Last year I placed an order with Floramaxx Technologies and obtained a phytosanitary certificate for the honeyberries that they shipped me. This year I place another order with them which included Saskatoon serviceberries as well as more honeyberries and my order is currently flagged with an emergency action notification at the border in Washington State because the agriculture officer claims that the order contains prohibited plants. I am not sure what to do about this because I know that both of these plants are not prohibited in my area nor is it illegal for me to import them as they have phytosanitary certificates. Does anybody have any advice for this?
Side note - these are disease free tissue culture plants, if that matters.
I could have sourced part of my order elsewhere, but didn’t see the need to as I had gone through this process successfully last year with the same company (which is fantastic by the way)
There were three other people planning on going in on this order with me
You can literally buy everything I ordered from other US sellers, just for a substantially higher price. Why would I do that if I can get it cheaper?
Now I am behind another year of growth and planning, and I have to spend more on the same plants at who knows what price by the next round of inflation and madness in the world.
All thanks to a government policy which does not make sense as I didn’t even order anything illegal. I would completely understand if I was trying to buy apple scions or something that might actually harbor disease, but I paid for a phytosanitary certificate for that exact reason to do things the right way…
Did you get any contact information (or try and google it) of the agriculture officer? If you have that you could try and send a copy of the phyto cert. And a copy of the prohibited plants list, highlighting your plants are not prohibited. Keep a civil tone. I think in these cases if you do “the work” for them. And communicate respectfully. You have the best chances of this going smoothly.
as a side note. Out of curiosity, what did you pay for the plants, cert etc? (can also PM me if you’d rather not disclose publicly)
Phyto charges - 25 CAD
Bank order conversion - 5 CAD
Packaging - 20 CAD
All in for a 32 plug tray mixed with haskaps and saskatoons, 178 USD + shipping from ups (40 USD), so an average of 6.82/plant shipped (not weighted per plant). Pretty great pricing versus what is available everywhere else for retail, which is why I was willing to go for it.
The listings mentioned for Lonicera in the Plants for Planting Manual sourced from 7 CFR 319.77-2
On page 3-52 of Plants for planting manual
-Table 3-10 List of Host Plants (except seeds) of Phytophthora ramorum (sudden oak death)
Lonicera acuiminata Caprifoliaceae family All propagulesAll countries Not Authorized Pending Pest Risk Analysis (NAPPRA) Federal Notice Effective July 2, 2021
Lonicera hispidula Caprifoliaceae family California honeysuckle hairy honeysuckle All propagules except seeds All countries except Canada when not meeting Federal Order conditions for entry SEE
Table3-12, Host Plants (except seeds) of Phytophthora ramorum from Other than Canada to determine if meets Federal Order conditions for entry Federal Order Effective May 2
Table 6-13 page 6-615 of Plants for planting manual
Lonicera acuiminata Caprifoliaceae family All propagulesAll countries Not Authorized Pending Pest Risk Analysis (NAPPRA) Federal Notice Effective July 2, 2021
None of these mention Lonicera caerulea, and no mention of Amelanchier alnifolia in the document. I have a feeling that the inspector going over my order was extremely confused or having a bad day. This is very frustrating. I will call tomorrow to see if there is any hope for changing the status of the shipment. They were closed by the time I got home from work today.
Update mainly for posterity and future reference- after further reading, my phytosanitary certificate only specified Lonicera spp. instead of the full Lonicera caerulea for haskaps. This is likely the problem with my order and floramaxx has asked the issuing agency to resend a phytosanitary certificate to the border to make it all go. I’m hoping things work out but am not optimistic about the condition my order will arrive in after sitting in customs for almost 2 weeks.
I paid for my order and never received anything. I was hoping Floramaxx would take care of it but they put the burden on me to try and figure it out with UPS, so I don’t plan on trying this route again being out a few hundred dollars.
Floramaxx didn’t at least issue you a refund for the plants? Really, this was their fault for not putting the full scientific name on the phytosanitary certificate… or did you have to fill that paperwork out yourself? I’ve never gotten a phytosanitary cert. so not really sure who’s responsible for what.
Floramaxx filled out the forms. Apparently the Canadian counterpart only puts the genus without species on their phyto forms, and the US border agent apparently had some trouble understanding how a phyto certificate works for tissue cultured plants.
So, do you think if someone placed an order and explicitly requested that they put the genus and species on the certificate that Floramaxx would comply?
It’s not Floramaxx that is the issue. They attempted to resubmit the phyto certificate and their contact said Canada does not put species on the certificate. I have no idea if this is correct, I have very little experience exporting. That’s why I trusted the people who do it regularly…
I had my „pleasant“ experience with customs. I ordered plants overseas. had to pay for the phyto certificate, then the customs costs, and the costs of having the plants checked by an office to see if they were really healthy. Customs took out half of the soil and cut open the box and glued it back together cheaply and it was at Customs for over a week.
I once ordered seeds from Israel, which are legal but customs did not let them through and sent them back. I once ordered plant hormones from America and customs didn’t let them through either.
I understand that you shouldn’t import diseases, but they’re checked for that.
and otherwise I don’t import any drugs or explosives
Traditionally, when people leave their homelands to settle in a new place, rather it’s from one state to another or one country to another, they take plant material with them. Seeds, plants, scion wood, all of that. It’s a historical fact. There are beautiful stories surrounding this truth and I imagine also some that aren’t so beautiful (when new diseases or pests are inadvertently introduced to an area). Why is that a controversial concept in this thread?
Well, it’s not the purpose of the topic. If Blueberry wanted to start a topic he didn’t have to put his thoughts on this one. I’m pretty over people hijacking topics I’ve started to have them closed and this one is worth continuing to discuss for others who might have similar experiences.
This exactly is what disc4tw (the topic starter) is talking about. This topic is being hijacted to expres (political points) via off topic further discussion.
It is true that historically people have spread plant species while settling into new area’s. A lot of things have been spread by soldiers, either taking them back to their home country when a war/deployment ends. Or purposefully spreading them to outposts (the romans come to mind)
I however find in incredible unlikely that people crossing the border on foot, would do that carrying a potted up diseased fruit tree. (this topic is about fruit tree diseases in part)
I find it an even more laughably insane idea, to assume that those people who usually have been traveling for months on foot, did so carrying scions, in the off chance that they encounter a rootstock on the other side of the border.
settlers who emigrated to undiscovered parts, historically took plant material with them. But I’m sure nowadays if people import plant material from their country of origin they do so long after they emigrated, instead of when they are crossing a border on foot. And do so via post office or having people carry it via legal entranceways.
It would amaze me if even 0.000001% of scions/fruit trees that might form a risk of carrying disease where carried over the border on foot.
Trying to blame people that cross the border on foot for a problem (fruit tree diseases) they have clearly nothing to do with, carries Ra… connotations with it.
