Today a fellow from the UDSA came and I handed over the cuttings, I bought off eBay from Portugal..

He was a very nice person and explained to me the dangers of getting Plant Material from Asia and other

parts of Europe. Him and I talked for a while about Figs and he said he had Figs himself at home and he

loved eating them! I told him,"All was not Lost" that eBay did reimburse me with a Gift Certificate.. I told

him, he would not have to worry about me buying anymore Plant Material  from across the pond, that

I was sticking with the good ole USA.... I think we all should! He was very nice this time.

Be careful of who you are buying from, especially China and Parts of Europe.


Frank from Bama

Happens over and over again.  At least you were agreeable and he handled it politely as he should have.

Glad you weren't in more trouble and had a good conversation.

The Feds for the most part are good people and will approach you in a professional manner.
And for the most part will only get nasty with you if you decide to rub them the wrong way. After all, they are only doing their job. And part of their job is to make your life miserable, if they choose to.

I used to deal with these guys ( U.S. Customs and Border Protection or CBP, Canada Customs ) on regular basis and if they said they need to search my truck or send my truck to the X-ray my answer to them was "I know the drill".

They would laugh and send me on my way. When you have nothing to hide then you have nothing to worry about.

Point is,,,
You can choose to be polite and let that one or two USDA agents come and do their job or you can be that tough dude have a couple dozen more armed to their teeth and tear your house up. Either way, they will get their trophy. That trophy can either be your plant material or your rear end.

My 2 cents.

;o)

Frank: Thank you for sharing.

Best,
Tam

Sorry you had your cuttings taken. Hopefully others will learn that it isn't always as easy as a click on ebay to get that hard to get tree. I've thought about it a few times but I had learned when my nephew sent cuttings from Spain and they were confiscated. I was lucky and only got a letter stating that they were taken because of the needed permits. It could of been worse, they might of let the cuttings arrive then came and took all my trees.  If anyone is thinking that they'll try it.......Don't, you could be very sorry you ever did it. It was a well learned lesson for me.

Given that USA customs are strict and Australian customs are even more strict, you would think that trading scions between the two would be permitted. Yet, it makes no difference, go figure.