I am about to import a plant from the USA and have sorted shipping etc. It
will have the relevant plant US permissions, however, the exporter says:-
"You'll need an import permit from DEFRA .You have to live near the major
international airport, where you can get plant(s) inspected or hire a
broker, who can do everything for you."

Unless it's very simple I need a broker.
Any help much appreciated

Any help much appreciated

I suspect that you would be best to get a broker, as the rules etc may
be quite complicated for the layman, but easy to understand and deal
with by someone experienced.

"Rupert" wrote in message
...
I am about to import a plant from the USA and have sorted shipping etc. It
will have the relevant plant US permissions, however, the exporter says:-
"You'll need an import permit from DEFRA .You have to live near the major
international airport, where you can get plant(s) inspected or hire a
broker, who can do everything for you."

Unless it's very simple I need a broker.
Any help much appreciated

Any help much appreciated

People to ask may be Hosta and Hemerocallis collections in the National
collection scheme as they would probably do it regularly try looking for
contact info on www.nccpg.org

"Rupert" wrote in a message:.
I am about to import a plant from the USA and have sorted shipping etc.
Any help much appreciated
---

Well done you Rupert! Since 7/11, my son who lives in the USA has not been
allowed to send any plant material to me here in the UK. However, he IS
allowed to send me seeds, the envelopes containing them have been sometimes
opened and inspected during transit.

Mike Roscoe

Mike Roscoe wrote:
"Rupert" wrote in a message:.
I am about to import a plant from the USA and have sorted shipping
etc. Any help much appreciated
---

Well done you Rupert! Since 7/11, my son who lives in the USA has
not
been allowed to send any plant material to me here in the UK.
However, he IS allowed to send me seeds, the envelopes containing
them have been sometimes opened and inspected during transit.

Broadening the discussion, I wonder if it's time to stop the
importation of plants altogether. Is the, perhaps minor, increased
risk of introducing pests and diseases worth it, balanced against
any, perhaps modest, benefit?

--
Mike.

"Mike Lyle" wrote in message
...
Mike Roscoe wrote:
"Rupert" wrote in a message:.
I am about to import a plant from the USA and have sorted shipping
etc. Any help much appreciated
---

Well done you Rupert! Since 7/11, my son who lives in the USA has
not
been allowed to send any plant material to me here in the UK.
However, he IS allowed to send me seeds, the envelopes containing
them have been sometimes opened and inspected during transit.

Broadening the discussion, I wonder if it's time to stop the
importation of plants altogether. Is the, perhaps minor, increased
risk of introducing pests and diseases worth it, balanced against
any, perhaps modest, benefit?

--
Mike.

Where would Britain be today in regards to its supply of plants had your
forefathers not explored the world and returned with what are considered
today as being plant treasures....where would any country be.......H

"Mike Lyle" wrote in message
...
Mike Roscoe wrote:
"Rupert" wrote in a message:.
I am about to import a plant from the USA and have sorted shipping
etc. Any help much appreciated
---

Well done you Rupert! Since 7/11, my son who lives in the USA has
not
been allowed to send any plant material to me here in the UK.
However, he IS allowed to send me seeds, the envelopes containing
them have been sometimes opened and inspected during transit.

Broadening the discussion, I wonder if it's time to stop the
importation of plants altogether. Is the, perhaps minor, increased
risk of introducing pests and diseases worth it, balanced against
any, perhaps modest, benefit?

--
Mike.

Well having explored this import a little further with DEFRA and the
American supplier I can assure you that the certifications and inspections
at both ends of the supply chain are very rigorous.
Let's hope foreign travel isn't subject to such rules-it might prevent the
spread of nastiness.

"Mike Roscoe" wrote in message
...

"Rupert" wrote in a message:.
I am about to import a plant from the USA and have sorted shipping etc.
Any help much appreciated
---

Well done you Rupert! Since 7/11, my son who lives in the USA has not been
allowed to send any plant material to me here in the UK. However, he IS
allowed to send me seeds, the envelopes containing them have been
sometimes opened and inspected during transit.

