Palms/seeds in suitcase!

[Kostas]

Hello

As many of you know,i will be travelling to Florida in a few days. Going to a very palmy place,i wish to bring some home with me,some of the more expensive to ship maybe or something extra special. So,i would like to ask you how can one travel by plane with plants or seeds within US and also when changing countries.

Are seeds allowed in the suitcase? Are plants allowed in the suitcase if accompanied by a Phytocertificate? Are coconuts allowed in the suitcase?

Another thing i would like to ask is what kind of suitcase examination you pass when exiting US. Do they require you to open your suitcase for examination?Do they pass it from x-rays and view the contents in detail? Do they just take it without any examination as in the past?

I will fist be travelling to NY from Miami,stay there a couple of days and then fly back to Greece if that matters.

Thank you very much in advance!

[JASON M]

They do check bags, and send them through x-rays. They also have a metal detector but that's only for metal... duh...

And I think when you land they tell you don't take anything back to Greece with you because it's some reason we might have a disease for plants or trees in the US and you might contaminate Greece. I mean... we had to do that even when we went to Hawaii... and that's in-country.

[amazondk]

Over the years I have carried a lot of plants and seeds in suitcases. That was mostly to the USA where I had an import permit. The problem is normally at the country of destination not orgin. Palm seeds are not on the list of what they are looking for when scanning bags at airports. Within the USA there are certain quarantees for citrus and other fruits, especially related to med fly transmission. I would just make sure you return to Greece with what is needed to enter the country.

dk

[Ryland]

While you're on your stay in the U.S. you could by a couple bags of nuts, and when you finish eating them, just put the seeds in the bags! No one in the airport will know the difference...

[Kostas]

Thank you very much all of you for your replys

Thanks Jason

I ask mainly about the suitcases that will go to the airplane's cargo area and not about the hand bags you take into the cabin. The latter were always scanned but the first were not checked in the past.

I would never bring something that can contaminate Greece.I know Florida's hazards and will make sure everything is clean.I just wanted to know what the rules are when travelling with plants. Hawaii from what i hear is particularly strict with that(good for it and its palms)but even the airport customs there leave healthy seeds leave the state

Thank you very much Don

I have travelled abroad numerous times and Greece never ever checks his citizens returning from abroad. So there are no check points at my country to be concerned of when returning.I am only concerned about the check points in US when i will be checking in for the plane...

How did you managed to check in with plants? Have you travelled latter that the rules got stricter?Now they even want you take of your shoes and hand search you and i hear that they check your luggage too?

[Kostas]

Thank you very much Rylandus!

Thats a great idea from smaller seeds,thanks! The trouble is that it wont work well with Cocos and i am thinking of returning with 10 of them back

[Kathryn]

Snakes on a plane!

[Kostas]

Oh yeah! It was a good movie btw

[amazondk]

Kostas,

As I said, palm seeds are not on the list of things that Homeland security is looking for. If you have no problem in Greece I would just take what you want.

dk

[Kathryn]

Oh yeah! It was a good movie btw

It was the first thing that popped into my head when I read "palms in suitcase".

[Mark_NoVA]

How cold does it get in the luggage compartment of a plane for checked-in luggage? I've wondered whether I could bring plants back from say California or Florida in checked-in suitcases, and have them survive any cold in the luggage compartment.

[Trópico]

Make sure you remove any fruit from the seeds and you won't have any problems.

[tjwalters]

They also have a metal detector but that's only for metal... duh...

Well, forget about Chamaedorea metallica, then.

[PalmsZA]

Just this past week i took Bromeliads with me to Cape Town, in a box in the hold. Then I took Broms from CT to Port Elizabeth and from there to Durban. All in all about 3.5 hours on the plane in the hold. They are now in the garden looking great so there must be some sort of temp regulation in the cargo hold...

[Mark_NoVA]

Thanks for the info, Dennis!

