North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Thetes Mark Straka" <ling.mark@msa.hinet.net>]

Jerry:

 

Thank you.  You've expanded my knowledge of the matter by 100%

 

Date: Thu, 26 Feb 2004 09:35:54 EST
From: Jwlehman@aol.com
Subject: [NAFEX] Through quarantine?
To: nafex@lists.ibiblio.org

> I'm curious: "brought through quarantine" means ... what?

As you likely know one can't just bring in plant material into the US without
breaking the law. It is believed the Sharka virus got into the US by someone
not following the law that is costing taxpayers millions to eradicate. Another
example is the insect destroying day lilies in Florida and spreading rapidly
came in by someone illegally bringing in bulbs. Depending on what is being
brought in and whether seed or budwood, there are definite steps and procedures
to follow. It is impossible to cover the entire subject here completely. The
regulations is about 50 pages.

All Prunus except P. cerasus (sour cherry) can not be brought in unless:
1. The importer has an import permit issued by the USDA.
2. It has a Phytosanitary Certificate from the country being imported from.
3. It goes to the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service for
inspection.
4. It then goes to Beltsville, outside Washington, DC, where it is grown in
screened greenhouses, virus indexed and must be clean for typically two years.
Once found to be clean it is released.

Regarding sour cherry the importer of seeds must have the permit and the
seeds must have the Phytosanitary, and be inspected by APHIS. Then, I think, they
must be in quarantine by the importer for two years.

These plums were brought in from Russia and have cleared all the steps.

Jerry