Shipping and Acclimating Aquarium Plants in Cold Weather

Cold weather is hard on live plants in transit. A package that sits on a porch overnight in freezing temperatures can arrive with damaged or melted leaves even if the plants themselves are otherwise healthy. Here's what we do on our end, and what helps once your order arrives.

How We Ship in Winter

During colder months, we add heat packs to orders shipping to regions with freezing overnight temperatures, and we ship earlier in the week to avoid packages sitting in transit over a weekend. Insulated packaging helps buffer plants against temperature swings during transit and on your doorstep.

What You Can Do

If you know a cold snap is coming, consider having your order shipped to a work address or somewhere it won't sit outside for hours after delivery. Bring packages inside as soon as possible, and avoid opening them in a cold garage or unheated entryway — let the box acclimate to room temperature for 15-20 minutes before opening if it feels cold to the touch.

Unpacking and Acclimation

Once you open the box, some leaf melt or minor damage on outer leaves is normal, especially after a cold shipment — trim it away and the plant should recover with new growth. Rinse plants gently and float or drip-acclimate them to your tank's temperature over 15-30 minutes rather than placing them directly into water that's much warmer than the shipping box.

Which Plants Handle Cold Shipping Best

Tougher, thicker-leaved plants like Anubias and Java Fern tend to handle a cold shipment better than delicate stems. Hornwort is notably resilient and will often look a bit ragged on arrival but bounce back quickly once planted or floated — see our Hornwort Care Guide for more on its growth habits.

A Good Starting Point

If you're ordering during colder months and want a plant that tolerates a rough shipment well, Hornwort is one of the most forgiving choices — it recovers quickly from cold stress and starts growing again almost immediately once it's back in warm water.

Keep Reading

• Bringing Home New Aquarium Plants: What to Do After Receiving Them from Aquarium Plants Factory
• The Hornwort (Ceratophyllum) Care Guide