Significant licensed U.S. retailers of Fig trees
notes:
Update suggestions are welcome!
That web page does not point to product sales.
Jon does not sell fig trees from that site, and to my knowledge does not have USDA compliance agreements.
He does sell figs infected with RKN. Firsthand experience speaking.
@fruitnut
There are also fully licensed sellers who know better but sell fig plants with horrendous fig mite infections. In both cases (licensed, unlicensed) there are sources without viable pest control programs.
Off the Beaten Path? I have read that they are licensed, but have not purchased from them. I have had great experiences with a couple in the spreadsheet.
I checked. They have a PA-issued nursery stock license. I look forward to their obtaining USDA compliance agreements required by several of the contiguous 48 states, possibly excepting the ridiculous new requirements of AZ.
Thanks for checking them out!
For anyone interested here are the official state by state regulations for incoming plant shipments.
https://www.nationalplantboard.org/state-law–regulation-summaries.html
You can view your state to see:
*The basic minimum requirements for ALL plant shipments
*Prohibited species that may not be shipped to your state
*Controlled species (including individual plant parts in some cases) which have additional requirements such as quarantines or additional inspections to ensure that pests associated with those species are not transported into the state (this requires additional inspections and documentation beyond the basic requirements when applicable)
*Specifications about growing medium requirements (if the plants are shipped with soil)
*Contact info in for state specific officials in case you have any questions
Note: many specifications relate to individual locations of origin. For example: If a certain species has been found to be host of an injurious pest in certain states, but not others you may be barred from receiving said species from one state, but not from another according to whether said pest species is known to occur in each state (this will usually be spelled out with great detail). In some cases you can still receive the controlled plant species from a state where the pest is known to exist, but only if it has been officially inspected and found free of that pest with proper documentation of such included with the shipment.
As a general rule even if a plant is not specifically called out as requiring any extra inspections or quarantines, most if not all states require proper documentation with the shipment verifying that the source has been inspected and found to be generally free of injurious pests and diseases, as well as documenting the location of origin and the destination. Plant botanical and common names along with quantities of each should be recorded on the accompanying paperwork and the actual plants should also be labeled with species and cultivar names (as applicable).
Like state speed limits…it’s enforcement, not laws, that matter anymore.
My thought process is “ship every package with the expectation that it could be inspected”. Most won’t be, but you really don’t want to put a recipient through the disappointment of their purchase being confiscated or returned. I have had to say no on a couple shipment requests because people asked me to send them plants that I could not ship to them according the the specific requirements of their state.
Do you still ship to AZ?
I see Arizona has a 2023 update and I will need to review before knowing how to answer. I don’t ship this time of year so I have some time to evaluate. I did glance through and see that it’s about 29 pages long now so it’ll take some time to sort through. Worse case scenario I can contact one of the listed managers/directors from their document for clarification so I can be sure one way or the other.
Sounds like your county Ag department didn’t contact you last summer about the changes effective Jan. 1. Some of the sellers in other states that are members here and/or ourfigs are aware of it though.
Don’t worry Richard. I have plenty of time to review before I start shipping again.
…and no, I don’t recall getting an email about Arizona requirements specifically, but I can see online their requirements were re-uploaded this year so I’m due to read up on it. I doubt I’ve even sent more than a couple shipments to that state over the last few years.
Good news! I emailed Jamie Legg the Arizona Quarantine Inspector (Arizona Department of Agriculture) yesterday and requested clarification to confirm whether I will be able to ship fig trees to Arizona this coming fall/winter season based on my annual WSDA inspection and shipment documentation protocol. They confirmed that I do have everything in order for shipping bare root, dormant fig trees to Arizona.