Importing Plants To Los?

[mixed]

Does anybody have any knowledge of the requirements for importing plants into LOS? I know a psysanitary certificate is needed, nut am not sure whether there are specific import permits.

Edited March 28, 2011 by mixed

[mstribling]

Quantity?

My wife is known to bring some stuff back from KL but only small stuff.

Everything else? ฿฿฿฿฿

[mixed]

Total quantity is 250 small plants, weight around 32kgs. Do you know what is involved?

[mstribling]

Yeah. That is a lot more than the wife carries in.

Check out customs. They will have the info.

Definately going to cost ya.

[mixed]

When your wife carries them in does she need the certificate? What makes u think customs charges will be expensive?

[travelmann]

Just bring them in and say nothing, I do never been stopped yet but who knows hahahhahahah.

[gregb]

Seeds are relatively easy with a phytosanitary certificate. Best way is to send them by post, and you can clear them yourself down at Hua Lampong. They have a small building there with 2 or 3 guys who are dedicated to that function. They look at your seeds under a microscope, collect documentation on where you will be planting them, keep a small sample for their records, and then you are on your way.

Whole plants are a nightmare. I think they have to be quarantined for a period of time even with the phytosanitary certificate while they are individually inspected. Seeds typically just die if they are infected with anything, and the bacteria or fungus dies with it. Whole plants are factories for bacteria and disease. I have been advised to always do seeds if at all possible, and I have never challenged this.

Any reason why you can't import the seeds and grow the plants yourself? I think you'd make your life alot easier.

[NancyL]

The phyto certificate is issued in the country of origin of the plants. A licensed nursery operator should be able to contact their Dept of Agriculture or whatever similar government agency (in the country of origin) that issues these phyto certificates. The government agency will want to know the exact destination of for the plants, perhaps as detailed as the specific amphur; certainly the province of destination. In the U.S., the rules are different for each state and we had to go thru a process to ship to California as if it were a foreign country. It's all rather straightforward, but can be expensive. Thailand may require that the certificates be translated into Thai. I don't know as I have never imported plants into Thailand. Once the plants reach the destination airport they will be routed to an ag inspection facility near the airport. They can be delayed there if the paperwork is not in order and/or the inspectors don't like what they see.

Hubby and I ran a plant nursery in the U.S. before retiring and moving to Thailand. The vast majority of our sales were within a very small geographic region, but several times a year we'd ship plants overseas for specific customer orders. The costs to do the paperwork were pretty much the same for one plant as for a thousand plants.

If the OP is planning to bring the plants into the country by air, as personal baggage -- well then things could get interesting! Most of those dogs you see around incoming international baggage at airports aren't looking for drugs -- they're checking for agriculture-related imports, i.e. food and plants, especially plants. Our plant nursery was close, too close to an international airport and sometimes I'd get called by the USDA inspectors to "help them out" when a passenger was especially unwilling to give up some undocumented plants. Most times, I think the USDA just confiscated them and the passengers gave them up without a major fight. But sometimes, the USDA could get involved in battles with incoming passengers that had the potential to blow up into international incidents if the plants were especially valuable or important to the passenger. That's when I got called.

In most cases the big problem is with the soil. All manner of nasty insects and disease lurk in the soil. If a plant must be shipped with its roots, then it's always easier to pass inspection if you wash off the soil immediately prior to shipping, wrap the plant in plastic, keep it cool and replant it into soil with a few hours of arrival. Unrooted cuttings are usually no problem for international arrivals. In some countries they aren't even considered plants, but rather cut flowers or foliage. The Thai people are pros at rooting plants from cuttings. Maybe the plants in question could be brought in as cuttings, to be rooted in Thailand.

Based upon my observation of the USDA in action, if a passenger was insistent enough and seemed to know something about plants, they could "talk" undocumented plants into the U.S., provided those plants were healthy as deemed by the expert eye of me and their horticultural inspectors. I don't know about Thailand, though. <BR><BR>It would help to know how the OP plans to ship the plants. Both the originating nursery (provided they're licensed) and the shipper (like DHL, FedEx) should be able to provide assistance.<BR><BR>

Edited March 28, 2011 by NancyL

[mixed]

Thanks for the helpful replies. The plants will be imported bare root, so any period in quarantine would kill them. The nursery is very professional, specializing in export,so can obtain all the necessary certificates.

A freind bought plants in via the airport, he had the certificate, but customs hardly glaced at him or the plants and just waved him on.

[travelmann]

Thanks for the lpful replies. The plants will be imported bare root, so any period in quarantine would kill them. The nursery is very professional, specializing in export,so can obtain all the necessary certificates.

A freind bought plants in via the airport, he had the certificate, but customs hardly glaced at him or the plants and just waved him on.

Look save yourself a shedload of time and send an e mail to this man Jeff Marcus at Floribunda palms he exports all over the world and Thailand is No problem. How do I know....... his wife is Thai heres a link to his website hes based in Hawaii.. http://www.floribundapalms.com/

[NancyL]

Mixed, it sounds like you've already figured out what to do. Have your paperwork in order, bareroot the plants prior to the trip and you'll probably just get waved thru.

If they want to quarantine them, then just raise a fuss about how that would kill them. We imported some bareroot plants into the U.S. that had to be quarantined for a year. All we had to do was grow them in an an area that was XX ft away from any other nursery stock. I don't remember the exact distance. The ag inspectors came out to look at them every so often, always with a charge, of course. I think they were bored with the goings-on at the airport and decided to come out and inspect the plants we had in quarantine. The good news was that they usually bought some plants for their personal gardens, so it made it worth our time to put up with them.