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Is there any vendor who sells a kit that is specifically designed to shield a large cactus stem from the sidewalls of a box and hold the root container in place without spillage? I really do not want to construct my own shipping from scratch. Someone must have addressed this need? If the product exists please post a URL to it. I am talking about pieces similar to the photo below, but many of those will have been rooted.

Did you find a solution? What is the max length and diameter of the cacti you are shipping?

tumamoc wrote: ↑Thu Sep 24, 2020 8:27 pm Did you find a solution? What is the max length and diameter of the cacti you are shipping?

I did not find any solution.

Max length around 12 inches

I ship cacti in kraft mailing tubes all the time and have never had any problems. You didn't indicate the diameter of the plant, but if I was mailing a bunch of columnar cuttings like yours, I would buy a set of 4 inch diameter tubes, like these on eBay, then cut to size with a hacksaw. The tubes are rigid, so they don't need to be padded, except for maybe a single newspaper wrap around the body and about an inch of cushion on the end (and probably just the growing tip, since these are cuttings). So a 12 inch cutting needs a ~14 inch tube. As long as the ends are packed well, the plant will not shift around. Depending on volume, you could pay as little as $2 for secure packaging, and it is not very time consuming at all to make the cut. Cutting individual tubes will require more end caps than are provided in the package, but you can just order extra caps or crimp the ends of the tube.

I usually deal in smaller size plants (2" or 3" tubes), but they almost always have roots. I just wrap the roots in a paper towel(s) and use masking tape to hold it together where the stem meets the roots. That usually keeps any leftover potting soil from spilling out all over the package. Unfortunately, I don't currently have any examples of my "shipping kit" to show you, but you get the idea.

tumamoc wrote: ↑Fri Sep 25, 2020 6:12 pm I ship cacti in kraft mailing tubes all the time and have never had any problems. You didn't indicate the diameter of the plant, but if I was mailing a bunch of columnar cuttings like yours, I would buy a set of 4 inch diameter tubes, like these on eBay, then cut to size with a hacksaw. The tubes are rigid, so they don't need to be padded, except for maybe a single newspaper wrap around the body and about an inch of cushion on the end (and probably just the growing tip, since these are cuttings). So a 12 inch cutting needs a ~14 inch tube. As long as the ends are packed well, the plant will not shift around. Depending on volume, you could pay as little as $2 for secure packaging, and it is not very time consuming at all to make the cut. Cutting individual tubes will require more end caps than are provided in the package, but you can just order extra caps or crimp the ends of the tube.

That might work. Do you need to cut any holes in the tube to allow air exchange?

Some wrapped up newspaper is a very good way to shield delicate plants from impact.
You don't need to overthink these sort of things with complicated or expensive solutions.

Aiko wrote: ↑Fri Sep 25, 2020 8:57 pm Some wrapped up newspaper is a very good way to shield delicate plants from impact.
You don't need to overthink these sort of things with complicated or expensive solutions.

That is a terrible way to package anything with weight. The heavy object will work its way out of the soft material to the edge of the box, where it is then subject to the full force of any impacts during shipping. That's a great way to break something that is delicate. As someone who used to work in a company that received dozens of delicate items every day, I have seen a large amount of product damage from that kind of packaging. You always want to secure a delicate object in solid foam or some other container that will restrict its movement inside a larger container. Personally I would put the cylindrical container inside of a larger box and pad around that with some cheap foam that would restrict its movement in the larger container.

I don't think the pieces shown are very delicate. Really, wrapped up newspapers work quite well.

To be clear, with wrapped up newspaper I mean crushing the paper into snowball size paper balls. I don't mean just wrapping up plants like you do with wrapping paper for presents. These paper balls make it easy to squeesh them between things for which you want to restrict movement, or avoid spines from piercing anything you don't want to pierce, or just fill up the box easily if the box is too big.

If you want to send out delicate Tylecodons or Adromischus, you might like to take a different approach.

pone wrote: ↑Fri Sep 25, 2020 8:54 pmThat might work. Do you need to cut any holes in the tube to allow air exchange?

I've never poked holes in the tube, caps, or any part of the package. I haven't received any negative feedback selling/shipping 100+ plants this way on eBay, so I feel pretty confident that your cacti will be fine.

Aiko wrote: ↑Fri Sep 25, 2020 8:57 pm Some wrapped up newspaper is a very good way to shield delicate plants from impact.
You don't need to overthink these sort of things with complicated or expensive solutions.

My method isn't complicated or expensive, if you need to move a lot of product. It's a simple way to make a custom-fit container. Good luck finding and shipping a 28" box.

tumamoc wrote: ↑Fri Sep 25, 2020 10:28 pm

Aiko wrote: ↑Fri Sep 25, 2020 8:57 pm Some wrapped up newspaper is a very good way to shield delicate plants from impact.
You don't need to overthink these sort of things with complicated or expensive solutions.

My method isn't complicated or expensive, if you need to move a lot of product. It's a simple way to make a custom-fit container. Good luck finding and shipping a 28" box.

Your method is interesting I will look at doing that.

I have seen some shipped in empty egg cartons. I believe they would slightly modify the egg carton as needed to fit different diameters.

Regarding strong tubes. Try your local carpet warehouse as the carpets are wrapped around strong carboard tubes and they may let you have some which you can then cut to length with a saw or hacksaw. You could also wrap the stems with bubble wrap before putting them in the tubes.