I recently shipped a fig tree to California and was a little apprehensive about it.  I received a call this morning that an inspection dog ID'd my package for inspection and they wanted permission to look it over.  The guy was very polite and professional.  Because it was shipped with soil there would be concerns about Japanese beetles and what ever other restrictions might be in place from MA.  More than likely it will be shipped back to me and not destroyed so it is not a total loss.  Lesson learned.  California's agriculture business is a multi billion dollar industry that provides produce to the world and probably provides jobs to millions of people either growing, distributing, or selling what is grown in California.  So if you ship to California there is a good possibility it will be tagged for inspection and not make it if it does not have the proper paperwork.  I was told that it might be different if it was shipped bare root although the conversation did not make that completely clear.  Hopefully I will receive the plant back.

Thanks for sharing.

Best,
Tam

Thanks for the thread Tom.

If you would like, we can test this, Ship me a Black Madiera bare root.....and I will let you know if it arrived.......LOL

Thanks for the Posting......I think bare root is probably the best way to avoid problems......hope you get the tree back.

I mailed some cuttings to Mexico City and they seemed to disappeared immediately from USPS tracking...????  It was not weed...LOL

Tom, as I pointed out in the thread at http://www.figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post?id=6537743 recently, there are nine states with similar restrictions for Japanese Beetle.  Besides California, other "Category 1" non-infested states include Arizona, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, and Washington.

This chart might be helpful:

http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/plant/PE/interiorexclusion/ext_summary.html