Imported Plants from Japan

Divinder22

A nursery owner in my area informed me that his plants were under quaranteen. Is there a widespread quaranteen at the state or national level. If so does anyone know when the agrivulture dept lawyers will free them up...Thanks

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zube

I believe all imported trees are quaranteed for a period of time. Perhaps two years. Ask your nursery owner when the period is up for his stuff. The restrictions are actually based on real world needs, not legal mumbo-jumbo. Some of the Asian beetles can and will decimate entire forests if left unchecked. We don't need them.
zube

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Sorry doesn't put thumbs back on the hand, Marge.
H. Simpson

Divinder22

Now I'll really display my ignorance...why don't they just X-ray the plants and clear the ones without beetle tracks inside them...Surely beetles cannot hide from the cheapest set of X-ray photos...hmmm

Vonsgardens

There are many other potential "risks" that have been assigned to field grown miniature trees. The odd thing is that the massive number of palmatum gradts and other types of plants come in with no real quarrantine. Two years, in the US they have arduaous housing requirments, don't know about Canada. John

rockm

So how much would it cost to x-ray ten, a hundred, thousand imported elms? That would be a great use of tax dollars ;-)

Seriously, quarrantine is not only to prevent beetles, but other stuff, like fungal infections, soil pathogens, etc. that cannot be detected by xray machines.

Dutch elm disease was imported to the U.S. a hundred years ago in imported trees. It is carried by a beetle, but the disease itself is, well, a disease that's invisible...Xrays wouldn't have stopped it. Neither did it stop the fungal infection that killed most of our old huge chesnut trees, nor did they stop accidental importation of the Asian anthracnose fungus that has decimated native dogwood trees over the last couple of decades. There is great need and precedent for these kinds of controls and it's not just to feed lawyers ;-)

Divinder22

I guess it boils down to a darwinian invasive species arguement. I'm for anythng that increases diversity even if a single species is wiped out...sometimes they were doomed anyway...Still I'm not for releasing diversity killers that wipe out everything like walking catfish in Florida or cane toads in Australia....The dutch elm was doomed eventually without human intervention...better strains would have to be developed artificially...to me they better have good reasons to quarantine...thanks for listening

Divinder22

OOps I meant the American elm was doomed eventually...not the Dutch elm and I live in an area where there are few natural plants below 400 feet in elevation that were here five hundred years ago...It's all gone herds of cattle and human developements wiped it all out...Few people realize it...

zube

I can't imagine why you would "be for anything that increases diversity". Is it because that's such a great political buzzword, or do you have that poor of an imagination? Would you want crocodiles in the creek behind your house, or do you draw the line at that? Your statement makes almost no sense whatsoever.
zube

__________________
Sorry doesn't put thumbs back on the hand, Marge.
H. Simpson

Divinder22

Well...zube? if there were crocidiles in the creek behind me I wouldn't be a coward about it. Hell they'd be an improvement over some of the humans...