging multiple 3 gallons together. If you have any ideas, let us know! For a 3 gallon tree, we will put the tree into a 10”x10” vertical box that ranges from 24-48” tall. We then do something that I have rarely seen others in the industry do. We tie the tree into the box so that the tree does not move at all during transit. There will be an accompanying video that details this process. After the tree is tied into the box, we excessively tape the outer string down to the box to ensure that it is secure and won’t get caught on anything.

We get a little more creative with shipping 1 gallon Japanese maples and conifers. If we are sending out just one tree, then the process is basically identical to the one described above with the 3 gallon containers except with a smaller 6”x6” vertical box ranging from 18-36” tall. However, with 1 gallons are also able to package multiple trees together. When shipping two 1 gallons together, we use a horizontal box that is between 24-36” long and 8”x8” on the ends. We lay each tree down in the box with the containers up against each side. We then tie the trees into the box in a similar manner to the vertical boxes. Once again there will be a video highlighting this process in more detail. We will also often stuff bags or bubble wrap or something between the pots and the sides of the box just to ensure that there is little to no space available for any movement at all. We once again tape all of the outer string excessively to ensure that it is secure and won’t get caught on anything.

Using this method we can actually ship up to eight 1 gallon Japanese maples or conifers in a single box. Four or more trees are typically shipped out in a 36” long box that is 12”x12” on the sides. For these bigger boxes we will usually also put bamboo stakes in the box for additional reinforcement. We will even sometimes line the shipping box with another cardboard box for additional support. We plan to start using thicker boxes in the near future to help with support and stability.  

Once the trees are firmly secure in their respective boxes, then it is time to close the boxes. We first cut handles into the sides of the vertical boxes. This helps us, the delivery people, and our customers move the trees much easier. This also helps give the tree some air flow which can be very important when shipping trees in the summer months. We then place several stickers on each box. Most importantly we place a Fedex shipping label that tells them where to send the package. We also place “Protect from Heat”, “Fragile”, “This Side Up”, “Do Not Stack”, and “Live Plants Handle with Love” stickers. These stickers are probably ignored, but we do what we can. We then close the top of the box and excessively tape it shut. The taping process is done even more meticulously with the horizontal boxes for additional support. Your tree is now ready to go!

We ship everything Fedex Ground which usually takes between 1-5 days depending on where you live. Our nursery is located in Atlanta, GA so most trees being sent anywhere in Georgia arrive the next day. If you live in the southeast you can usually expect your tree within two days of shipping. Midwest to northeast usually takes about 3 days, and it takes about 5 days to get to the west coast. 7 days is about the longest it ever takes unless there is a mistake made along the way. Trees that have been in transit 7 days are usually still alright. We even had a tree delayed 3 weeks once that was going to the west coast. This was in the middle of summer and the tree arrived a little dry, but it bounced back and was doing great the last we heard.

The times I just laid out are the number of days it will take to receive your trees once Fedex has them. It can take us up to a week or two weeks to fulfill some orders. We have a very small team, and it can take time to work through all of the orders that we receive at times. After our Black Friday sale, we worked through over 100 orders in about 3 weeks, which I think was pretty good! We also try to do the majority of our shipping early in the week to make sure that trees don’t sit in warehouses on Sundays but as our shipping volume has increased, we have had to be less picky about when we ship.

It is very important to us that when you buy a tree from us online, that you receive your tree in one piece. If your tree is critically damaged in transit or is completely lost by Fedex, we will certainly replace your tree. Just let us know what happened and provide as many pictures as possible. Like I mentioned earlier we have shipped out thousands of trees over the last couple years and could probably count on one hand the number of real issues that we have experienced. If something does happen, we will do everything we can to fix the issue. We know that many people have reservations about buying trees online. We want to take all of your worries away. Hopefully this article will help give you insight into our process and how much care and effort we put into assuring that your tree arrives to your door happy and healthy. If you have any other questions, suggestions, comments, or concerns please let us know!