Palms destroyed @ LA inspection station

[MattyB]

You may remember that Colin (palmsforpleasure) was planning on sending some rare variegated Kentias over to us here in So Cal.  I got the import permit and sent Colin the proper permit to enclose, mailing lables to the inspection station, and a long list of how to prepare the package for importation into the USA.  He had the plants inspected in Australia and got he required Phytosanitary Certificate from his Ag. Dept. to enclose.  Well, a week and a half passed after he shipped it and I began to worry.  Upon calling the inspection station in LA, I come to find out that the shipment had to be destroyed due to 2 infectious pathogens.  I got the letter in the mail today and here's what they said:

"Container & contents destroyed.  Material infested or infected and treatment not feasible and could become established and threaten US agriculture.  Howea sp. infected with Pestalotiopsis sp. and Phomopsis sp."

I am bummed.   A quick google search shows that these are basically some fungal leaf spotting thing I guess.  Does anyone know anything or have any experience with these problems.  Is there any way to get these palms into the USA?  I'm sure they didn't even look like there was a probem otherwise Colin wouldn't have sent them.  Colin spent a lot of time and money to do this generous act and it was all for nothing.   Any info would help.

[Scott]

Dude! I'm sorry about your loss!

I wonder if these inspector BoZo's knew what they were doing?!?

[paulgila]

total bummer!

[aussiearoids]

bet the idiots thought the variegation was a virus ..

no matter how much you tell them in advance , some total moron will destroy first , ask questions later ..

[cfkingfish]

The LA inspection station is notorious for its incompetence and rash decisions. I have never personally had a problem, but I have seen people have to eat over $1000 in destroyed plants because the inspectors are trigger happy (or ill informed). Australia probably has the most strict import/export policies and I honestly wouldn't be surprised if the plants were not actually destroyed. The best way to get around this is to do in-house shipping.

[MattyB]

I specifically asked the inspector if the variegation might have been mistaken for a problem but he said no that it wasn't.  He also said that one of the inspectors was a nurseryman and that he had commented on how he'd never seen a variegated Kentia and that they were real nice looking plants.  Of course my mind went immediately to thinking that someone stole them but that just seems like a knee jerk reaction.  Christian, what is in house shipping?

[cfkingfish]

Matt, in house shipping is when one company such as UPS or FedEx uses its own inspection officers authorized by the USDA to look at packages. Essentially, the company takes care of all needs door to door and is much smoother than picking up something from customs personally. This usually happens with much larger shipments - how large was yours?

[MattyB]

It was just one box w/ 9 plants in it.  I was instructed to have Colin put my address on the box saying that it was the final destination and they said they would put the package back into the mail system for delivery......if they hadn't destroyed the plants first of course.....

[amazonman]

Man that sucks  

I feel for you, sorry for the loss  

Is there anyway to ask them to show you the destroyed palms to be sure no one took them?

[Dypsisdean]

Matt,

Do you have any idea exactly how rare those plants are? I mean did Colin give you any idea how many seedlings one has to sprout to come across one variegated plant. Do you know if they were seeds from a previously variegated parent? If so, what percentage of those show variegation? etc.

[Jeff Searle]

Matt,

    I totally understand your feelings. I had the same thing happen to me, also. And it bites!And there ain't much you can do about it.

Jeff

[PalmGuyWC]

Some things never change.  I can remember years ago Garrin Fullington had been to S. America and had shipped some Ceroxylon seeds back, and they were confiscated by the US Aggs. at the Miami airport.  I happened to be visiting in Miami at the time, and Garrin called me and asked if I could go to the airport and try to retrieve the seed.

The first thing I saw when I walked into the inspection office was an open plastic bag of the Ceroxylon seeds sitting on a bench. Actually, some were already begining to germinate in the bag.  I asked the two men working there why they were taken.  One said, "We don't want any new plant diseases in Florida."  I explained that the seeds had been carefully cleaned, were very rare, and that they were headed for San Francisco, not Florida.  He shrugged his sholders, and said, "Oh, OK, take 'em."  I don't think he even asked for my ID or anything. I think he just didn't want to be bothered.

I grabbed the bag and was out of there in a flash, and the seeds were in Calif. the next day....in my suitcase. Garrin, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think to this day, some of those Ceroxylon are growing in Golden Gate Park and our Palmatum in Oakland.

Dick

[LJG]

(MattyB @ Dec. 29 2006,02:16)

QUOTE

I specifically asked the inspector if the variegation might have been mistaken for a problem but he said no that it wasn't.  He also said that one of the inspectors was a nurseryman and that he had commented on how he'd never seen a variegated Kentia and that they were real nice looking plants.  Of course my mind went immediately to thinking that someone stole them but that just seems like a knee jerk reaction.  Christian, what is in house shipping?

That would have been my reaction too man. After hearing one of the inspectors was a nurseryman and that he had commented on plants, I would be really curious to see if 'someone' else has some nice variegated Kentias. But I get paranoid easy.

[MattyB]

(Dypsisdean @ Dec. 29 2006,02:13)

QUOTE

Matt,

Do you have any idea exactly how rare those plants are? I mean did Colin give you any idea how many seedlings one has to sprout to come across one variegated plant. Do you know if they were seeds from a previously variegated parent? If so, what percentage of those show variegation? etc.

No, Colin will have to chime in on that one.  I wonder if I should have just had them sent to me directly???

