Man! The USDA is really burning my hide!

[gnathaniel]

Originally Posted by King_of_orchid_growing:)

Macropodanthus

Dendrobium sanguineolentum

Those look like interesting ones. I'm glad you got the Den. okay, I haven't seen that one offered in the US. Which Macropodanthus species did the USDA confiscate?

--Nat

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Originally Posted by gnathaniel

Those look like interesting ones.

Yeah, I know! That's why I got 'em!

People in the US don't even know these exist.

Originally Posted by gnathaniel

I'm glad you got the Den. okay, I haven't seen that one offered in the US.

I'm glad too.

It's too early to tell what I'm going to do with them yet. But I know I can't keep all of them.

So hopefully sometime later this year, there will be a few offered in the US. Whether it's the first time they're offered here in the US or the first time in a very long time, we'll see.

They seem like a sturdy species.

Originally Posted by gnathaniel

Which Macropodanthus species did the USDA confiscate?

--Nat

Macropodanthus alatus.

[Bolero]

It doesn;t sound good, hopefully you can get it sorted out before they take it home......I mean before they destroy it.......

[Bolero]

Originally Posted by Queenslander

Gee I'm sorry to hear that about the confiscation of your flask. I'm hoping to bring in personally, 2 or 3 flasks from Singapore next month. The Customs here in Australia are worse than yours. What do I have to have with me, when I land back in Australia.

Are you sure? We seem to get in plants that the US doesn't at times and I have friends who seem to find it easy. I think you will find the USDA is a bit tougher than ours on some things but not usually flasks with the right paperwork. I don't even think we need the Phyto Cert anymore.

[vmax3000]

I am so sorry to hear about your lousy experience with the USDA. A couple years back, I had an agent visit me at my home. Drove down from the main office in DFW area....I passed housing materials through my gut upon opening the door. I, too, had ordered from Thailand....but, mine was a plant and there was some obnoxious beetle species that has been imported from Asia and is destroying American Chestnut trees. I was bummed. The empty box arrived a couple weeks later...thanks. Shipper dude had declared the plant to be silk. My mess, I can understand them being a little concerned, but yours is beyond distressing. I am stunned about the flask. The agent gave me a bunch of (convoluted?) paper work so that I could import. Since my plant had been destroyed, I didn't see the point of filling out paperwork. Anyone see the movie "Brazil"? I am hearing the soundtrack now....

[Anisa]

Wow That sux! Logically why they would let Den. though and confiscate Vanda from the same shipment? They are in the same condition and same papers.
I am sure it is something to do of a single person showing off his/her power. It is not so unusual to see wrong people in wrong places for wrong reasons.
Again, sux

[camille1585]

Originally Posted by Anisa

Wow That sux! Logically why they would let Den. though and confiscate Vanda from the same shipment? They are in the same condition and same papers.
I am sure it is something to do of a single person showing off his/her power. It is not so unusual to see wrong people in wrong places for wrong reasons.
Again, sux

I'm not going to take the time to read through the thread again, but I'm pretty sure Philip said that the two flasks are from two different vendors so in 2 different shipments.

[quiltergal]

Camille is right, two different vendors, both fromThailand. Dollars to donuts the flask in question had a problem with correct paperwork from that vendor.

That really sucks Phillip! USDA really can be a PITA. Most of them can't tell the difference between an orchid and a grapefruit.

[Andrew]

Originally Posted by Queenslander

Gee I'm sorry to hear that about the confiscation of your flask. I'm hoping to bring in personally, 2 or 3 flasks from Singapore next month. The Customs here in Australia are worse than yours. What do I have to have with me, when I land back in Australia.

Hi Queenslander,

AQIS lets you bring in up to 6 flasks on your person without the need for an import permit, phytosanitary certification or an inspection fee. You need to declare that you are carrying plant material and hand the flask over for inspection. They'll spend a few minutes looking at the flask for signs of infection and, if the flask is sterile, they'll hand it back and let you through.

Personally I haven't run into any problems bringing in flasks and, if you declare everything, the AQIS officers don't turn into the grumpy pedants you see on border security. I have heard of people importing flasks who have had problems with AQIS officers. Occassionally officers don't understand the AQIS regulations. I usually carry a copy of Import Conditions C17937 and C9174 just in case I need to argue the regulations (which I never have). I have also heard of undeveloped protocorms being mistaken for contaminaton. All I can say to this one is to make sure you buy a good quality flask containing well developed plants. Otherwise you'll need to (a) let them destroy the flask for free or (b) pay for them to properly inspect and identify the alleged contamination. Finally, the list of permitted orchid names in Condition C17937 and the associated databases don't seem to list orchid nothogenera. I've usually told the AQIS officers that I'm bringing in orchid flasks and they've taken it at face value. However, I have had orchid seeds imported via post held up at customs because the name wasn't listed in Condition C17937. If your bringing in intergenerics you may want to carry a copy of the RHS's list of intergeneric hybrid names so you can refer the staff to the parent genera on the C17937 list of permitted genera.

[Anisa]

Originally Posted by quiltergal

Camille is right, two different vendors, both fromThailand. Dollars to donuts the flask in question had a problem with correct paperwork from that vendor.

Oh.. NM then. I am sure that doesnt make KingOOG feel any better.