I believe that the lawful way of doing it involves a good deal of paperwork, expense, and a quarantine period. Seeds and herbaceous plants are much easier to import.
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/EP043
Though most of the pest and disease problems we've bought and paid for have come along with either produce or packing material, there have been a few notable cases where unlawful importation of scionwood has led to an outbreak of a heretofore unknown condition. A fungal disease of pears in the Carolinas comes to mind but I can't remember the details.
With the exception of a very few new varieties from other countries, practically anything you would want is already in the U.S. If you can't find it in a commercial nursery, try the National Clonal Germplasm Repository. We have a branch in Oregon; http://www.ars.usda.gov/Main/site_main. ... 3-58-15-00
If they don't have it, give them good information about what you are seeking and they might import it. Once it clears quarantine, you can get material for free, if you don't mind waiting a while.
As someone in the wood products industries, I would like you to remember Chestnut blight, Dutch Elm disease, Sudden Oak Death, the fungal disease threatening Port Orford Cedar, Formosa termites, Gypsy moths and Longhorned beetles to name but a few catastrophes associated with importation of forest products/wood/trees.
Is what you want that important such that you are willing to risk another problem like those listed above????
Because of the disease issues mentioned above, all apple scionwood imports into the USA must go through virus screening, and there are two places that do this.
The first is administered by Joseph Foster at the USDA APHIS in Beltsville, MD. It's free, and no, not a lot of paperwork at all. However, they are limited to 50 varieties per year nationally, and so your request better be pretty good. They have granted every one of my requests in the past, which consisted of varieties once cultivated in the USA but are now extinct here, and hot-climate rootstocks developed in Israel.
You need to arrange a sponsor at the sending country who will be sending the scionwood. You provide this info to APHIS, and they will send them the request and a FedEx shipping label. The scionwood goes directly to them, and they will start the virus screening process. Depending on how "dirty" your variety is, the quarantine program takes about three years.
Dr. Margarita Licha administers the intake, and her contact is:
Margarita F. Licha, PhD
Senior Plant Pathologist-Team Leader
Pomes, Prunus and Small Fruits Quarantine Program
Plant Germplasm Quarantine Program
USDA, APHIS,PPQ,PHP,PSPI,PGQP
BLG 580, BARC-EAST
Beltsville, MD 20705
(P) 301-504-5700 x 337
(P) 301-504-7156 x 337
Fax 301-504-61224
email: Margarita.F.Licha@aphis.usda.gov
If you are refused by them, you can still go through the National Research Support Project 5 (NRSP5) at Washington State University http://nrsp5.prosser.wsu.edu/ They will do as many as you want, but it will cost you about $3,500 per variety, and also takes about three years. Their website shows the virus screening process.
If you find an apple variety overseas that you think would be valuable here in the USA, and are certain that it is not in cultivation here, by all means import it. It's not that bad of a process.
Applenut:
Please excuse my ignorance or naivete, but could you provide an explanation as to why it is necessary or advantageous to import new biological materials into this country. Given the potential costs/risks, I just don't understand the offsetting potential benefits (societally or environmentally).
Maybe what I am concerned about is not those who do so legally but instead, because of an attitude that importation is acceptable, individuals will bring in materials without going through a quarentine process -- that they don't want to wait 3 years, go through the paperwork and costs, or mistakenly believe that what they are doing poses no threat.
Your message referred to screening for viruses; the problems I mentioned (non-insect) are all fungal. Are fungi screened as well? And what about invasive noxious species -- I got a recent mailing from my local SWCD that indicated: "The economic impact of just 21 weeds in Oregon has been estimated . . . (at) $83 million per year, . . ." After a recent presentation on invasive weeds by the head of my county's weed control department, she noted that Round-up and Crossbow are becoming ineffective when used alone to eradicate Himalaya blackberry and need to be used together (in combination) to have any real effectiveness.
Is there a point in time when it is appropriate to say: enough. ??????
Lee: “Please excuse my ignorance or naivete, but could you provide an explanation as to why it is necessary or advantageous to import new biological materials into this country.â€
I’ll try… …but I can hardly begin to list the fruiting trees, canes and vines that have now become common place and relied upon across this nation… I just climbed out of my Satsuma plum (not having lost a drop!) …Wow – and had Luther Burbank not had such Asian plum cultivars to breed … I can’t imagine where we’d be?
