Shipping Plants from Europe to USA - Seek advice
 

I live in the US and have been looking for a specific phal hybrid for years and finally found a seller that has it, but they're located in Romania. They're only willing to ship the plants within the EU, so I've asked a family member who lives in Spain if they could receive the plants and forward them to me. I've already obtained a plant import permit from APHIS, but the only thing I'm missing is a phytosanitary certificate and the seller in Romania is not willing to provide one.

Does anyone know of a way to legally obtain those plants given my situation? I will also be passing through Spain in about a month and can bring them with me on the plane, but I'm guessing I would still need to obtain a phyto certificate in that case as well. I'm totally willing to jump through any hoops to have the plants inspected or whatever is needed, I'm just not seeing how to even do that as a private citizen who does not own a company.

Has anyone ever done anything like this? Any advice would be appreciated.

The plant I'm looking for is Phal. Fortune Saltzman ‘Montclair’, if anyone has one of these in the US and is willing to part with it, let me know!

I cant help with importing, but I see out-of-stock listings for the plant on Orchidweb and Normans orchids. If it was me I would just wait until it pops back up in the US.

This is none of my business, but can I ask what makes you want this particular clone so much that
you would go through all this to get it? There has to be a story there...

'Montclaire' is a varietal name often used by Norman's Orchids AKA orchids.com. Call them and ask about availability. They may have some in stock or they may have mericlones in flask for future release.

There is probably a way for you to have the plant inspected and certified in Spain. Have your relatives contact the agriculture department and find out.

I had originally bought this plant from Norman's Orchids, maybe 7-ish years ago. I just loved how it looked and it instantly became my favorite one. There's no story behind it, I just think the shape of it and coloring is unique and something about it just made me happy. Some things happened and I lost most of my collection including this plant.

Since then I've been on the lookout for it. I've contacted Norman's Orchids asking about it multiple times but they never reply to my inquiries, and since it's been almost a decade without it appearing in their store again I'm losing hope that it ever will again. I even have eBay and Google alerts but haven't seen it available until I found it from this one seller in Romania.

I get it. I obsessed over an orchid, available only at Norman’s, for months but didn’t want to order from them because of all the bad reviews. Then it disappeared from the site. I still thought about that orchid for months.

When it popped up about a year later, I ordered it and planned to drive there to return in person if there were any problems. Thankfully, no problems and it’s been a blooming machine. Arrived in spike and bloomed continuously from the original spike in spring/summer 2021, grew a second spike in the fall 2021, and had two still blooming spikes until a few months ago when they started to die back. Best $45 + shipping I’ve spent on orchids. Haven’t ordered from them since. Lol