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USDA Plant Sale Restrictions

APHIS Pushes Through Restrictions on Interstate Sale of Garden Plants

from "North American Flower Gardener" April 1998

Have you ever wondered why many plants in garden catalogs bear a
restriction, "Cannot Ship to California, Oregon, or Washington?" The
reason is invasive weeds and insect pests, especially soilborne pests such
as Japanese Beetle and Lily Beetle, which have not yet crossed the barrier
of the Rocky Mountains.  Some plants, such as Barberry, can act as
intermediate hosts to fungi that cause thousands of dollars in crop losses
in wheat-growing areas.  Anyone who has seen the damage these and other
introduced pests can cause will appreciate the efforts of the U.S. 
Department of Agriculture to keep their range from expanding, even if it
means looking elsewhere for the prized plant. 

But gardeners, and especially nurserymen, are not lilely to appreciate the
latest development in the battle against noxious weeds and insect pests.
The current restrictions have not been adequate; each year fruit growers
in subtropical areas scramble contain outbreaks of Mediterranean fruit
fly, Asian gypsy moths are discovered on ships entering the Pacific
Northwest, and random inspections of plant material have revealed weevil
grubs in the roots of nursery stock.  APHIS (Animal and Plant Health
Inspection Service), the branch of the USDA responsible for inspection of
plant and animal material crossing national and state borders, has been
forced to reconsider its approach and clamp down.  As of this Fall, sale
of plants over state borders in the U.S. will be prohibited.  The
restriction will not affect the sale of seeds or bulbs, but only on
growing or dormant plants which are much more difficult to inspect
reliably. 

The predicted immediate response from commercial mail-order nurseries has
been outrage and disbelief.  Dan Hinckley of Herronswood Nursery, one of
the foremost sources of unusual garden plants in the U.S., responded in an
interview, "This is unbelievable, and beyond absurd.  It will mean the end
of my livelihood; it's been done with no thought for the consequences to
businesses like mine.  What's even more bizarre about it is that I can
still bring in plants from Korea, England, anywhere in the world, as long
as the soil is washed from the roots and the plants are inspected, but no
such provision has even been considered for trade within the country.  I
think you can count on a class-action lawsuit here."  Terrance Kennedy, of
APHIS, responded, "The amount of material coming in legally over our
national borders is negligible compared to the sheer volume of trade in
plants within the country - to properly inspect it all we'd have to triple
our force.  The money's not there. And even if it was, would you want to 
spend all day looking for grubs in hunks of dirt?  I know I don't."

One would think that only mail-order nurseries would be hard hit, but
there are problems for others as well, especially in the New England
states.  Chester Ruthleigh, owner of Verdant Vale nursery in Westlin,
Rhode Island, is worried about the effects of the restrictions on his
business, which relies heavily on customers from surrounding states.  "I
can't see any benefit." he states, "I'm supposed to check driver's
licenses and not sell to anyone from outside Rhode Island?  Is a Japanese
beetle going to fly to the border 3 miles away and say 'oh, I better make
sure I got a passport?' What possible benefit can this have?" 

Counters APHIS's Kennedy, "Look at the alternatives -- rust-ridden
wheatfields, medfly decimations of orange crops.  A day without orange
juice is, after all, a day without sunshine, which is why not much orange
juice is sold in Seattle.  Don't they have enough rhododendrons there
already?  What good's a new shasta daisy going to do you when orange juice
costs 5 dollars a pint and your bread's so full of fungal spores it looks
like a brillo pad?
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