My friend just returned from visiting family in Italy. I gave him the task of brigging back some cuttings and to my delight, he was successful. He brought me cuttings of Fico Trojano and Fico Brogiotto from my family's home town of Teggiano (Salerno). They were in excellent condition and I prepared them for rooting with great care last night. What a priceless gift that I hope root well and thrive.

good luck rooting them. Have you rooted summer cuttings before?

Bass,

I have rooted summer cuttings with a fair success rate (not as good as dormant ones). Some of the cuttings were woody while others were green. I cleaned and sanitized them well and have them in bags to root.

My wife is going to Italy in August for 17 days staying in the Tuscany area with a friend and her family in a small village.  She is going to see the local cousin our friend about getting cutting.  My question is how they were brought home and is it possible to get a whole tree shipped home from Italy?  What are the must have figs from this area is anybody knows?  thanks.   Angelo

angelo just wrap the cuttings in damp paer towel and put them in a zip lock bag.  Make sure you hide them on your person becuse "smuggeling" any type of plant material through customs is considered a big no no.  I brought back seeds from an amalfi lemon when I visited Italy a couple years ago.  My cousin works for homeland security at JFK and he speaks a little italian so they had an older italian women that just got off the plane from italy. She was in a wheel chair and I guess she was acting a little strange.  They sent my cousin to ask her in italian if she had anything on her person that she should'nt have and she replied no.  My cousin noticed something odd portruding from under her dress turns out she had a small olive tree under her dress!!! ha ha ha lol

Angelo,

Just mail the cuttings to yourself.  To make sure you get them, I would send several envelopes to yourself over a couple of days, each with a couple of cuttings.  They are bound to miss a couple.

I wonder if the cuttings would survive in the unheated cargo compartment of the plane? what would be the air temp at 30,000 feet?

I believe its in the negatives--25 to-50.

So I would say no

Buy a toe warmer (air activated) heat pack and take that with you, they stay warm 8-10 hours.  That shouldl keep your cuttings warm enough if you pack them in your suitcase.   Had also read about someone who put the cut ends in a potato and then packed it in suitcase.

The cargo is heated, otherwise all your shampoo would be frozen.

Good point, Jose.  A friend had some cuttings shipped to him in Malawi, Africa by priorty mail, supposed to be 10 days.  After 42 days the cuttings arrived with most showing roots or root initials.  All survived the trip in multiple zip lok bags with cuttings and damp florists spagnum.. ( the stringy kind).  This was in Mar.

You'd think a guy who worked in cargo would know this-Duh!

We had a 727 come in with pigs one day. Had to vent the plane for an hour before entering. Still had to wear masks.  The best part- I didn't have to help!

I bring top notch frozen Canadian sea food in most of my travels to Asia and on arrival(Singapore), the top part always have slight thawing. So, I agreed with Jose.

I ship cockatoos all over the US with no problem.  They do have pressurized and climate control compartments down in the cargo area.

I use to put grapes on the cut ends of roses during transportation.

If this is of any help I can tell you that everything will be fine. Just send the cutting via regular airmail.

Do not waste your time sending several packages just send two at the max. In some places in Europe there is no need for doing a custom declaration if the package is under half a kilogram or 1 kilogram...

Just have it shipped  regular mail it always workd for me