A friend in Turkey of a friend of mine has offered to pick the fruit of some figs I'm interested in getting seeds from.  It's still not clear to me what's required to get fig seeds through customs legally.  Has anyone done this before and what did you need to do?  Also, does it make any difference if they are shipped as dried figs or as cleaned seeds?

Many thanks!

I was thinking of trying to germinate the seeds of some dried turkish figs I bought from the store. I am also interested in this topic.

You can get the seeds from California, I germinated a lot last fall

Seeds fro0m outside the US need an import permit.

I have some fig jam from Turkey in my pantry (bought it at Super G International store). I'd be willing to bet some of the seeds are still viable.

greenfig, these are for some specific figs growing wild that are not in the US.

Jon, do I send a copy of the import permit to the sender to apply to the package?  I will contact USDA APHIS and hope for a timely reply (last year I asked, but never heard back).

barnhardt, wouldn't fig jam be cooked?

Greg, good luck getting your seeds. I know small amounts of seeds are traded amongst gardeners around the world sent with some padding in just an envelope. It is of course good to know the laws regarding this.

Mike in Hanover, VA

Greg it will only take a couple of weeks to get a permit. The small seed lot program is outlined here:
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/wps/portal/aphis/ourfocus/planthealth/sa_international/sa_travel?1dmy&urile=wcm%3Apath%3A/aphis_content_library/sa_our_focus/sa_plant_health/sa_import/sa_permits/sa_plant_plant_products/sa_plants_for_planting/ct_smalllots_seed

Seeds would not produce the same tree, would they????

Guys,
Those links might interest you:
http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/seed-germination-after-vinegar-and-without-6517713?pid=1279464766#post1279464766

http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/black-mission-tj-6365753?pid=1278208784#post1278208784

If you can find dried figs from turkey locally of the varieties you would like, you could try growing seeds from those figs as well, would make importing a whole lot easier since they are already in the country, I have done it with figs from California before, I just neglected those trees though so I don't know if I would have gotten a common fig out of the 4 I had kept or not.