You all know we have this nice big property, and I love all things edible.  We pass a local Pistachio orchard often, so I know they will do well here. 

I'm thinking, I should get some on Ebay and save a little money, so I bought two seedlings.  They were coming from Turkey.  Envelope arrived yesterday, EMPTY!  There was a note inside from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.  They confiscated the seedlings because the material is not authorized entry.  It is in or contaminated with soil.  The Phyto-sanitary certificate is missing and the Permit is missing.

I contacted the seller and he is refunding my money through Pay Pal.  It's nice when things work out.  But now I have to pay the big bucks and buy local trees from a nursery.  Probably safer that way anyway.

Dying to make chocolate covered figs rolled in pistachios!!

Suzi

That's the necessity of modern agriculture. The risk of a new plant pathogen entering the US and destroying an entire sector of agriculture is scary!

You could try starting your own seeds, Sheffield's carries them.

https://sheffields.com/seed_genus_species_lot/Pistacia/vera

Of course, if it's like other nut trees you might be waiting for a long while to get anything.

Suzi,
They gotta do what they gotta do!
Are you sure the note from the U.S. Department of Agriculture didn't read:
"Bwahahahahaaa! Better Luck Next Time!" ?
Sorry to hear about the misfortune, but pistachios in chocolate sounds Delicious!!!
Add it to the pile of other things dipped in chocolate: Potato, Chips, Bacon, Twinkies. . .
Makes me want to visit the State Fair :)

yeah Suzi, we have been warned several time hare in forum about that, otherwise i've been drewling over those turkish figs. So enticing but... I would never want to be on FDA's black list :/
We are all better off with local stuff.
BTW, I deep my organic pitted Prunes in Dark(72%) Chocolate... SUPERFOOD! I am thinking also to shove a lave of a walnut in the prune before dipping in chocolate....Oh me bad!!

Ebay should shut that type of thing down, period. I hope they have to refund a million bucks. But if the person ordering it knows better they should take the loss.

i would rather get a nice polite letter than someone knocking on my door :)

I heard here in the forum that some people got a physical visit from "men in black", although very polite they can be all nasty and even arrest, depending on your attitude.
Nevertheless, they are there to take away your newly arrived babies!

The ag guys have been here but only because I called them in!  We had an attack of the Asian Citrus Pysillid (I know I spelled it wrong), but this is a huge commercial citrus area, and that pest carries disease that will wipe out an orchard, so they came and inspected and took samples.  They said to treat all my fruit trees and grape vines with Bayer Merit.  That stops sucking insects in their tracks.  They were actually very nice, but they did inspect all of our fruit trees, including my figs. 

As far as Ebay, it never crossed my mind that the Ag guys would confiscate my order, but I much prefer a letter than an unexpected visit.    Grafted pistachios are expensive, and (after I bought them), I discovered that seedlings take years to produce and you need a male and female and you don't know what you are getting with seedlings.  UC Davis has scions that can be grafted, but I am convinced we'll just have to spend the money and start with the right thing, one female and one male.

Suzi

i wonder if any of us will say this to the g-men. 

"I'll give you my fig when you pry it from my cold, dead hands" lol

Very funny Pete.

The bizarre thing is that ebay could shut it down easily.  The feds should make them do it.

I saw that movie "The attack of the Asian Citrus Pysillid". It was very scary!

I don't understand why anyone would still be so foolish as to buy plant material from foreign sellers. You, suzy, should not get a refund. You knew what you were doing and the risks involved. 

And yes, ebay should shut such sales down because there will always be those who will try to buy from such sources even knowing the risks.

I didn't know the seller didn't have a phyto-sanitary certificate or a permit.  That was not mentioned in the description.  Many sellers have these things.  This dude didn't, and I already got my refund.  Maybe Ebay should require sellers to show their permits. 

Suzi

I would guess you did not ask.

Susy said:  "We pass a local Pistachio orchard often, so I know they will do well here."

There is someone near you who has put the time and money into putting in and growing a Pistachio orchard. You wanted some, as many would it. But instead of paying the money to a local nursery for clean plants, you ordered from a foreign grower running who know what risks. Perhaps none, but I'm pleased they never reached you.

I live in an agricultural area also in California, and right now locally there are at least 2 introduced 'somethings' threatening crops from who knows where. 

When I going looking at fig and stuff on ebay now I just click the US only button on the left.... keep me from being tempted by pretty pictures of unlikely figs

$40 is a lot cheaper than $150 per tree which is all I could find.  I paid $45.00.  I figured he was legit, but I was too excited to actually find them for that price, and jumped on it.  NO local nursery carries these trees.  I checked. 

I'll find them somewhere.  Maybe I can talk that orchard we pass into getting me a male and female. 

Suzi

it's called job creation and retention :)

http://www.davewilson.com/home-gardens/where-to-buy/retail-sources/Kerman%20Female%20Pistachio/KERMA/product-information/product/kerman-female-pistachio/0///

These guys offer a list of nurseries in Arizona and California that carry their Kerman and Peter, some of them may have different varieties to choose from.

Suzi, when your Fig cutting from UCDA , you can actually order Pistachio cuttings also...
Mark

Mark, thanks!  I knew you could get cuttings, but that will be a year from now, and I would need to graft them to something like a seedling.  I guess I could buy two females and graft male branches to each, but nah!  I'll just go to Chivas link, find a nursery that has them for a reasonable price, and get them there.  I'll get the pistachio trees for sure.  We do have the room, and I love pistachios!  We have a Macadamia too, so all that together will be just fine.

You did get me thinking though, about grafting female cuttings onto my male in a year or so.  Hmmmmmmmmm  :-))  From what I've read, one male can fertilize many females.  Uh.... pistachios!!

Suzi

Why stop at pistachios when you can have almonds too, I believe USDA has almond cuttings as well (I could be wrong) or one of those nurseries may have some.  I don't know if you already have some but almonds inside figs are always tasty too.

Almonds in figs sounds yummy!
Wonder if almond tree cuttings root easily?