Sending seed to Australia
- To: i*@onelist.com
- Subject: Sending seed to Australia
- From: P* &* Y* T* <t*@dynamite.com.au>
- Date: Sun, 19 Jul 1998 20:30:02 +1000
From: Paul & Yvonne Tyerman <tyerman@dynamite.com.au>
Howdy All,
Just for the information of our Australian listeners (There's quite a few
of us now!!), importing seed into the country is quite acceptable. I have
spoken directly to the Customs people after Sterling sent me over some
seeds and they queried what a couple of them were.
To send seed to Australia you need to clearly label the individual seed
packet/packets with the name of the plant (iris in this case..) making sure
that the spelling of the species is correct (Sterling had an i that looked
like an l and they queried it to make sure). Declare on the outside of the
parcel/envelope that there are seeds inside. Customs will open it and
check on the species/type etc and make sure they are OK for this country.
They will also randomly open some of the seed packets to check for obvious
signs of disease (Sterling sent me 50 different crosses or something like
that and they may have checked 1/5 at the most). If they have any problems
they will keep the seeds that concern them and send the rest on to you....
you'll then receive a letter to tell you that such and such seeds are in
Quarantine and could you please contact them. I rang them and we worked it
out over the phone... they sent the seeds they weren't sure of on to me
after that.
Quite simple!! If they have any problems they'll contact you.
Chers. Paul Tyerman (Australia)
PS Just a warning that this bit is off topic, but related to what I just
wrote.
An aquaintance of mine will not grow cactus after a friend of hers had the
following problem a while ago.....
They were overseas in the US and purchased a cactus. A barrel cactus or
something of the sort (no exact descitpion was given, just a general
shape). They brought it back through customs and had it in quarantine for
the required 3 months at the time and it came home to them quite happily.
Some unspecified time later (I think we're talking weeks not months) the
lady was taking some washing out to the line and as she walked past the
cactus she noticed that it was vibrating. Seeing nothing obvious she
feared the worst and contacted the quarantine people and told them what
she'd seen. She was warned to leave the house immediately and get all her
neighbours out of the area as well. A VERY short time later they turned up
in biohazard gear and basically wrapped the cactus up and sealed it and
took it away.
Supposedly there is a type of spider that nests in these cactus. It is
poisonous and very dangerous. If the cactus had split apart the
neighbourhood would have been overrun with these venemous little alien (as
in foreign, not from outer space) spiders. Certainly pays to keep in
contact with Quarantine doesn't it!!
I'd actually be interested to know if any of you guys out there have ever
heard of this before. It sounds pretty scarey.
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