Shortly after the USSR dissolved fruit enthusiast, Jim Gilbert (of One Green World) began scouring their research stations looking to procure the best of their work for importation (and sale) in the USA. Had Jim not given his inspirational presentation in Portland’s Expo Center decades ago… and not been able to have secured Figs, (Asian) Persimmons or (Chinese) Kiwi – neither would I! And looking around the orchard of my Great-grandfather… there’s not one cultivar (or fruit tree) that wasn’t originally imported from Europe. …Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy nibbling on Salal, Thimble berries and our Pacific Dew berries… but I wouldn’t trade either for that tree of Satsuma’s!
“Maybe what I am concerned about is not those who do so legally but instead, because of an attitude that importation is acceptable, individuals will bring in materials without going through a quarantine process -- that they don't want to wait 3 years, go through the paperwork and costs, or mistakenly believe that what they are doing poses no threat.â€
That’s a tuff call… by now I could have turned in a multitude of friends and neighbors for that offence! Actually, after reading the ‘legal’ method of importation - I was appalled. No wonder most everyone sneaks the suff in! I’d blame the process -- only 50 items ‘checked’ per year? That’s nuts; if ‘we’ really wanted to curb imported problems on living stock we’d have a system that cleared it ASAP! Tell me, how do they keep a scion viable for three years..? I may be missing something, but that’s the way the rules read to me.
“Your message referred to screening for viruses;†– Systemic, I suspect viruses would have to present themselves in time; unless there’s a DNA test that could be applied immediately. As far as ‘fungal,’ wouldn’t a ‘strong dip’ or fumigation eliminate those; the same with any ‘critters?’ Viral seems the most difficult to detect, and likely the longest process to observe naturally … thus all those pieces of scion wood stuffed inside shoes (with used socks jammed on top)…
“And what about invasive noxious species --†-- As mentioned earlier, most such seed likely arrived as packing. And, though considered a wonderful plant to keep down beach erosion, Scotch Broom was legally imported and planted on the Oregon Coast for just that reason. Himalayan Blackberries, I don’t know… The problem is (especially in the rich Willamette Valley) plants barely holding on in some environs generally thrive in ours. And many of the invaders were purposefully planted by the pioneers, for carding wool or making tea…
It’s a mess; one for which Monsanto likely smiles all the way to the bank 
" title="Laughing" /> …and I’m certainly not discounting the importance of protecting our environment from further invaders… but it’s somewhat telling when such a seemingly ‘easy question’ is asked on a forum of enthusiasts to find, not only how long it took to come up with an answer, but how far from ‘simple’ that answer is. So, when the next friend asks how one goes about getting an “apple cutting†from his home country … what I’ll remember of the process is how daunting it is – and likely nod my head when he admits having just tucked a few pieces away from his last trip…
Himalayan blackberry was devised by Luther Burbank to make seedless blackberries. He sold them to farmers and they planted fields full of them. 3 generations of berries later, they tragically found that they returned to thorniness. Now you can't take them back. That's the problem. They are everywhere. That's why we have to be careful now.
John S
PDX OR
The issue I was raising should not be sidetracked by an analysis of the past vis a vis cost/risks versus benefits. Though, as an aside, I doubt that many people considering the nightmare of Himalaya blackberry would put Luther Burbank on a pedestal because of the Satsuma plum. Luther Burbank had the path to riches all figured out except for the fact that there were issues he omitted in his thinking (Whitehead's Fallacy of MIsplaced Concreteness) and we have, as a result, an ecological catastrophe.
I am concerned with now and the future -- What is the need for importation of new species?
I tend to agree with Lonrom (that most varieties are already here). How many is that for apples?; pears?; plums?; grapes?. Societially, environmentally, isn't this ENOUGH?
Provide me a mindset, a logical argument of justification that makes sense.
And it is exactly the acquiessence to circumventing quarantine procedures that scares the hell of me. I went to grad school at Penn State in the middle of Pa.'s Appalachian Mountains. A hundred years before, the American chestnut (Castana denta) was a predominant species in the forests of those mountains. Within less than two decades of the introduction of the chestnut blight, the American chestnut became virtually extinct. If anyone believes it cannot happen again -- Dutch elm disease !!! Perhaps no one wants to remember either last year's swine flu threat or the bubonic plague called the Black Death in the mid-fourteenth century.
I doubt if anyone would be complicit with an arsonist starting a destructive forest fire; is it acceptable to turn a blind eye to someone unlawfully importing materials that might contain a pathogen that could likewise destroy a forest? or the orchards of the PNW? As an avowed environmentalist, I propose that we establish a moritorium for a period until we better understand bioregionalism and environmental sustainability -- unless there are logical and justifiable reasons to import additional materials. That was my question -- what are the justifiable reasons?
