I'm in Puerto Rico (work trip) and would like to bring a handful of plants back with me to Michigan (Mango, Avacado, etc- all fruit trees).
I contacted APHIS by email and was told that they consider Puerto Rico a US state (it is actually a US Commonwealth, but for USDA purposes it is treated as a state). They have no problems as long as I don't have endangered plants, and the plants are clean of pests and transported without soil.
I contacted the Michigan Dept of Agriculture to make sure they wouldn't have any problems with the import. They indicated that fruit trees are not regulated (they have a list of noxious plants, and a list of vegetables you can't import into the state). All good so far.
I asked the workers at the USDA inspection station at the Puerto Rico airport on my last trip if they had any concerns about bareroot fruit trees headed to Michigan, and they said that there shouldn't be any problem.
I'm buying the plants from a government nursery, but the department I'm buying them from expressed two rules/concerns that I hadn't heard from any of the above, and I'm wondering if anyone has specific experience and could help me understand what I should be prepared for when I show up at the airport with my plants;
(1) I was told that there is a new regulation (went into effect in the last week or so?) that limits the number of plants I can take through in my baggage. I'm probably still under any reasonable limit (I'm thinking of maybe 6 plants total). I checked the APHIS website but didn't see any postings for new regulations about quantity of plants
(2) The APHIS fruit & plant import list actually lists the requirement as "plants without soil" and I had originally been told that there were other non-soil mediums that could be used to help retain moisture during transport. Also, I ordered plants from a Puerto Rico commercial nursery several years ago and recieved them shipped in a soil-free medium. I'm now being told that I can't/shouldn't use any medium and just carry the plants completely bareroot, because the APHIS inspectors will just remove any medium anyway (or possibly not let the plants through).
Does anyone have recent experience personally transporting plants from Puerto Rico, or anyone on this list from APHIS that could help me understand what to expect?
Many thanks, Keith