Wholesale Packaging Boxes — Leaf Design Wholesale

Cardboard Boxes for Shipping Plants: The Wholesale Packaging Guide

To ship artificial plants without damage or overpaying the courier, buy corrugated cartons by their internal dimensions, pick the board grade by weight and fragility, and size each box tightly, because light, bulky parcels are billed on volumetric weight rather than actual weight. We stock six long cardboard box sizes for plant sellers. They are supplied flat-packed on a pallet and only ship with orders over £500, so they are bought alongside a stock order rather than on their own.

Which board grade for which plant

Corrugated board is described by its flute (the wavy middle layer) and the number of walls. Flute size sets cushioning and stacking strength; wall count sets rigidity and puncture resistance. For artificial plants you are guarding against two failures: crushing, where the canopy flattens or flower heads bend, and puncture, where a branch end or another parcel's corner breaks through the side.

Board Flute Approx. thickness Suits Watch for
Single-wall E 1.5mm Presentation cartons, small desk plants inside an outer box Too thin to ship on its own through a courier network
Single-wall B 3mm Short stems, light foliage sprays Poor stacking strength; keep weight low
Single-wall C 4mm Bundles of long stems, bare-stem trailing plants, garlands Adequate for light, long parcels with good end protection
Double-wall EB 4.5mm Potted plants to around 90cm, mixed small orders Thinner than BC, so less cushioning at the ends
Double-wall BC 7mm Potted trees, planters, anything with a weighted pot, multi-item trade orders Adds about 14mm to each outer dimension
Triple-wall AAA or similar 12–15mm Palletised bulk and export Usually more than parcel shipping needs

The practical rule: single-wall for anything light that you could hold in one hand, double-wall for anything with a weighted pot, a rigid planter, real height or more than one item inside. Most artificial trees ship in a weighted plastic pot, so a tree box is a double-wall job even though the foliage itself weighs little. If in doubt, step up a grade; the difference in box cost is far smaller than the cost of re-sending an order.

For the full picture of how boxes fit into a plant retailer's dispatch set-up, including our box range with live stock, see the packaging boxes for plant retailers page.

Internal vs external dimensions

The product fits the inside of the box; the courier measures the outside. The two differ by the board thickness on every face, so a box quoted by its external size is smaller inside than it looks, and a box quoted by its internal size is bigger outside than it looks.

Worked example: on 7mm double-wall board, a box with an internal size of 20 × 20 × 100cm measures roughly 21.4 × 21.4 × 101.4cm outside. That extra 1.4cm on each dimension is small on a single parcel but it can tip a box over a carrier's length or size band. Always specify a box by the internal size your packed product needs, then check the resulting external size against your courier's limits.

To find the internal size you need, measure the packed profile rather than the display shape. For a potted tree that means the full height including any trunk that cannot bend, the widest rigid point (usually the pot), and the canopy width once branches are gathered and sleeved. Then add clearance of around 3–5cm on each face for foliage and flowers, less for rigid items such as planters. That is the same clearance rule used across our packaging guides.

Our box listings give three external dimensions in the product title, which is what couriers measure, so you can build a rate card straight from them. Allow for board thickness when checking what fits inside.

Volumetric weight: why size costs money

Parcel carriers charge on whichever is greater: the actual weight, or the volumetric weight calculated from the outer dimensions. The usual formula is length × width × height in centimetres divided by a divisor set by the carrier. A divisor of 5,000 is common for UK parcel services, though some use 4,000 or 6,000, so check your own rate card.

Artificial plants are light for their size, which means they are almost always billed on volume. That makes right-sizing a direct cost lever. Take a box 16 × 16 × 86cm: 22,016 cubic centimetres divided by 5,000 gives a volumetric weight of about 4.4kg. Stretch the same box to 20 × 20 × 100cm and it becomes 8kg, nearly double, even though the stems inside weigh exactly the same. The table in the next section shows the figure for each of our six sizes.

Length matters as well as volume. Many standard parcel services cap the longest side somewhere between 1m and 1.75m, and some add a surcharge for long parcels well before that cap. A 165cm carton will be refused or surcharged by some services, so confirm the service before you standardise on your longest box.

Our packaging box range

We stock six long cardboard boxes, all sold singly. They suit the shapes plant sellers ship most: bundles of stems, trailing plants and slim potted trees. The volumetric weights below use the dimensions in the product title and a 5,000 divisor; recalculate with your own carrier's divisor.

