I'm posing the same question here as I have in the Seed Trading forum:
Saw this on the USPS site:
"The Terminal Inspection Act (7 U.S.C. 166) makes it unlawful for anyone to mail a package that contains a plant or plant product to an address in a global state or territory maintaining terminal inspection of such plant or plant product if the outside of the package is not marked with a statement that fully and conspicuously identifies the contents. The statute authorizes imposition of a monetary penalty on anyone who makes such an unlawful mailing."
http://www.usps.com/cpim/ftp/pubs/pub14/pub14.html#508hdr2
Was wondering what this means. Any ideas? I'd hate to send someone a plant and have the Fed's come after me.
Donna
Legal Matter of Sending Plants via Mail
when i mail a package i always tell my postmaster what i am sending. she marks it perishable. so the post office KNOWS i am mailing plants. my sister is a postmaster and she has never told me that this was illegal. the only time you have to list what you are sending is when you are sending plants or seeds out of the country.
I'm not an attorney, but I believe the key words are "global state or territory".. In other words, not a domestic state or territory. I.E., another country.
I always mark my package with
LIVE PLANT PLEASE
KEEP OUT OF SUN
x
It is illegal to ship some plants to certain states.
AZ, CA and FL are the most stringent in their rules.
Most states are concerned about invasive plants and imported bugs.
For more information I suggest you contact your State Department of Agriculture.
ROX
That's what I was thinking too, Rox... If I'm shipping to one of those states, I'll mark a box "bare root plants" or something to indicate I'm not shipping garden soil, but I haven't been putting a list of species on the outside of most boxes. I should probably start doing so... I've usually got a packing list when I'm sending out a box, and it wouldn't be too hard to make it more legible LOL and tape it to the outside of the box.
When I ship plants, I only do a few for trading, I am afraid to tell the post office its a plant. They are getting so picky, however here in Oregon we do have the "sudden oak diease". My nursery gets inspected for it, I have an inspection happening today, the plants I ship are never hosts for the bug. But if people do not know the host plants, this could easily be shipped to other states. Its a problem but everytime they regulate, they over regulate.
I do not know the answer.
Rebecca
I remember when the freeze was on, it just about put the nursery business into bankruptcy. I was working at one at the time. It's a pretty horrible disease, it could completely bring the Southeast to its knees. By the way, I was very surprised to see a fern added to the list, up until now it has been pretty much trees and woody ornamentals that we amateur gardeners might not be shipping anyway.
here's the link for the host plants. They are updating it 10/1 to add
Acer pseudoplatanus, Aesculus hippocastanum, Laurus nobilis, and Michelia doltsopa to the "proven hosts to be regulated" and Castanopsis orthacantha, Cornus kousa x Cornus capitata, Distylium myricoides,Eucalyptus haemastoma, Ilex purpurea, Loropetalum chinense, Manglietia insignis, and Parakmeria lotungensis to the "associated plants"
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ppq/ispm/pramorum
What does this mean? It doesn't affect me; I'm just curious.
xxx, Carrie
you don't want to bring any non-inspected plants on the list out of CA or OR because they could be carriers of a disease that attacks a huge list of shrubs/trees/etc., this was the furthest south it had been found which was a huge shock.
In 2004 right at the height of shipping season some infected plants were found at Monrovia nurseries in S. CA. They had already shipped plant product to basically every high-end nursery in the US. Also they had 5 other growing locations in the US, quite a bit of plant material had been shipped intercompany to those locations. Many states stopped accepting CA shipments from any nursery, as I recall eventually the USDA shut things down for inspection. Most states now inspect and certify the nurseries to be clean of it. This very nearly put several companies out of business.
It really is very serious. The plants go through a very quick die back thing and turn black and die. There is no treatment. I just had my inspection today, I am very, very careful. I know my stock is clean as it is inspected and I make sure he gets samples of everything I carry that is a host. I worry some nurseries do not tell the inspector of the hosts they carry. The inspector knows NOTHING about plants, cannot identify a rhody or heather. He told me I was the only nursery in the area that had host plants, I think the others just lied in fear of problems. There are so many plants on the list it would be hard not to carry them as a nursery. I was inspecte d 6 months ago. I only purchase plants from wholesale nurseries that have passed insection, but worry about if they are honest. I will get results in 2 weeks.
Rebecca
Monrovia trashed over 50,000 plants and many nurseries here no longer carry rhodies and azaleas.