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[APD] RE: Tropica plants (Claus Christensen)



Now if you could only have a reliable distribution system in Canada I'd be
set.
I've tried for 3 years to bring in your plants for sale, but all I can get
as distributors are other retailers who have no interest in supplying their
competition with plants.

Regards,
James
Thunder Bay Aquascapes


> Message: 2
> Date: Wed, 15 Jun 2005 17:27:24 +0200
> From: "Claus Christensen" <clc at tropica_dk>
> Subject: [APD] RE: Tropica plants
> To: <aquatic-plants at actwin_com>
> Cc: nickplummer at nc_rr_com
>
>
> Nicholas Plummer asked: Can anyone explain why Tropica plants cannot be
imported into the US.?
>
> USA is the only industrialised country that does not allow import of
Tropica plants. USDA requires that the roots are visible. This is not
possible because all Tropica plants are grown in pots with stone-wool.
>
> (Federal Register § 319.37-8   Growing media.(a) Any restricted article at
the time of importation or offer for importation into the United States
shall be free of sand, soil, earth, and other growing media)
>
> Extracting the main point of a letter addressed to the United States
Department of Agriculture:
>
> Tropica was established in 1970 as a specialised nursery producing solely
aquatic plants. Each year Tropica produces 2 million aquatic plants potted
in the sterile medium 'rock wool' manufactured under the trade name Grodan.
This particular growth medium is currently hindering the export of these
first-class aquarium plants into the United States. Grodan is recognised
world-wide as an effective and clean growth medium. It enables the grower to
control and fight any disease or pest what so ever on hydroponically grown
plants. Currently, Tropica exports more than 150 species to 30 different
countries all over the world including Japan, New Zealand, Australia and
Canada. All of these countries are extremely careful about preventing the
introduction of new pests.
> The United States presently allows the import of aquatic plants grown in
nurseries in for example India, Sri Lanka and Singapore as long as they come
free of soils or other particulate root medium. In addition, the United
States allows the import of aquatic plants collected in the wild from South
America as well as Asia. Both of these sources of aquatic plants present a
high risk of introducing unwanted 'weeds' and phyto-diseases (fungus,
bacteria, and virus). This is not a theoretical risk! During the obligatory
quarantine period, Tropica has found that many of the plants held in
quarantine carry diseases and pest.
> Importing plants from Tropica Aquarium Plants poses far less risk than
importing plants from the wild or from less rigorously controlled nurseries
in Asia. Diseases are avoided by strict control in the production by
actually growing the plants in 'rock wool' on sterile plastic tables using
reverse osmosis water. The nursery is under strict control by the Danish
Department of Agriculture (DDA), which visits Tropica unannounced searching
for pests and diseases. In addition, DDA will issue 'Phytosanitary
Certificates' after carefully examining and approving each shipment. Also,
each shipment is subjected to country specific pre-export treatments.
>
> Best regards
> Claus
> Tropica
> Denmark

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