Mike Roscoe

I think he can send you plant material if he gets the right bits of paper
but that will cost around 100 pounds (roughly 50 USA 50UK). Surprised that
he is allowed to send seeds without some kind of certification.

"Mike Lyle" wrote in message
...
Mike Roscoe wrote:
"Rupert" wrote in a message:.
I am about to import a plant from the USA and have sorted shipping
etc. Any help much appreciated
---

Well done you Rupert! Since 7/11, my son who lives in the USA has
not
been allowed to send any plant material to me here in the UK.
However, he IS allowed to send me seeds, the envelopes containing
them have been sometimes opened and inspected during transit.

Broadening the discussion, I wonder if it's time to stop the
importation of plants altogether. Is the, perhaps minor, increased
risk of introducing pests and diseases worth it, balanced against
any, perhaps modest, benefit?

--
Mike.


If we banned the international movement of all living creatures and the
trade in fruit and veg etc etc then you might make a more sanitary
environment (boringly sterile)

Rupert wrote:
"Mike Lyle"
[...]
Broadening the discussion, I wonder if it's time to stop the
importation of plants altogether. Is the, perhaps minor, increased
risk of introducing pests and diseases worth it, balanced against
any, perhaps modest, benefit?

--
Mike.


If we banned the international movement of all living creatures and
the trade in fruit and veg etc etc then you might make a more
sanitary
environment (boringly sterile)

I was actually raising a serious question, in the hope of serious
discussion. The RHS shares my concern, and a paper on the subject was
presented at a conference at Reading University last week.

--
Mike.

In article ,
Mike Lyle wrote:
Rupert wrote:
"Mike Lyle"
[...]
Broadening the discussion, I wonder if it's time to stop the
importation of plants altogether. Is the, perhaps minor, increased
risk of introducing pests and diseases worth it, balanced against
any, perhaps modest, benefit?

If we banned the international movement of all living creatures and
the trade in fruit and veg etc etc then you might make a more
sanitary
environment (boringly sterile)

I was actually raising a serious question, in the hope of serious
discussion. The RHS shares my concern, and a paper on the subject was
presented at a conference at Reading University last week.

This is the UK. If you encourage the government to impose more
bureaucracy and restrictions on the hoi polloi in the name of
safety, they will. The changes will, of course, no nothing to
increase safety, and may even do the converse.

Would you like to discuss the rules imposed after the government
achieved an international first by creating a new disease (BSE)?
The Germans, perfectly reasonably, banned UK beef as an interim
procedure. The UK government's response was to retaliate against
the British public by imposing the following restrictions:

Private imports of meat were limited to 100 grams that had
to be vacuum packed.

No limits were placed on the commercial importation of meat
from ANY country, or its resale.

No attempt was made to control the feeding of ruminant protein
to ruminants (which cased the trouble) or control the feedstock
industry.

Sheep and cattle had to be slaughtered for meat at a stage
when they would rarely show the overt symptoms of the disease.

I predict that any restrictions on the import of plants would be
similar in their scientific basis.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Nick Maclaren wrote:
Private imports of meat were limited to 100 grams that had
to be vacuum packed.

No limits were placed on the commercial importation of meat
from ANY country, or its resale.

No attempt was made to control the feeding of ruminant protein
to ruminants (which cased the trouble) or control the feedstock
industry.

Sheep and cattle had to be slaughtered for meat at a stage
when they would rarely show the overt symptoms of the disease.

I predict that any restrictions on the import of plants would be
similar in their scientific basis.

Ah, yes, the clever trick, if you can get away with it, is to make the
public think^H^H^H^H^Hfeel that something is being done in their interests.

"Mike Lyle" wrote in message
...

Broadening the discussion, I wonder if it's time to stop the
importation of plants altogether. Is the, perhaps minor, increased
risk of introducing pests and diseases worth it, balanced against
any, perhaps modest, benefit?

