sad topic spin off

[exasperatus2002]

The thread entitled sad has raised a question for me. If we were at a show or out of state but still within the US or our perspective country of origin, would we be able to transport any orchids with out having to declare them or have some permit from some gov. dept decaring it safe to carry over state boundaries since some plants are restricted in some states.

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

If you carry them in your luggage, I don't think you will have a problem in most states. Certainly not bringing them into Arizona, which seems to be one of the pickier states. I am not sure about bringing them into Hawaii tho. Maybe someone that has done it recently can comment. I know of some one that took her entire collection of orchids to Hawaii in suitcases quite a few years ago.

[PhalPal]

I don't know the specific rules, but California is extremely picky because we are such a large agricultural state. I am sure each state would have very different regulations.

[wieb]

I just came back from Hawaii and had some orchids shipped to me from a nursery on Kauai. The nursery had a section of their facility set aside for "pre-certified" plants that were able to be shipped to the mainland without further inspection. They told me that plants that were NOT in this pre-certified area were not authorized to be shipped to the mainland. That was Kauai Nursery and Landscaping, of which I gave a link in the related posting mentioned above, "sad". There website may have more info on the legalities associated with shipping to the mainland (and maybe other countries).

[janet_a]

florida can be somewhat testy also.

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

PhalPal, as picky as you think California is, I have all my plants shipped to California for pick up or reshipment, where the vendor refuses to ship to Arizona, and there are quit a few of them on ebay. I haven't seen any vendor on ebay say they won't ship to California.

[Joan]

I have brought orchids from Florida to NY, on the plane in shopping bags, without any problem.

[janet_a]

coming out of florida's ok; bring plants in can be iffy.

of course, there's always the "lock them in your trunk and don't tell anybody" method.

[PhalPal]

That really surprises me Cynthia. I once had some bananas taken away from me when I was in a car crossing the Ca border from Az. It was during some kind of fruit fly scare.
Maybe because it is such a big deal to California they just have more staff and organization when it comes to clearing agriculture?? It's possible that Arizona has a small agency and it takes forever for an orchid to clear for delivery.

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

Well, since I go back and forth, AZ to CA, better than a half dozen times a year, I can tell you that Calif is no longer paying any attention to Non-commercial cars coming into the state. They no longer have personnel stopping cars, and just have a sign saying something like, 'station closed, proceed with caution'. We slow down, but don't actually stop. The last trip to CA and back was by plane and there was no one any where to ask any questions about what was in the luggage. And AZ hasn't stopped cars in the 10-15 years we've been making the trip.

I think all these people on ebay refusing to ship to AZ may have been burnt at an earlier time, when maybe AZ was a little pickier. One of our orchid growers here has been in touch with the AZ Ag Dept, and she was assured that the only pest they have any interest in at all is the citrus aphid, which is a threat currently from Hawaii, but not anywhere else that we know of. But try to tell that to the ebay vendors. Mostly we just make do. Either don't bid, or reship.

[PhalPal]

Cynthia I always crossed the border at Yuma and there is always, I mean always, several agents stopping cars. Maybe that site is more interested in transporting people and just happened to come across my bananas!

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

Yuma is pretty close to the border isn't it? I suspect they are checking for illegals, not bananas. I can assure you, or maybe you should try a test for us, that they aren't too interested in fruit any more. I cross at Blythe, and there hasn't been someone there for a year or more.