no more plants or seeds for australia

[palmtreesforpleasure]

Hı to all Australian collectors

Greg Smıth sent me thıs message

The Australıan biosecurıty dept ıs tryıng to stop all ıımports of seed or plants that are not ın Australıa already

They have asked for submıssıons. i guess ıf we make none, what we have ıs all we wıll ever have.

As ı am travellıng and do not have access to the ınternet very often ı am not sure of the detaıls. For thıs reason the plants i am pıckıng up for jason are even more ımportant. ıf anyone can contact jason wıth specıes he does not have please do ıt now as ıt looks lıke tıme ıs runnıng out

regards

colın

ps i am using a turkısh keyboard please excuse any mıstakes

thıs is an extract of the message

Hi Colin,

I'm disappointed that you couldn't get back here for our sale! Just joking.

Biosecurity Australia are threatening to disallow the entry of any species,

not just palms, that are not already in the country. This is because it is

too hard for them to make a judgement about which new species pose a threat

of becoming a weed. I am told that some of the It seems to me that there can be no downside to responding to this once only

opportunity to expand the list. I would hate to think that they might

enforce the ban more thoroughly if they thought that their list was more

accurate, but I guess that is a remote possibility.

Enjoy Turkey and beyond. Clearly they don't have the letter "I" on

typewriters over there?

Safe journey.

Greg

-----Original Message-----

From: colinwilson

[mailto:colinwilson

Sent: Friday, 23 June 2006 9:21 PM

To:

Subject: RE: BIOSECURITY LIST OF PALM SPECIES

Hi Greg

does th? mean that we are go?g to restr?t certa? palm seeds from

enter?g austral?

regards

coiln

Original Message:

-----------------

From: Palms For Brisbane pfb@gil.com.au

Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2006 15:21:23 +1000

To: pfb@gil.com.au

Subject: BIOSECURITY LIST OF PALM SPECIES

Greetings Folks,

Biosecurity Australia is conducting a review of the list of plant seeds that

are permitted entry to Australia-the Permitted Seeds List Review.

You can find out more about it by visiting their website -

www.affa.gov.au/biosecurityaustralia

The attached table lists those palm species which are not currently on the

Permitted Seeds List.

This list was provided by Scott Zona a few years ago and it may be slightly

out of date e.g. Gronophyllum are now Hydriastele.

I am writing to you and about a dozen other knowledgeable people to invite

you to identify any species on this list which you are aware existing in

Australia.

I have marked a few that we either carry in stock (BS) or we are aware of

plants in the ground somewhere, generally in south east Qld (BP).

Please feel free to double up on any that we have identified.

If you wish to contribute then please do so before 7 July. Responses to

Biosecurity Aust close on 14 July 2006.

Best Regards

Greg Smith

[Guest]

Colin,

I've e-mailed Jay and made him aware of this thread. Good luck to you OZ guys.

Still in Turkey? I thought you'd be on your way to Canaries by now.

Cheers, Jan

[Jeff Nugent]

I've just glossed their allowed and not allowed lists.  There's some wide gaps.

I didn't see ANY Prunus there, for example.

They have 3 Parajubaea species listed for example but one wonders if when (surely it's inevitable? ???) P. torallyi gets divided - will P. microcarpa be on the allowed list?  I guess we would then have to argue it's OK we  already have them in Oz.

I suspect this will not impact heavily on the import of palm seeds, all of which are allowed into Oz at present.

The writing has been on the wall for some time though that each country should have breeding populations of all plants that it wants to keep because it is only a matter of time...

[Kamipalms]

Not too sure of how this is going to affect the different states of OZ. West OZ has the highest Quarantine regulations in the country and yet , we have no trouble adding new species to our "permitted Plants list"  the same type of weed list that Bio has.

I can see how this may affect plant import with current Quarantine requirements ( OZ wide) but as Jeff said, seed import shouldn't change.

Last I heard, the ACT was talking of lifting all state/s Quarantine regulations to WA ( West OZ) standards. I heard this about 18 months ago and still noting so I wonder how long  it will take Aust Bio to put their plans into practise....

Jason.

[Tyrone]

It's not all doom and gloom guys. I got the letter from the gov last month and am going thru the permitted list myself. For importers in WA this is nothing really new. Apart from WA, Australia currently runs on a genus level import system, where if the genus is passed, any species under that genus is automatically approved for import. Since 1997 WA moved to species level, where every species had to be run thru a weed risk assessment before it could be imported. Now the whole country is going to run on this method that was modelled here in the West by Rod Randall, the sole guy in charge of approving or banning entry of any species.

