Galanthus winter 2009/2010

[Anthony Darby]

Hi Anthony, I have managed to send Snowdrops once to new Zealand and it was expesive for all the Scottish office inspections but now we would find it even more expesive as cost have almost doubled,  cheers Ian the Christie kind.

So how much is that?

[Maggi Young]

Anthony, this is a recent govmt. document on plant  inspection fees etc:
http://www.oqps.gov.uk/legislation/ssi/ssi2008/ssi_20080153_en_1

 Then there are special CITES licence fees as well, I think

[Eric Locke]

With these fees I feel they are just tempting more people to take the back door approach. 

Eric

[Maggi Young]

With these fees I feel they are just tempting more people to take the back door approach.  

Eric

Maybe, Eric, but is that not an argument which could be extended to say that having things for sale at a price in shops is encouraging theft? Two wrongs don't make a right, and all that!

I have a suspicion that even if the permits were free then some people would still cheat because they couldn't be bothered to complete the paperwork....

[johnw]

Anthony  - Our last joint UK order was for about 80 bulbs and here are the costs;

CITES permit                        £57.00
Phytosanitary inspection                  £30.00
Post                                                                          £13

Not so bad if you get others in on the order.   That makes it £1.25 extra per bulb, or as Mark would say just another 1/125.6 sliver of 'E.A. Bowles'.  

I undertsand the CITES charge was going to double or more in the Spring of 2010.  It certainly is an act of goodwill on the part of the nurseryman, one would never re-coup the time or money dealing with the whole process and our thanks go out.

johnw

[Brian Ellis]

 

[Brian Ellis]

Not so bad if you get others in on the order.

That really is the way to go isn't it John, it makes the cost almost negligible and compares well with paying for postage and package here!

[Paddy Tobin]

Certainly when the cost is spread over a large number of bulbs it is not as prohibitive as I might have expected. An additional £1.25 per bulb is not a huge addition given the cost per bulb.

Paddy

[Maggi Young]

The fees John quotes are much less than those listed in  the Scottish  fee structure in that link I gave...

[johnw]

Not so bad if you get others in on the order.

That really is the way to go isn't it John, it makes the cost almost negligible and compares well with paying for postage and package here!

Brian - The postage was quite reasonable but they took two weeks to get here.    However we never know how long they spent at Canadian Inspection.

Two weeks would be too long for "in the green" but  "in the green" would not be permissible anyway, the bulbs have to be dormant.  This makes me wonder about sending things like seeds of nerine (with documentation) to distant places like NZ and Aus, if the seed sent out a root - as they frequently do - in transit would they still get through as seed or would they then be considered plants and destroyed?

johnw

[Martin Baxendale]

Anyone else notice that the 'Sibbertoft No. 2' being offered on ebay is illustrated with a pic of a nice-looking  poculiform snowdrop, which 'Sibbertoft No. 2' isn't. According to the book, it's an Atkinsii type. Something not quite right there!

[johnw]

The fees John quotes are much less than those listed in  the Scottish  fee structure in that link I gave...

They must allow for the Scots beating them down on the price.  

johnw

[johnw]

A few more Galanthus - 'All Saints', nivalis 'Warei' and 'Sophie North'

johnw

[mark smyth]

I see other mistakes also Martin. A man who has written a book on himself below his listing is selling a Galanthus green tipped lost label and Robin Hood. His photo for Robin Hood is an elwesii.

They could have been supplied wrong in the first place. I know someone who refuses to rename wrongly supplied snowdrops in the garden because that's what they were bought as. Even the best get it wrong. I saw Merlin for sale last year that had a single mark

[Anthony Darby]

Anthony, this is a recent govmt. document on plant  inspection fees etc:
http://www.oqps.gov.uk/legislation/ssi/ssi2008/ssi_20080153_en_1

 Then there are special CITES licence fees as well, I think

Why does a vision of Harpo and Grouch Marx come into my head when I read that? Plain English it isn't. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it would appear that it would cost £180 per batch of bulbs sent.