Box Dimensions (cm) Volume Volumetric weight at ÷5,000 A sensible starting point for
Long box 16 × 16 × 44cm 16 × 16 × 44 11.3 litres 2.3kg Short stems and sprays up to about 35cm
Long box 16 × 16 × 65cm 16 × 16 × 65 16.6 litres 3.3kg Stems of 50–55cm, such as dahlia and gypsophila lines
Long box 16 × 16 × 86cm 16 × 16 × 86 22.0 litres 4.4kg Stems of 70–75cm, the most common stem length
Long box 19 × 19 × 100cm 19 × 19 × 100 36.1 litres 7.2kg Foliage stems of 85–90cm, bare-stem trailing plants
Wide long box 120 × 30 × 30cm 120 × 30 × 30 108 litres 21.6kg Potted plants and small trees to around 110cm
Long box 165 × 22.5 × 22.5cm 165 × 22.5 × 22.5 83.5 litres 16.7kg Slim potted trees to around 150cm

Two worked fits. A 75cm stem such as the 75cm pink delphinium leaves around 11cm of length in the 86cm box, enough for 3–5cm of clearance at each end plus room for the flower head. A slim tree such as the 150cm twisted-trunk fruticosa ficus, which sits in a 17cm weighted pot, suits the 165cm box: the pot clears the 22.5cm section with room for packing either side, and the canopy is gathered and sleeved along the length. Always test-pack one unit before you standardise on a size.

Board grade is not recorded in our product data, so if your dispatch standard depends on single-wall versus double-wall, ask us for the specification of each size before you order in quantity. Browse all six in the packaging boxes collection.

How to order boxes: the £500 rule

Packaging boxes are supplied flat-packed and palletised, and under our terms any order containing packaging boxes only ships when the order is over £500. In practice that means adding boxes to a stock order rather than buying them separately: a reseller restocking stems and trailing plants can bring the order past £500 and add the boxes for the next few weeks of dispatch in the same delivery.

Three points make that planning easier:

  • Check the live stock count on each box size before you build a dispatch standard around it. Box lines can sell out like any other product, and we don't reserve stock.
  • Plan storage. Flat-packed long boxes still need floor or racking space the full length of the box, which is 165cm for the longest size.
  • Source void fill, tape and labels separately. Our packaging range is the six box sizes only.

Pallet deliveries follow our standard delivery terms, and a pallet redelivery is chargeable, so make sure someone can receive it. Full details are on our ordering and delivery page.

Standardising a box range for your catalogue

A tight set of four to six box sizes covering your product spread makes packing faster, buying simpler and courier rate cards predictable. Start from what you actually sell, not from a supplier's full list.

  1. List your lines by packed length, grouped in 10–20cm bands.
  2. Find the box that covers each band with 3–5cm of clearance per face.
  3. Where two bands are close, merge them if the volumetric weight penalty of the larger box is small.
  4. Check each chosen size against your carrier's length limit and divisor.
  5. Test-pack the tallest and the widest item in each band before you order in bulk.

A stems-led seller might need only the three 16 × 16cm sizes, covering stems from about 30cm to 75cm, plus the 19 × 19 × 100cm box for long foliage. A seller shipping potted plants and trees will lean on the 120 × 30 × 30cm and 165cm boxes. To see which stem lengths you are likely to ship most, compare lines by height in the flower stem finder, or browse the flower stems collection.

Where the rest of the packaging process is covered

This guide covers buying the carton. The rest of the process has its own guides:

Frequently asked questions

Can I order packaging boxes on their own?

No. Orders containing packaging boxes only ship when the order is over £500, because the boxes travel flat-packed on a pallet. Add them to a stock order instead.

Do you sell void fill, tape or mailing bags?

No. Our packaging range is the six long box sizes. Buy kraft paper, air pillows, tape and labels from a packaging supplier.

Are your boxes single-wall or double-wall?

Board grade is not held in our product data, so ask us for the specification of the size you want before you plan around it. If a box will carry a weighted pot or several items, double-wall is the safer choice whatever supplier you use.

Does the courier's volumetric weight include the box itself?

Volumetric weight is calculated from the outer dimensions, so the board thickness is included automatically. Actual weight includes the box and fill too, and the carrier bills whichever figure is higher.

Which box should I use for 6 flower stems?

Match the box length to the stem: for 70–75cm stems the 16 × 16 × 86cm box is the natural first test, and for 50–55cm stems the 65cm box. Stems are sold individually, so test-pack the number you usually ship to check the flower heads are not pressed against the sides.

Add boxes to your next stock order

Compare the six box sizes with live stock on the packaging boxes for plant retailers page, then add the sizes you need to your next stock order over £500. Register online, log in to see trade prices. Registration takes a couple of minutes on our registration page. If you sell through your own website, our trade toolkit for selling artificial plants online covers product photography, descriptions and stock feeds.

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