[Guest]

Yes, those were the seeds of all the largest Ceroxylons in No.Cal.  I was contemplating that incident as I read the thread.  Thanks for your input Dick.  That bag of seeds was the main result of a meticulously planned month-long trip through Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru to obtain Ceroxylon seeds, and it was devastating to lose them to an officious, ignorant agent in Miami, even though I had all required documentation and carefully cleaned seed.  It only made him act more hostile when I informed him that I worked for the USDA myself and knew the regs well.  If Dick had not been visiting Miami just at that time, the Ceroxylons might not be there in the San Francisco area.

[Zac in NC]

Damn Matt. That sucks majorly dude. I would be paranoid too, since the nurseryman said that. That shows you how well our government is working (or not working). Don't they have terrorists to catch, rather than destroying one of a kind plants?? If the Aus gov't didn't find problems with them, then our guys shouldn't have.

Zac

[bgl]

That's too bad Matt! Reminds me of what Richard Clark said in a TV interview recently (actually in reference to conspiracy theories, but I think it's a good general observation): "Never assume that government is competent".... And he had top gov't positions for MANY years.

[Cycadcenter]

Unfortunately the problem occurs at both ends.

In Oz the person issuing the Phyto just does a viual inspection and really can't know what every minute disease looks like.  

Here in LA the USDA Inspection stations are now run by Dept of Homeland Security and they are much stricter now.  

I think I heard somewhere that "in house" inspectors are no longer alowed to do the inspections.

We just had a shipment of plants rejected at LA for fusicocum inspection.  As the shipment was valued in excess of $20,000 I was given the choice of desroy it here or send it back.  So I chose to have it sent back and that was a nightmare on it's own to get a permit form Canberra for reentry of diseased plants.  But it all worked out in the end and the plants are happily growing on the farm back there. (with no signs of any disease)

I think if you are a known shipper and use a Broker to process your shipment they are much easier to deal with.

[MattyB]

I wonder how they isolate the pathogens?  Do they take a culture and grow it for a few days?

[Cycadcenter]

Matt,

If they want to find sonething they will.  If they suspect something they will culture it there or send it overnight to Washington I think for identification.

We have had many shipments where they have suspected something and held the shipment only to have it released a couple of days later or required treatment.

The shipment we had sent back was the first time that has happened.  We had a container load of cycads earlier in the year which required fumigation back in Longbeach which ended up costing us a couple of thousand dollars.

AH the joys of being an importer.

[Kris]

Dear Matty  

iam sorry to hear it ! and when things are rare this

tend to happen more often.

Kris.

[palmtreesforpleasure]

Hi All

have been away , just got back. Dean it took several million seedlings to get these.

I hope i can get some more in the future as i promised a few people in California some. If they are saying they had "Pestalotiopsis sp. and Phomopsis sp."

and IF i can get any others they will be send to a lab for testing before i send them and the report will be in the box with a supporting letter. There is no way i would sent any infected plants intentionally. There was no visible signs at all on the plants

by the way Pestalotiopsis sp is used in the production of chemiclas used in the drugs to fight Breast and ovary cancer, google it to find out more.

Phomopsis sp has been a problem in the US for the last 75 years so would not want to add to it

its seems i have a lot of work to do

regards

colin

[BobbyinNY]

that's such a shame.. what a bunch of A@#holes... What you need to do is ship it to a state (not CA or FL) that doesn't scrutinize every minute detail, then have it shipped inter-state.

[el-blanco]

MAtt,

Bummer!  I have had two shipments of plants sent back to AU  because of bugs.

While they are quite strict up there I have fouind them to be extremely nice.  Even to the point of THEM hand delivering a package to me because of their screw up.

The number up there is (310) 725-1910 - Ask for Eric.

Hope this helps

Jeff

[Kris]

(BobbyinNY @ Dec. 30 2006,10:28)

QUOTE

that's such a shame.. what a bunch of A@#holes... What you need to do is ship it to a state (not CA or FL) that doesn't scrutinize every minute detail, then have it shipped inter-state.

Hey in that case that should have been shipped to me,

i would have taken good care of that sick baby !

Love,

Kris.

[palmtreesforpleasure]

Hi All

The inspectors are doing there job, i am sure you did not want lethal yellowing. There is no problem with them being destroyed to protect you from an introduced pest. We quarantine incoming plants for 2 years. After 3 months a few we brought back died and had to be destroyed because California has deseases we do not have. Much better to have them destroyed than introduce something that could decimate your collections

regards

colin

PS

However, next time they will be sent to a Lab for intense testing

PSS Fortunately these where kept in the Garage away from the rest of the plants

I have some non variegated forms in the same growing container so i will have them tested

[BS Man about Palms]

Colin- Sounds like you trust your Government employees more than we do ours.....

Bill

[MattyB]

The number up there is (310) 725-1910 - Ask for Eric.

Hope this helps

Jeff

Jeff, It was Eric whom I spoke to.  He was very nice and he said that they aren't required to specify what the problem was so at least he talked with me a bit and told me what probems they found.

[Jason in Orlando]

On a slightly different note, I just returned to Florida from Pennsylvania to find that two shipments of seeds (small quantities) had been seized and destroyed by two different agents on two different dates in Chicago, Illinois.  Perhaps this is a sign of a greater effort by the USDA?

Jason