Shipping rooted dahlia cuttings was discussed informally by Eugene Kenyon of Rivers Dahlias at our last club meeting. As with all cuttings sellers, it is a difficult subject. He says they are charging $25.00 for second day delivery as other less expensive shipping is not reliable. We talked briefly about packing material and they have abandoned clam shell packaging. Instead, they are using what I call the Meggos method where the roots and the leaves are packed differently. I did not say " in separate packages and you need to re-attach them when you get your shipment"☺.
The theory is that roots need some moisture and leaves do not. Meggos used aluminum foil around the root portion and the leaves were not wrapped at all. Rosie of Rivers Dahlias is using fast food wrappers and wraps the roots and then wraps the entire plant with another wrapper so the the roots say wet and the leaves stay dry. Ooops, time for the meeting and that is the end of our conversion.
One more item was discussed and that was shipping unrooted cuttings. The suggestion went over like the proverbial
" lead balloon". I advocated and he resisted. No resolution. 
Picture unrelated to subject.
