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Re: Seed Exchange Scheme

>When I received my Seed Distribution List from the Royal Horticultural Society
>this year, I was dismayed to read about the Import Permit they were requiring
>from all U.S.A. subscribers. .....
>
>......I would be very interested to hear from anyone who's had
>problems with overseas shipments of seeds, or from anyone who has a clear
>outline of what the import law is in the U.S.A.

Since I already had an import permit, I did not panic when I got the Wisley
seed list. But, since I had never actually used the permit, I called the
inspection station at the San Francisco airport to make sure that I
understood correctly what paperwork to send to Wisley.

The inspector and I had quite a nice chat. He offered to look over my
request list, to make sure I wasn't asking fo something that would be
confiscated. So I faxed him my primary and backup lists. Within a few hours
he called me back to say everything was OK. He also alerted me to a few
closely related plants that WOULD be a problem because they can turn into
such horrible weeds, and to some other seeds that would be confiscated for
sure (like opium poppy and mango).

When I requested the permit several years ago, they sent me a whole bunch
of pages listing what can and cannot be imported. The importability depends
on the type of plant material (seeds/whole plants/cuttings), country of
origin, and how much you want to bring in. Plus, some things can be
imported only if they get a special disease-killing treatment at the import
station. Others must be keep in quarantine for some years after initial
importation. Some things are outright forbidden in any form. I have found
that most things I want aren't mentioned at all.

Katherine Pyle
Berkeley, California, USA
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