I had planned to ship a bare root tree to Hawaii this winter. In fact, I already got all the packing materials together and was planning to get it in the mail this Monday. I've been busy and haven't visited my dormant potted figs for over week. I went out to my nursery this morning and found that all of my one gallon figs are fully leafed out and even have little figlets!

The Hawaii agricultural inspector told me that I can't ship them with any soil, and that they need to be able to easily remove and replace any soil-less medium (AKA damp newspaper) so that the entire tree, roots to tip, can be inspected.

The tree is a one year old cutting, about three feet tall including roots. Caliper is a little less than an inch. Can this little tree survive a three day journey from California to Hawaii inside of a plastic bag with damp paper? I think it would have been fine when dormant, but is there any problem with the tree being awake and in the prime of "spring" growth? If the only penalty is stunted growth for this year, I can live with that, as long as the tree survives.

I have had very bad luck with trees (figs and others) which has begun to leafed out while still being bare-rooted.  Like 0% luck.  If you are intent on shipping it, you might want to find a way to work the roots in damp Perlite or something similar which will pass the ag inspection.

I have received bare root trees with roots in damp paper and plastic, but they were dormant.  A growing tree needs light, soil and water to support the leaves.  Maybe if you stripped the leaves and figs, you could get by with it for the 3 day journey.  As long as the roots are viable, it will grow new leaves and figs back as soon as it hits the light and receives a place to grow. 

Good luck!

Suzi

No experience, but what if you put it in a fridge and made it dormant again? Would that be easier on the plant than stripping off the leaves?

I have received the trees with leaves where the roots were covered by the damp wood shavings. Had no problems afterwards.

I believe it'll survive. Freezing would kill it, but a trip from CA to HI should be ok. Besides, once in Hawaii, you could throw it on the sidewalk and it would probably grow, from what I've seen in the Aloha state.

It will do fine. In fact, prune it down so that you can ship it without difficulty. Just don't let the roots dry out. Make sure you place in a plastic bag and tie off good at the base so that the root ball does not dry out. I have mailed many a bare root plant that was starting to leaf out and had no problems.

Sounds like it's worth a shot to snip it and ship it. I do have more of this variety growing, so worst case, my sister will have to wait longer for her tree. Thanks all y'all for all your points of view.

Tree was FINALLY shipped this morning. I was amazed to see how the pot was stuffed with root hairs. It also had lots of earthworms living in the pot. From tip of roots to tip of top it was four feet long. Had to connect two shipping tubes together to get the length. I wrapped the root ball in plenty of damp, shredded newspaper, and then wrapped with a plastic bag and sealed it up around the base of the trunk. I also packed the above root portion of the tree with plenty of dry, shredded newspaper. I hoped the dry stuff would both insulate the package and prevent breakage.

Per instructions from the Hawaii Department of Ag, labelled the outside of the package "Live Plants" and "May be opened for agricultural inspection".

Should be there in three days. That tree was so healthy looking and has such a big root ball, I know it will survive the journey, as long as it gets past the inspector.

The tree just arrived in Hawaii today, 3/16. It was shipped 2nd day air on 3/3. So, assuming it got to the island in 2 days like the USPS said it would, it must have been in customs / agricultural inspection for almost 2 weeks. My brother in law who is an avid grower said it looked healthy and "full of life force". So, for the record, shipping whole fig trees to Hawaii can be done.