LeeN, you're conflating multiple issues.
Most of the serious fungal and insect diseases brought to this country arrived on commodities and packing material. There are millions of tons of such materials arriving in this country each day. Whether this is bad and what to do about it is a question of the appropriateness of world trade, and while most people on this forum would agree with you that there's too much of that sort of thing going on, it's really not what we're here to talk about.
The question of release of exotic species not already present is also a very different question. The original question was about scionwood for species already prevalent in the U.S. I don't believe that cultivars of apple, plum, pear, etc. species already present in the U.S. pose such risks to any greater degree than breeding programs operated domestically.
I don't believe that anyone is encouraging people to circumvent quarantine. I'm certainly not.
The screening process practiced by Dr. Foster and Univ. of Washington negates any pest of fungus problems. Click on http://nrsp5.prosser.wsu.edu/n.....pheat.html to see the process.
Phil Forsline at Geneva has imported thousands of seeds and scionwood from central asia for breeding purposes, trying to unlock the natural disease and pest resistance in apples in order to cut down spraying. I applaud his efforts as I do Professor Raphael Assaf in Israel for developing a warm-climate apple rootstock. There's very little research done worldwide for growing apples in a warm climate that I can refer to, and to try to do the same research here in the USA would be daunting. I'm very happy to build on his research, as they are happy to receive varieties that have been tested here to do well in hot climates. A 5 min. dip in miticide/fungacide takes care of any pest problems.
Viron:
Sorry, didn't see the questions on your post.
The scionwood is grafted immediately upon receipt by the virus screening onto seedling rootstock, and shoots are grown out. Since viruses are latent in the wood, no dip or spray can kill them, and they are passed from generation to generation.
The shoots are grown out either in very high temps, or regular temps and then cut off and baked in an oven. This kills the virus (as well as any fungus or pests), and buds are cut from these shoots and grafted to a rootstock again. The shoots are grown out and tested for viruses, and if they still remain the process is repeated, up to three times (thus the three year duration). IF the shoot tests "clean" the first year, then it is released early.
Virus screening is routinely done at the University of Washington because some rootstocks (like the new Geneva series) can have bad reactions to scionwood with latent viruses. No symptoms may appear until grafted onto these rootstocks, and so an effort has been made to "clean up" many commercial varieties, as well as the EMLA series of rootstocks. You can order this certified virus-free scionwood from the NRSP5 program.
Most industrialized countries in the world have similar virus-screening programs for importing malus scionwood, including Israel where I sent scionwood to. I wouldn't be concerned about the 50-ascetion per year limit, as if the variety is truly worthy of importation, they will recognize this and gladly accomodate you. I've found them wonderful to work with, and I end up with probably the only virus-free examples of that variety in the world.
Applenut,
Thank you for the response, and your prior link. I’d looked it over and was amazed to see the ‘micro-grafting’ necessary to keep the scions viable! …but yours was a far better, if clearer explanation of the ‘three year process.’
I never knew viruses could be eliminated while keeping the plant tissue/stock alive... Glad we’ve had this discussion! I wonder how closely the found viruses are linked; meaning, are they generally the same, only needing to be ‘cooked out,’ or are there a multitude of which haven’t yet found their way to ‘US’..?
A local HOS member began a commercial cider orchard a decade ago. He made many trips to France to acquire the best apple cultivars for this purpose. Would he have had to put each scion through the process described – or, could he have simply ‘chanced’ they were virus free and ‘good enough’ for ‘his orchard’ – not sale? In other words, would every scion brought into the US be required by law to undergo the viral removal (along with the fungus and pests) process you linked and described?
Viron:
There is no other legal way to import malus scionwood.
Many viruses are benign, showing no outward symptoms other than stunting growth; but if you check out the NRSP5 virus listing you can see some of the nasty ones like rubberwood, which robs the tree of structure. Someone could import a virus from an apparently healthy tree that does not show up until you try to graft it onto a certain rootstock that is sensitive to viruses.
Back when apple trees were grafted on seedling rootstock viruses weren't much of an issue and not much care was taken in importation; times are different now with the dwarfing specialty rootstocks. I believe viruses can be spread by sucking insects, and so an infected tree could mess up a whole orchard area and nothing could be done but destroy all the trees.
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