Can I Send Corn Seeds To Family In Thailand From Usa?

[dgh2740]

My Thai wife's family lives in Thailand and I would like to send them some corn seeds from the USA. Does anyone know if this is legal? Do I need to do anything special to send them via post to them?

Thank you,

DGH2740

[WatersEdge]

Plenty of people send seed by Post

on occasion it does not get through,

but usually it comes just fine.

Like anything sent by Thai Post,

Don't send anything you can't afford to lose,

because the system is loaded with thieves

who make their living on your mail.

Lazy ineffective thieves, so your mail usually arrives.

The Corn seed here is very good,

although the good Sweet Corn seed is also very expensive.

I paid B550 / kg.

The standard sweet corn seed that I've tried to use is a complete fraud.

It looks like seed, packaged like seed, sold at B70 / kg like seed

but it germinates about 10% and the plants are very poor performers.

It appears that someone took some really wonderful hybrid seed,

and decided to sell it.

All that considered, I still see it on display for sale.

The Thailand seed business is in general a mixed bag.

Any given cheap seed can be worthless.

I have Cucumber and Papaya in the ground right now which appears to be totally no good.

The good stuff is readily available from the high end reputable dealers.

I have also paid for Cilantro and opened the can to find Carrot seed.

That's OK, I like Carrot about like Cilantro, but does any of it sprout?

You definitely pay for quality.

They have seed from all over the world, Japan, Germany, Holland, US

as well as Thailand grown.

The really interesting stuff comes from outside.

Some types of seed are produced very well here,

and exported.

I'm sure that Corn seed is in that group.

Keep in mind that Corn suitable for US latitude may not do as well here in the different day length.

Corn is somewhat sensitive to day length,

and the higher latitudes have much longer Summer days

so that Corn grown in the tropics will require more days.

There is a notable corn expert on this forum,

who could tell you the finer points.

[chrisyork]

I'm quite certain that is illegal, even without bothering to check! Actually I'm sure I've seen the signs at Customs when coming in via Suvarnabhumi.

My real difficulty here is what possible motive could you have to do that? As the previous poster observes, if you know what you are doing, there's absolutely nothing wrong with Thai supplies. And they are more likely to be suitable to the climate and growing conditions (lack of mechanisation etc) than a US variety. Plus I suspect there is a strong chance of anything from the US being GM. You certainly don't want that getting out in Thailand!

My suspicion is that maybe your wife has spotted an opportunity to acquire free, decent quality seed. If that is the real motivation, just provide the money to buy in Thailand.

If you send a quantity suitable for a whole crops' worth of planting then I'd reckon customs will definitely stop it. For starters it will initially look quite like a drugs shipment! If you send a very small sample, it may well get through, but what would be the point?

Chris

[rice555]

Hello All, from what I've gone through in the past and what the people in the

Ag Dept. at the Customs Post Office by Hua Lampong station in BKK said, you

need to get an Import Permit and the need to arrive with it and a Phytosanitary

Certificate<s>.

I just got this in the mail yesterday(see pix), you have to also expect that you

can also not get your package too.

You can get good Hyb. sweet corn seed here, but I think it's not that expensive

compared to US Hyb. seed costs. From two sources in US, top selling Hyb se corn

seed is $11.10-13.30@lb., or Bt.871-950@kg.

The seed in the pix and 2 T-shirts cost $48. to ship by USPS.

I have had Hyb. corn from Burpees Seed only have 1 plant out of 1/4Lb, it can be

hit or miss.

You can order seed from trade partner Harris Moran Seed in BKK, the smallest order

is Euro's-6,000. But you can get some western seed here, and some western seed

is grown in LOS for US use.

rice555