Can I Bring Grapevine Cuttings From Australia To Thailand

[coobah666]

Moving to Isaan in FEB from the Hunter Valley in Australia and have some black musket grapevines that have been in my family for 4 generations and would like to bring some cuttings to Thailand as they love a clay soil ,is this possible or not,not many maybe 6 cuttings

[Scoop1]

Hi Coobah666, i am moving to nong bua lamphu [ Isaan ] in march 2012 i am from Foster [ Mid North Coast ] i dont know about the grape cuttings, but i did take fruit with me in April when i was there and never had a problem, where in Issan will you be?

Cheers

Scoop1

[coobah666]

I will be in Ban Song 35km west of Mukdahan , should catch up and have a couple one day

[jamescollister]

No expert on this, but there is a thing called a plant passport. You would need to contact the Thai embassy to see how to get one. Jim

[maidu]

Officially, there's probably some dozens of typed pages about that. Unofficially, go ahead and do it. I've brought in a few plants in the past, even with soil on the roots, with no problemo.

Am interested to know how well the cutting do in your area of Thailand. Good luck! Finding table grapes in Thai markets is near impossible. There are but a few table grapes available (at super stores) in Thailand, and nearly all of those are grown in China.

Just an hour's drive north of me, in the Burmese border town, there are table grapes for sale in regular outdoor markets. It's funny how just a few miles will make a big difference in what's available in markets. Avos are also available in Burma, whereas very rare in Thailand, just a hundred yards across the bordering river.

[maidu]

Officially it's probably a big deal. In reality, it's no big deal.

I'll be curious to know how your grapes fare where you are.

[paulchiangmai]

I have in the past brought in rose cuttings without any problem, just don't try taking anything the other way. I wrapped the cuttings in damp kitchen toweling and placed then in a plastic container with a good fitting lid, it was some days later before I got to plant them, they were just fine and all survived.

[drtreelove]

Hey it's great for the pest control business. This is how exotic pests and diseases are transmitted internationally. Kind of irresponsible to smuggle plant parts, especially with soil attached, that's why there are laws and regulations in developed countries to protect agriculture; Thailand doesn't do much for enforcement, that's probably why we get the classic "officially it's probably a big deal" but "go ahead and do it" Customs doesn't screen very well at the arirport, so anything goes. Here in California we have a lot of Austalian plant pests that keep me busy; thanks you guys for light brown apple moth, red gum lerp psyllid, eucalyptus longhorn borer, myoporum thrips, etc, etc. keep em coming.

[xen]

Dr Treelove is spot on about the transmission of pest and diseases and that is why Australia has such stringent quarantine laws to protect our horticultural and agricultural industries. However what i would be doing is taking a few cuttings to a tissue culture lab and getting a few plants propagated and take them into Thailand. You could possibly do the tissue culture yourself , if you wanted to do it cheaply and with only little effort and time and you would also increase your chance of success in transporting them. No disease or pests would be imported . You could bring in hundreds of plants using tissure culture cells if you wanted to set up a vineyard. In Years to come the Issan area could develop a good vitaculture industry and it would be a shame if it blighted with more imported pests and diseases.

Edited January 9, 2012 by xen

[coobah666]

thanks for the info fella's,and I think the soil around Muk is ideal to grow grapes as it is very similar to the clay soil of the Hunter Valley and they have won one or two awards for there wines.I will ask a few people here in the industry about hidden pests and alike and make a decision then

[maidu]

Yesterday, I posted twice in a row (on this topic) without knowing it, as my internet connection is screwy. sorry.

I'm from California, and I know the seriousness about transferring unwanted pathogens and such - to the US. I was there when the Mediterranean fruit fly became a threat, and also while African bees were wending their way north through Latin America. And the red ants which have taken over vast swaths of SE USA. Is there a book about such things on a worldwide level? If not, it would be a good project for some enterprising person to write.

Some things we don't yet have in Thailand: poison oak, poison ivy, African bees, terrible ants (yes, we have a thousand types of ants, yet we don't have any as bad as S.America, Africa or Australia has). Nor do we have gophers.

[Aggie]

There seems to be a few folks following this thread who are interested in starting (or expanding) an agricultural operation in Thailand. I have many years experience working in the agriculture sector for NGOs, and currently am looking to buy, partner, or somehow get involved in an interesting agriculture operation in Thailand (preferrably near to Chiang Mai). If anyone would like to discuss please shoot me an e-mail to [email protected]. Cheers, Matt (Aggie)

[grimleybob]

Yesterday, I posted twice in a row (on this topic) without knowing it, as my internet connection is screwy. sorry.

I'm from California, and I know the seriousness about transferring unwanted pathogens and such - to the US. I was there when the Mediterranean fruit fly became a threat, and also while African bees were wending their way north through Latin America. And the red ants which have taken over vast swaths of SE USA. Is there a book about such things on a worldwide level? If not, it would be a good project for some enterprising person to write.

Some things we don't yet have in Thailand: poison oak, poison ivy, African bees, terrible ants (yes, we have a thousand types of ants, yet we don't have any as bad as S.America, Africa or Australia has). Nor do we have gophers.

There's loads of "gophers" in Thailand, mostly seen when the beer runs low and I'm paying

[ray23]

You can buy plants in Udon at one nursery, there is a guy who sales them during the Tung Sii Moon festival in Udon.

I have manages kill off several so far. I have four that have made for a year. now.