The problem is undescribed species, eg Dypsis sp Orange crush will not be allowed entry because it is not a scientifically known species. We can do nothing about this, rules are rules.

The current list being reviewed is a list of current plant species known in the country. If any are missing, we have to tell them and have them included. I've already found Archontophoenix myolensis and tuckeri missing from the list, so they must be included.

The whole point of this weed risk assessment is to control import of any species that "may" run rampant here.

My thoughts are any native species should have automatic inclusion. Any CITES listed plants which are endangered by definition should automatically be included as permitted for import, the reason being is that if they are endangered and can not proliferate in there native country, it is unlikely that they'll proliferate without help in a foreign environment such as Australia, and even if they did, say in cultivation, they would no longer be considered endangered and we'd have saved a species for the planet. The same goes for any species that have IUCN Red List status, for all the above reasons.

If a species is not already in Australia and someone wants to import it, they can ask permission to have it assessed and have it place on the permitted list if it is approved by the gov. It's not all doom and gloom. New species can stil be imported as long as they're described botanically and they are not deemed a weed risk to Australia. WA has been running under this scheme for years, and even though it's a little Big Brother it's not all bad. To other states it's a big change, and we'll all have to say goodbye to our beautiful undescribed species unfortunately.

best regards

Tyrone

[Tyrone]

I went thru the list with a fine tooth comb and came up with these species which are not included but as they are present already in the country (some are natives) they must be included.

Here goes.

Archontophoenix myolensis

A tuckeri

Calamus muelleri

Caryota rumphiana

Chamaerops humilis

Chamaerops humilis var cerifera

Chamaerops humilis var elatior

Chambeyronia lepidota

Cocos nucifera (I laughed at this one)

Cyrtostachys peekeliana

Dypsis robusta

Howea belmoreana(could you get more Australian)

Hyophorbe vaughanii

Kentiopsis magnifica

Licuala peltata var sumawongii

Linospadix minor

Linospadix microcarya

Linospadix apetiolata

Linospadix palmeriana

Linospadix aequisegmentosa

Livistona eastonii

Livistona kimberleyana

Livistona victoriae

Livistona loriphylla

Macrozamia dyeri (I checked cycads too)

Masoala madascariensis

Nenga pumila

Prestoea acuminata

Prestoea acuminata var montana

Pritchardia maideniana (of Sydney BG Fame)

Ravenea madagascariensis

Roystonea violacea (Wal has one)

Syagrus amara

Does anyone in OZ have Kentiopsis piersoniorum? I wasn't sure with that one. Does Palms For Brissie sell it or has sold it?

If anyone can see any species I've missed, let us all know. Otherwise this is the list I'll submit to the gov.

Best regards

Tyrone

[Daryl]

Hi Tyrone, I've got K.piersoniorum growing here, and a couple of other local society members have it too.

Daryl.

[Tyrone]

Excellent Daryl, I'll add that to my list then. Thanks

Is anybody growing Burretiokentia's other than hapala, veillardii, and koghiensis?

best regards

Tyrone

[Tyrone]

Just wondering what Basselinia's are being grown in OZ or being sold here. I have a feeling that there are a few that aren't on that list. If we can find out what's being grown we can expand this genus on the list.

best regards

Tyrone

[palmtreesforpleasure]

Thanks guys for following up on this.

There are other  NC species that are in Australia but a not probably listed. there are some seedlings that greg is looking after for me. if some one could contact him privately and have them added to the list it would be good. maybe tyrone's list could be sent on behalf of a few of us to add weight to his submission happy for my name to be used.

The more species that can be added the better. Up until now we have not been asked to do so and i am not sure Pacsoa has been asked to canvass their members for the species they have already.

Wish i could help more but it is not possible at present

regards

colin

[Tyrone]

I've just tried using the BA website to make a submission of palms that aren't on the list, and what a chunky temperamental website it is. It won't save my comments and keeps throwing me out into the login area every time. I thought I'd lost my big list as it simply made it vanish from the screen and after pushing the back command 20 times it finally brought my list back and then decided to process it, after telling me in big red letters, "don't use the back command but use the keys on the screen" which don't work.  I've got to make comments on each species regarding it's availability or existence in OZ and if it won't save it, they won't accept the species. Talk about banging your head into a brick wall. Anyone else making submissions having trouble. I'm coming back to this stupid thing later. Makes me wonder if it's realy worth it.

