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Re: Re: Tropica exporting to USA
>>The rules regarding the importation of plants clearly do not allow plants
that have their roots wrapped or covered in something that would prevent
easy inspection. This is THE sticking point with the USDA.
Tropica achieves its high-quality standards in part through the use of
rockwool. It provides an excellent medium for plant roots. As a result,
all of Tropica's plants "grow-out" in it. It would be economically
prohibitive for Tropica to assign workers to carefully remove the rockwool
from the plants prior to exportation to the US.<<
I understand this is the major hurdle, but I do not understand why it is
such a problem for Tropica...Thousands of plants are imported weekly into
this country from the orient, Oriental Aquarium being one of the largest. I
would think that it would save money for Tropica in the long run to ship
them bare root..lower cost in materials and lower shipping cost. I have seen
Diskys pictures of Tropica, and their facilities look pretty large, couldnt
they convert one or two of their green houses to grow plants in those big
waterbeds without rockwool? What I am curious about is by what standards is
the "quality" of Tropica that much better? Someone mentioned because they
are grown from original tissue culture: does this make the plants more
resiliant? Are they stronger, healthier than asian plants? I doubt if its
size or root structure, as this can vary greatly from any grower. How much
of the Tropica quality mystique is based in truth and how much in image? I
am not trying to be negative, but only to understand it all better.
Robert Paul H
http://www.aquabotanic.com