Just this past week i took Bromeliads with me to Cape Town, in a box in the hold. Then I took Broms from CT to Port Elizabeth and from there to Durban. All in all about 3.5 hours on the plane in the hold. They are now in the garden looking great so there must be some sort of temp regulation in the cargo hold...

[STPETEDALE]

I had this happen a couple years ago when I took the family to Jamacia for vacation. I purchased several bags the world famous blue mountain coffee.Turns out someone drank all the coffee and put cleaned palm seeds in the bags.I was misled by a local that sold me a bag full of palm seeds instead of coffee beans.How was I to know ?

[amazondk]

How cold does it get in the luggage compartment of a plane for checked-in luggage? I've wondered whether I could bring plants back from say California or Florida in checked-in suitcases, and have them survive any cold in the luggage compartment.

It should not be much different than in the passenger compartment.

dk

[Ciczi in Sweden]

I brought some palm seeds home from Lanzarote. They all survived fine in my suitcase. My Washingtonias are growing now, with a rapid rate (as they all do in the beginning.

Wanted to take a 10 centimeters washingtonia seedling with me but had no "tools" to get it up from the ground with.

//Ciczi

[Kostas]

Thank you very much all of you for your replys!

My point of view is that small seeds are easilly aquired and mailed throughout the world so its not worth much trying to take some with you.I too think they should pass fine but they are not something special unless of a very rare species.

Small seedlings,unless super rare,arent worth the trouble either as they can easily be raised up by easilly acquired seeds.

So what i am looking into getting with me is seeds and/or plants that have prohibitive shipping costs. For example a couple 3g or a 7g pot palm. Medium sized bareroot seedlings of a very rare species too. Is there any way one can do that relatively safely?

Thank you very much in advance!

[palmmermaid]

I just returned from a trip to Costa Rica. I applied for and got an import license from our government before I left. I bought orchids - bareroot - while there. Got the CITES and phyto certs before leaving. Packed my plants in boxes and took them with me on the plane. Declared them on the customs form and went to the agriculture line in Miami. Silly me I thought if the line was for agriculture, the plants would be inspected and returned to me right then. Not so. the customs agents didn't know what to do with them. Finally someone figured out a form had to be completed and then the plants transported over the another location and I could call the next day to find out when I could pick them up. Now I don't live in Miami so that meant another trip a day or two later to pick up my plants.

If I had put them in mhy suitcase and not declared them IU could have gone straight through and not had to make another trip to Miami.

You try to do the right thing and it just makes things more complicated. Makes you want to smuggle things in.

[Moose]

I just returned from a trip to Costa Rica. I applied for and got an import license from our government before I left. I bought orchids - bareroot - while there. Got the CITES and phyto certs before leaving. Packed my plants in boxes and took them with me on the plane. Declared them on the customs form and went to the agriculture line in Miami. Silly me I thought if the line was for agriculture, the plants would be inspected and returned to me right then. Not so. the customs agents didn't know what to do with them. Finally someone figured out a form had to be completed and then the plants transported over the another location and I could call the next day to find out when I could pick them up. Now I don't live in Miami so that meant another trip a day or two later to pick up my plants.

If I had put them in mhy suitcase and not declared them IU could have gone straight through and not had to make another trip to Miami.

You try to do the right thing and it just makes things more complicated. Makes you want to smuggle things in.

Maybe Sgt. Shultz on Hogan's Heros had it right: "I see nothing, I know nothing..."

[BS Man about Palms]

I've lived by that phrase more than once...

[freakypalmguy]

I've carried many seeds domestically and even a few plants. Here is a picture of 3 one gallon palms and an assortment of Philodendron and Birds Nest Fern pups from Tiki Rick in Ft. Lauderdale. I bare rooted them in my hotel room, wrapped the roots in moist toilet paper (I used tap water), then wrapped in the plastic laundry bag that was hanging in my closet. The plants are all thriving.