Oh also, "Howea" is not a species being considered in this review, even though belmoreana is missing. MMMMMMMMM.

regards

Tyrone

[Walter John]

Keep at it Tyronne, you're doing good work.

[Tyrone]

Thanks for the encouragement Wal.  

It's done now, and I'm sick of seeing the word Chamaedorea. It's taken me 3 hrs to fill the online form in. I've given them a bit of homework to do I think.

Let's see what happens.

regards

Tyrone

[palmtreesforpleasure]

Well done tyrone

sorry i am not there to help

regards

colin

[Walter John]

(palmsforpleasure @ Jul. 11 2006,08:12)

QUOTE

Well done tyrone

sorry i am not there to help

regards

colin

Hi Colin

How are you, where are you and are you getting to Florida at all ?

There's a palm for sale there, sounds interesting.

[palmtreesforpleasure]

Hi Wal

in Rhodes at the moment, water temp 27c and the air temp is 35c. Had a great day with Maurice last Saturday , he showed us all the sites. palms and 2 great restaurants, must have put 5 kilo's finished up at 2am last sunday morning. We  had a great time. not going to Florida but to San Francisco and all in between to San diego

[KrisKupsch]

Well nothing eventuated here ! We still can bring in seed !

[palmad Merc]

Yes,I'm getting some next week!

[KrisKupsch]

1 hour ago, palmad Merc said:

Yes,I'm getting some next week!

More the better ! Spend up big ! and share those beauties wide and far

[Tyrone]

8 hours ago, KrisKupsch said:

Well nothing eventuated here ! We still can bring in seed !

I actually don't think they can legitimately shut down the nursery industry importing seed without a legitimate biosecurity issue. The current standards work to prevent biosecurity issues.

[sgvcns]

All

The rule change as per last year has had quite a large impact on seed importation.

It is no longer possible to bring seed on the allowed seed list without it being "commercially" packaged ie as you would buy vegetable seeds etc.

The other option is to have an invoice from a commercial seller or phyto paperwork.

The days of a private person legally collecting,cleaning and labelling seed on the allowed list for importation are over.

I have had seed posted over the past year and with the right documents there is no problem(opened and forwarded).

Only 1/3 have been intercepted by the powers that be but it is a roll of the dice from there without paperwork.

A friend has been threatened with large punitive fines over this issue.

I don't think I will bring seeds through the airport again.

Of course there are always other options

Steve

 

 

[KrisKupsch]

Steve, 

the whole “commercially packaged” element is vague. It doesn’t appear to require vacuum packed packets. Packaging them just like RPS is fine. Regarding an Invoice from a commercial source also doesn’t seem a strict requirement. I just had the origin of source (a botanical institute) write a declaration with a tabulated list of the species and number of seed. The authorities just want to hold every person involved in the importation, accountable. Never say seed is from the wild, always claim its from cultivation. Always clean it meticulously like your life depends on it. Also sterilize the seed too. I agree don’t bring anything through the airport that you care about. The people at the airport are often very difficult people to deal with. They will send your seed away at the slightest concern something is up, regardless of whether species is on the list or anything. They just don’t like “us”. They do get personal. Just post it and I always contain a little personal letter saying “contact me on this cell number if any concerns”. Be completely open and transparent and you won’t have issues. The bottom line is these species have been accessed as “safe species” and it’s the agencies responsibility to prove they “aren’t safe” otherwise free trade should continue as long as seed is clean..and when I say clean, it needs to be very very clean.   Also once you “get a species” start focusing on another species, be efficient about what you do. It will benefit all of us in the long run. 

Enjoy. 

Kris

 

[NatureGirl]

Those seeds are cleaned and have had their outer shells removed, what you see is a shiny, fresh, seed. 

[palmad Merc]

Thank you nature girl, they are now tucked in nice moist heated soil.

[Moose]

On ‎7‎/‎31‎/‎2018‎ ‎1‎:‎01‎:‎01‎, palmad Merc said:

Thank you nature girl, they are now tucked in nice moist heated soil.

Have they popped yet?

[palmad Merc]

No, not yet.

I'll keep you posted when they do.

 

[KrisKupsch]

Yesterday Seeds came from O/S, just have to be clean and labelled.

[sgvcns]

Kris

Could you confirm that the seeds were inspected and passed by the authorities. Only 1 in 5 small packets get intercepted in my experience.

Steve