FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Sup, i recall being in a thread a while ago discussing shipment to Australia, matt had said he had had a couple orders from AUS now, with no specific mentions of the expenses involved.
now that i'm getting tissue culture gear, i wanted to get some more cultivars in stock, and emailed sales@flytrapcare.com asking about customs fees, and shipping costs to australia for either live plants, or tissue culture tubes, i think i emailed them about 4 or 5 days ago now, and no response so far, so i thought i would ask here, if anyone from AUS, or any other international countries has imported from flytrapstore before, and what fees did you have to pay?

i think AUS has pretty strict quarrantine stuff, so there will probably be even more fees to import to here (maybe reduced with sterile cultures i guess?)

anyway, cheers.

Hey Mufasa, sorry I didn't respond to your email. I don't even recall getting it, but I was out of town this weekend, so perhaps I accidentally archived or deleted it when using my phone to check email.

I don't know anything about the costs associated with importing plants to Australia other than what it costs from our end. Here are those details:
1) Phytosanitary Certificate = $25 USD
2) Express Mail = $50 USD (I think?)
3) Cost of the order

That's all from our end.

But I do believe that it costs quite a lot to get import permits. It also takes quite a bit of time, so if you want to order some cultures this winter, I'd suggest contacting the Australian Department of Agriculture soon. Let them know what you plan to do and see what they say. Here's a link to their website:
http://www.agriculture.gov.au/import/plant-products

Once you acquire the import permits, you'll have to send them to us and we'll include them in the box along with the Phyto. Cert. That should be all that's needed, I think, but check with them to see what they say.

Cool, so you're actually able to ship the live plants, if i get all that worked out, in the same fashion you would do locally?
once i follow this up, i'll have to post the results here so anyone can see it.

Mufasa wrote:Cool, so you're actually able to ship the live plants, if i get all that worked out, in the same fashion you would do locally?

Oh, sorry for not being clearer there.

No, we cannot ship live plants anywhere outside of the US. We only ship sterile cultures to other countries.

ah, cheers, once i figure out the costs, i will let you know, incase anyone asks in the future
i have sent them an inquiry, if the costs are high, i might get my local cp society involved for a group order.

ok, so i've done a little research on this subject now, from what i gather, the permits can cost up to 500 dollars, and the cost for inspection, and disposal of bad plants varies alot, but can be around 200 dollars. so far i think i'm sort of okay with those expenses, but ontop of that there is a high risk that plants will be disposed of for very small reasons (cloudy substrate, etc)
and aswell as that, the changes in air pressure in flight can cause gas exchange, and contamination (matt, maybe you know about this, surely you've sent TC via air mail before?), so i think some sort of airtight pressure vessel might increase odds of arriving safely (maybe something like a coffee flask or mason jar?)

Yeah, not sure, but i think i will have to get in touch with the ag department in person, and find out what would give me the best chances of getting my stuff here safely, and might be wise to have some insurance measures... IE, 2 cultures of each cultivar, incase one culture is destroyed (maybe i can work out a deal with matt for 2 smaller cultures for a slightly increased price or something? idk)

Yeah, going to look into it further, for now, i think i will sit on it, and do some more research for a couple of months before i do anything.

Mufasa wrote:ontop of that there is a high risk that plants will be disposed of for very small reasons (cloudy substrate, etc)

Yes, I've had cultures destroyed before and had to resend them.

Mufasa wrote:and aswell as that, the changes in air pressure in flight can cause gas exchange, and contamination (matt, maybe you know about this, surely you've sent TC via air mail before?), so i think some sort of airtight pressure vessel might increase odds of arriving safely (maybe something like a coffee flask or mason jar?)

I don't use air tight vessels, but I do use screw cap test tubes and then bag them in plastic baggies. As long as the culture is fresh, that works for Australia. Other countries are far less restrictive and will accept most cultures without any problems.

Mufasa wrote:Yeah, going to look into it further, for now, i think i will sit on it, and do some more research for a couple of months before i do anything.

That's a good idea, as there is some inherent risk importing to Australia. I've successfully done it a few times now, but it took a few tries to learn what would work. I know that I have to send cultures immediately after creating them. If there is ANY dead material in the culture, which happens (just like plants growing in soil, they do lose leaves sometimes) when I allow cultures to grow out and fill the tubes as I do for most customers, they will be destroyed.

Annoying, but I do know how to get cultures through Australian quarantine, I think. Though, it is hit or miss depending on the agent who does the inspection.

awesome, so you thinjk your procedures over time has improved your success rate recently? any guess on your rate of success in your most recent shipments?

if packing them each in baggies, might be a wise additional measure to sterilise the baggie, and culture tube as well as possible before packing them?

but yeah, i have heard some rumors of some cultivars that will be sold soon in aus, namely wacky traps, and biohazard, so i'm going to try and look into getting whatever i can locally before importing.