--
Mike.



As a matter of interest which particular types of plants and
pests did you have in mind ?

Surely most economically beneficial and or horticulturally
interesting plants will have already been imported by now.

In addition, presumably both plants and pests need suitable climatic
conditions to survive unaided. So this limits concern to plants and
pests originating in temperate zones similar to our own.

Whereas if it was case of importing exotic plants and accompanying
pests from Borneo then the remedy would simply be to turn the greenhouse
heating off in winter.

Much plant material including fungi, migrate naturally along with other
forms of wild life, birds, insects, in any case without any help or
hindrance from the human race. Regulations or no regulations.


michael adams

michael adams wrote:
"Mike Lyle" wrote in message
...

Broadening the discussion, I wonder if it's time to stop the
importation of plants altogether. Is the, perhaps minor, increased
risk of introducing pests and diseases worth it, balanced against
any, perhaps modest, benefit?

--
Mike.



As a matter of interest which particular types of plants and
pests did you have in mind ?

Surely most economically beneficial and or horticulturally
interesting plants will have already been imported by now.

I think that would be part of my point, if I'd reached the stage of
having a clear point. I said I was wondering: I wasn't preaching. The
plants we now import _are_ generally horticulturally interesting
rather than economically beneficial, and, by Heaven, we import an
awful lot of them. Almost anything we actually need, economically or
scientifically, can come in as seed or tissue cultures: the problem
is likely to be what comes in with growing plants. The quarantine
provisions for these are insecure.

In addition, presumably both plants and pests need suitable
climatic
conditions to survive unaided. So this limits concern to plants and
pests originating in temperate zones similar to our own.

And, of course and inevitably, those are the regions from which most
of our imports come. Call that a limit if you like, and I couldn't
argue; but it's a very wide limit.

Whereas if it was case of importing exotic plants and accompanying
pests from Borneo then the remedy would simply be to turn the
greenhouse heating off in winter.

Much plant material including fungi, migrate naturally along with
other forms of wild life, birds, insects, in any case without any
help or hindrance from the human race. Regulations or no
regulations.

Well, that's all obvious. But the fewer the imports, the fewer, and
the smaller in number, the accompanying species: that's reasonably
obvious, too. I'm not one to fly into mindless conniptions about
sudden oak death, mitten crabs, invasive freshwater crayfish, grey
squirrels, NZ flatworms, Dutch elm disease, scorpions on the Isle of
Sheppey, and all of those: but I've been thinking about it for
years -- as has Professor Brasier of Forest Research and Imperial
College. He reckons "We don't move large numbers of animals around
the world for disease reasons, and we shouldn't do it for plants
either."

Brasier, as I mentioned in another post, has just presented a paper
on the subject at a DEFRA-backed RHS conference. He may be wrong; but
that doesn't make the issue trivial, or liable to summary dismissal
by minor verbal debating points.

--
Mike.

"Mike Lyle" wrote in message
...
Rupert wrote:
"Mike Lyle"
[...]
Broadening the discussion, I wonder if it's time to stop the
importation of plants altogether. Is the, perhaps minor, increased
risk of introducing pests and diseases worth it, balanced against
any, perhaps modest, benefit?

--
Mike.


If we banned the international movement of all living creatures and
the trade in fruit and veg etc etc then you might make a more
sanitary
environment (boringly sterile)

I was actually raising a serious question, in the hope of serious
discussion. The RHS shares my concern, and a paper on the subject was
presented at a conference at Reading University last week.

--
Mike.


My answer was quite serious.
The plant in question is coming from the USA and can't be moved without a
phytosanitation certificate issued over there. Once the thing arrives it
will not be shifted until DEFRA have physically inspected and certified it.
Finally it's up to me to report anything I notice amiss. you want How much
more safety do you think we require?

Do you have a link to the RHS paper you mentioned?