Monday, May 2, 2011

FAQ: Can you tell me what's the problem delivering live plants to Nevada?

Q. Can you tell me what's the problem delivering live plants to Nevada? I've seen other companies on the web doing it.

A. The live plant descriptions in our online catalog include the following: We can not ship this item to Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. 

We do not ship to Alaska, Hawaii or Puerto Rico due to high transportation costs.

We will not ship bare root and potted plants to Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. The departments of agriculture of those states require that incoming plants be cleaned of all traces of soil before shipment or that each shipment include a phytosanitary certificate from the USDA or the Georgia Department of Agriculture.

Removing all traces of soil is cost-prohibitive for us and risky for the plants. Obtaining a phytosanitary certificate for each shipment requires that an inspector check out each shipment. It is time-consuming and costly, adding at least $50 to the cost of each shipment. It's not worth it.

We are able to ship imported plant items in the Bulbs Collection to all 48 continental states because they enter the U.S. with USDA phytosanitary certification.

I question the rationale behind the regulations imposed by those 5 states. Forty-three others are not so restrictive, but honor the good work done by other states' departments of agriculture. Such regulations seem to be more protectionist than protective.

As the questioner noted, other companies will readily ship live plants to Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. I can't address their particular circumstances. They may be ignoring the regulations. We don't.

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