importing plants

Subject: importing plants Thu May 29, 2008 7:46 pm

Hi all, this is probably a stupid question but can we import cacti plants into Australia?
its obvious that there would be quarantine regulations if it were legal...
the reason why I ask is when I was in the green grocer I noticed how much imported food there was ie Mexican & Argentinian garlic, onions & Asian fruit etc, these are still living (garlic bulbs and onions) and they were all grown in foreign soil so there must be some loop to bring in a plant? or not?

Subject: Re: importing plants Thu May 29, 2008 8:15 pm

I think you would find it extremely difficult to do this. Quarantine tend to destroy plants sent from overseas. There was some stipulation on the aqis site relating to importing cacti, but the stipulation was that they had to grafted and no roots presents, something like that, seemed a bit confusing to me. I would only bother trying to import seed that is permitted on their lists. They have dogs that sniff out plant material and laso high powered xray.

The best policy though, rather than just taking my word for it, as I am clearly not an expert on these matters, would be to actually contact aqis and find out all the relevant info on sending live plant material, if you try and sneak plants in you risk having them destroyed and also risk very hefty fines.

It all really kind of sucks as we could all have really large Arios and that sort of thing for a lot cheaper than they are selling here in Aus. I can understand it though, alot of problems can arise from pathogens and weeds and many other things that may be on the roots/soil. All soil is a forbidden import.

Be very keen to hear back about what they say if you do decide top contact them though.

Good luck mate.

Smile

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mmm spikey...

Joined : 07 May 2008 Posts : 341 Location : Melbourne

well, technically it is legal.
Provided your requested import is a legal commodity then all you have to do is get it through quarantine. problem is that in order for it to be considered to be 'clean' or free from potentially damaging pests and diseases that possess the threat to destroy Australia's horticultural, agricultural and environmental sectors, it must stay in quarantine for 3 months. Unfortunately the people at quarantine do not have the best reputation of caring for your plants over this 3 month period, and there is a chance that the plants could die under these conditions. and if your plants develop any pests/ diseases during the 3 months they are not allowed to be released, and i think they are destoyed. also i believe you pay for the labour costs involved with them taking care (or not) of your plants. many people do import live cacti into Australia, both on a commercial and amature level, but i am not one of them so i cannot provide any additional information.

Joined : 07 May 2008 Posts : 341 Location : Melbourne

of course, if you are willing to risk heavy fines and possible imprisonment, there are a range of somewhat less legal methods of plant importation to choose from. Wink

personally i am not going to bother with importing, in the near future anyway.
other than of seeds, which i do on a fairly regular basis now.

Subject: Re: importing plants Thu May 29, 2008 8:20 pm

^^^ what lewis said ^^^

Hmm might consider enquiring about it myself, very costly and risky though.
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mmm spikey...

Subject: Re: importing plants Thu May 29, 2008 8:27 pm

Ridiculous costs to keep it in a quarantine station is the main prohibitive factor. I looked into it and unless you have lots of money to throw around, are in a collective or have your own private quarantine, its a waste of time thinking about. Even if you have one of the above, you would need to make sure the stock is very healthy as like Lewis said, the months sitting around can be a killer on their own.

The best bet is to find a private quarantine station and hope their costs are reasonable. Let me know if you do Smile

Subject: Re: importing plants Thu May 29, 2008 8:36 pm

Bummer!! Seed only then.

Crying or Very sad

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mmm spikey...

Joined : 07 May 2008 Posts : 341 Location : Melbourne

Well san rainbow it seems your safest bet is to stick with seeds for now. Problem with this is that many desirable plants seeds are not permitted for various reasons, including CITES protection and them being being almost unknown and never assessed for their threat potential. the only solution i can think of is to make friends with overseas suppliers and growers who can change the name of seed packets to a similar permitted species so you theoredically can import anything. shhh!

Subject: Re: importing plants Thu May 29, 2008 8:41 pm

cheers all! just kinda toying with the idea, sound like a ball ache though.
seen some lovely big Ario's for sale o/s recently, it would be nice if we could have plants like this in Australia Very Happy

I will do some research and post it up...

cheers

Age : 35 Joined : 26 Apr 2008 Posts : 181 Location : Cairns

I was quoted $400 to 'sterilise' a tow rope that came in to the country from NZ - it was packed with all my stuff, but funny thing was, it wasn't my tow rope. The removalists must have accidentally packed it.

Anyways, to cut a long story short, customs here said I could pay for the sterilization, or they'd burn it.

I opted for the latter Smile

I figure their service is either incredibly good or incredibly sought after, cause it's very very expensive!

Subject: Re: importing plants Thu May 29, 2008 8:47 pm

I know a lady who has had adenium plants in quarantine for nearly two years. She use to import them by the bucket loads and that was until AQIS found something in a microscope that they could not identify.

To cut a long story short they have been releasing them slowly to her. So some are still in quarantine. From memory she use a private a quarantine station. It has cost her thousands of dollars so far. Another lady is importing agaves and has had no problems. So it really depends on what you import and if AQIS finds anything under the microscope.

I might also add that the plants are well looked after.
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Betty

http://community.webshots.com/user/parrotsheaven

Joined : 07 May 2008 Posts : 341 Location : Melbourne

san rainbow wrote:

Subject: Re: importing plants Thu May 29, 2008 8:55 pm

Joined : 07 May 2008 Posts : 341 Location : Melbourne

i've seen a large obregonia denegrii sell for $280, and a near dead smallish ariocarpus fissuratus for $130, and a medium size strombocactus disciformis for $200. and i've heard of a large ariocarpus agavoides fetch $550 at auction.

Subject: Re: importing plants Thu May 29, 2008 9:46 pm