The LBAM are coming!

[al]

Run for the Hills!

Anything that effects the movement of plants though california effects the movement and cost of orchids from Hawaii and California to and from almost everywhere else in the USA.

I have already recieved emergency emails from many of my hawaiian orchid vendors telling me of the new restrictions and the added cost of inspection for shipments leaving their nurseries. Oh yippy.

[K Barrett]

Bill Bergstrom said somethingn along the lines that it wasn't going to cause any problems.... I think he's mistaken.

[K Barrett]

Looking at it again, most of the host crops seem to be dicots, plantain and corn are the only monocots listed...

[al]

...One if by land and two if by sea and I on the phone with california shall be....

Most wholesale FEDEX shipments leaving Hawaii have a stop over in the CA.

Here are quoted portions of two of the emails I got this morning:

1.) "Due to the detection of the light brown apple moth (LBAM) in several California counties, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has imposed quarantine on ALL plants leaving Hawaii. In response to this quarantine, the Plant Quarantine Branch of the Hawaii Department of Agriculture (HDOA) has established a policy requiring all shipments of plants leaving Hawaii to be inspected prior to shipping, effective May 9, 2007. "

2.) " As by now most of you have heard about LBAM ( light brown apple moth) that has been found in California (source unknown?) that has turned the world of exporting plants out of Hawaii upside down since the moth has been quietly present here for the last 100 years (never heard of it until now...)!! First California DOA jumps in & then UDSA and now we have arrived at the place of.....................NO shipments anywhere in the USA without a physical inspection and Phytosanitary certificate! Did I mention that this moth only lives at elevations of around 4,000 feet???? So, now we have a limited number of Ag inspectors that will be racing around the islands inspecting plants by the thousands (all plants, not just orchids) for export that are primarily grown between

100 & 2,000' so that USDA doesn't totally wipe out the Hawaii Agriculture Export Industry."

Some of the hawaiin vendors seem a bit more paniced than others. I guess panic level depends on weekly gross shipments. These two quoted sections I cut-n-pasted here are from some wholesale hawaiin shippers I have delt with. My 'run for the hills' comment was somewhat tongue in cheek. I really don't know what's going on except for these and a few other emails from my regualr suppliers I found in my inbox this morning. I was just amused at the tone from these wholesalers and especially the various costs they quoted in their emails for the new inspection requirements. Probably many will just absorb the fees and say nothing, Probably many smaller retail venodrs don't even know about this yet.

AND probably a few retail level *orchid* shipments through and into California will get trapped by inspectors THERE. I do not know....

[Pat Brennan]

You think the new inspection fees are bad. Wait till you get the new postal rates figured out. If you use priority mail and a box over 1 cubic foot, bend over. What did Al say--yipee!!

Pat