Well, I’m convinced that the pytocertificate noise was just that; noise. Based on my international test, seeds are passing through ports of entry with no problems, and without being confiscated.
To reiterate, for those who haven’t been following along, I contacted 12 people in different countries, and asked them to send me a packet of unimportant seeds, being sure to mark “garden seeds” clearly on the outside, and to tell me the date they mailed it.
Eight correspondents---all of them DG members---said they were sending seed. A 9th said she would be glad to, but it might be some time before she could get to the post office.
Of the eight who gave me shipping dates, I’ve received seven packages so far, none of which took longer than a week or so to get here, and none of which appear to have been inspected, let alone stopped.
Those I’ve received came from:
Christine---Chile---9 days
John Yeoman---UK---7 days
Wintermoor---Germany---4 days
Evert---Finland---8 days
Mark—Ireland---6 days
Babalu---Brazil---9 days
Roger---Sweden---9 days.
Particularly pertinent: Both Evert and Roger attached customs declarations to the envelopes. This should have acted as a flag to alert inspectors. Yet the envelopes where not opened.
I was concerned especially about the shipments from South America, because a lot of that mail gets checked for reasons other than seeds. But both of them sailed right through.
So my conclusion is that it is perfectly safe for individual gardeners to ship seed into the U.S., and that APHIS is not, despite their proclamations to the contrary, requiring a phytocertificate on all seed shipments.
Thanks to everybody who helped with this test. Sometime in the next couple of weeks I’ll be sending each of you a more tangible thank-you.
phytocertificate test results
Brook this may well be true for trading seed. Small amounts of seed would be costly to intercept and inspect. I imagine sending seed for business would be a whole different kettle of fish, as they are sending far larger consignments, which you could ill afford to lose in transition.Rules have to be adhered to if you want to stay in business.