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Recent experiences shipping to California?

bluemax

Lotsa blue
Supporter
While reading this thread today: http://www.terraforums.com/forums/carnivorous-plant-trading-post/140649-short-notice-giveway-24-hrs-utricularia-pubescens-microgramma-vaccinifolia.html#post1194274 I found RSS's comments saying:

"Yep CA is California, they are actually starting to enforce plant shipment laws and without all those fancy nursery certs good luck getting plant materials via mail anymore The last few packages we tried were returned to us after a friendly phone call from CA asking if they could open the box to inspect it. Returning boxes take 2-4 weeks to get back to us.

Just not worth all the effort, they did say you could drive any (legal) plant material over the state lines and that was just fine. You just can not mail it over.....
"

So I am wondering what effect this will have on the upcoming auction and also on our sellers here at TF? I have not been active recently as a vendor here but I expect to be in the future. Are some of us going to have to post the words "Sorry. No bids to growers in the state of California"? I am also wondering if others have had similar experiences to the ones RSS has had recently?
 
I recently started a mail-order CP nursery and obtained all the requisite permits and licenses. Resultingly, I've been in touch with my inspector (GA Dept of Agriculture) frequently so I can learn and abide by all the regulations. Each state is different.

He told me that CA had the strictest laws regarding incoming plant shipments. All legal nurseries must pay a fee to have our shipments tested for nematodes. Aside from the expense, the time holdup for boxes to be opened and tested is also a big blow to wanting to do business within CA. Right now, my policy is not to ship to CA.

I would hope that illicit shipments from hobby growers and unlicensed nurseries would undergo the same kind of protocols for inspection and enforcement. Invasive species and diseases are no laughing matter.
 
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All the boxes we sent to CA were marked in very large writing "live plants keep from heat or cold" and they said a dog alerted on the boxes. Seems they could have simply read the box but whatever. We received no warning or talks of fines or anything they were very nice and just wanted to open the boxes and send them back if it did not meet CA requirements. In our instance, a lack of permits/inspection paperwork. Being a hobbiest I will never have.

The part that really baffled me was that I could have got in my car and driven the plants into CA without any issues according to the employees we talked to. But once you pack it into a mail box you are now subject to these inspections.

I have not heard of any others with similiar issues nor have I looked for others with these issues, but I do see alot of places that do not ship to CA or AZ.

I do know all my NASC items will have the CA restriction as we don't want to break laws the state is trying to enforce.
 
Thank you Mark and RSS for posting about this. Being just a hobbiest I also will never have permits/inspection paperwork that nurseries have, so I guess my auction items and any future sales or giveaways will have the CA restriction also...just not worth the risk. So sad.
 
It amazes me how ridiculous some laws can get. Like a plant that's in a car being treated differently than one in the mail. I feel sorry for the cp enthusiasts who are trying to order something, but the store won't ship there.
 
It's a matter of scale and opportunity to enforce the regulations. The first place enforcement can be done is at the airport. Many major international airports have trrained dogs to check cargo and checked bags for plant material. At times carryons and purses are also checked. Then it trickles down to checking bags, including carryons and purses, for incoming domestic flights as well. If you check out plant smuggling on line I'm sure you will find a list of which airports have the tighest system for inspection.
Now they are checking incoming packages at the postal level, soon I am sure they will include private carriers such as Fed-ex.
It's not that the laws are so different for plants coming in by car, it's that there is no way to stop them short of having checkpoints at every road coming into the state.
 
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There are agricultural inspections stations on the California border. When moving back from Washington to California I remember being stopped at the Oregon border and being asked if I had any plants. If you read the Agricultural laws for California there are no differences - any plants crossing the border are subject to the same quarantine and inspection.
 
This is sad to hear. I'm certainly glad I don't live in California right now, though it's very unfortunate for those who do.
 
Is this for usps or just other carriers?
 
  • #10
It kind of sucks, but the situation is understandable. CA is an agricultural state and we have had our share of issues with invasive pests and diseases. Before today I knew that you couldn't bring citrus plants into California (I think I've read that it is even illegal to transfer citrus plants between certain counties in CA), at the very least I am more educated on the subject now.
What is more bothersome is the lack of accessible, clear, and consistent information on these regulations. One of the first sites that comes up when I search "shipping plants to California" on google is this. The page makes the process seem much more simple than what I have read from this thread as well as from other sources. Clear and consistent information really needs to be distributed by the state; gardening is a very common hobby and plants are shipped into CA by hobbyists regularly (and apparently illegally). I can pretty much guarantee that most CA citizens do not know about these regulations and that plants and all their possible pests and diseases will continue to be shipped into the state until people are made aware (in unmarked packages no less).

Rant over.
 
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  • #11
I blame the governator

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  • #12
Thanks for the link, Pk93. In addition, if you really want to see it all, is this: http://nationalplantboard.org/wp-content/uploads/docs/summaries/california.pdf I was hoping that perhaps as long as the shipper could label the plant materials as not being on the list of restricted species that might satisfy the statues but I don't think that would work. Or would it?

I appreciate everyone's input in answer to my questions. If anyone has additional information I think everyone would be interested. I don't know what the best response to the issue of agricultural pests is and I understand the need for each state to protect its farmers. Just the same it saddens me that it has become much more difficult to ship C.P.s to California. If they had the financial resources I suspect many other states would tighten their defenses against out of state botanical pests by requiring inspections of plant materials as well.
 
  • #13
[MENTION=8561]mato[/MENTION] - My eyes!!!
 
  • #14
Is this for usps or just other carriers?

We only ship via USPS so I can not say anything for the other carriers but would suspect it wouldn't matter.
 
  • #15
I've post this resource many time - all the states Plant Protection laws and regulations. If the documents are out of date you can check with the links to the official state websites.

National Plant Board ? Laws and Regulations
National Plant Board ? Membership

Note: Some states have a "hobbyist" program so that you can get nursery certificates for shipping without the rigid regulation required for a commercial nursery. [MENTION=5029]JB_OrchidGuy[/MENTION] qualified for one in his state.
 
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  • #17
I've post this resource many time - all the states Plant Protection laws and regulations. If the documents are out of date you can check with the links to the official state websites.

National Plant Board ? Laws and Regulations
National Plant Board ? Membership

Note: Some states have a "hobbyist" program so that you can get nursery certificates for shipping without the rigid regulation required for a commercial nursery. [MENTION=5029]JB_OrchidGuy[/MENTION] qualified for one in his state.

[MENTION=5343]Not a Number[/MENTION], I'm not sure where you got the part about "without the rigid regulation required for a commercial nursery" from, bu moot I have to meet the same as any other nursery in SC. My license is just free because I'm a hobbies. I still pay for the tags. And my inspector has mentioned how my grow areas have been one of the best he's seen. Even for a Hobbiest. Its not hard to meet the regulations and the main thing is fire ants. They want to stop the spread of them.

JB
 
  • #18
Ouch the whole California thing. Well good luck trying to ship anything potted.that's a big no no to California. Also. I pay for my nematode test yearly so I don't have any problems.I've actually purchased for a known member in the community just to ship to them as part of a trade. Because the company didn't have tags and was shipping potted. They were intercepted twice. This has been going on for a while.
 
  • #19
I got a shipment of plants yesterday (potted) from another state and there didn't appear to be any problems.
 
  • #20
Tanukimo, yes I've received them as well. The issues lie in the fact the soil is what regulated and they cannot check every package coming in. The worst states for getting stopped are Cali, Fla, and possibly a thirds I can't remember. The plants themselves they could care less about. Its stopping fire ants.
JB
 
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