Shipping plants in the U.S.?

Question

i need to ship plants within the us. i am not finding very good material on the internet. does anyone know the restrictions?

Answer 1

The other answers have good advice. You will not find this stuff on the internet. Your best bet is to contact the local ag. department or cooperative extension office as they will be the most knowledgeable and helpful.

I work at a nursery in CA and we have to get a nursery stock license to ship out of state. This requires our nursery to be inspected throughout the year to maintain our license. The ag. inspector looks for cleanliness, health of plant, our spray program, what problems we have had since the last inspection and things like that. If we pass, our license is renewed.

This license allows us to ship out without having each shipment inspected by the ag. inspector. We are allowed to place a special sticker on our shipments to pass the outgoing inspector. Now, there are a few states that require an additional inspection. When we ship into that state, we have to schedule an inspection and pay for this for that particular shipment and it gets a special certificate to show that is was inspected specifically and passed. This could be for fire ant, brown garden snail, etc. Depends on the state it is going in to.

If we didn't have the shipper's license, we would have to get each shipment inspected before going out. That is a real pain. If you are looking to ship frequently, get the proper license.

Also, some states have restrictions of what you can/cannot ship in their state. Some states have banned some plants and the best way to get that information is to get it directly from the ag. department of the state you want to ship to.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

Answer 2

Contact your state university's Cooperative Extension office.  Look it up here: http://www.csrees.usda.gov/Extension/

They will be able to tell you the restrictions your state has on plants leaving, and more importantly, the destination state's restrictions on plants coming in.  California is one of the toughest states to ship to.  It and many other states require plants to be inspected and declared free of certain pests.  Some states won't allow plants with soil in, so you may have to ship them bareroot.

Answer 3

What kind of plant material are you shipping? I work for a wholesale greenhouse and we receive cuttings and plugs via FedEx and UPS. It is the vendors responsibility to pack the cuttings/plugs accordingly so that they arrive alive.

I know that there are some restrictions of nursery stock. There are also a lot a patented plants that you can not propagate. I'm not sure what state you are in but most states have a Nursery/Greenhouse association that might be a good resource for you. Below is a link for the one in Colorado, which is where I'm located.