Moving To Tasmania with some plants

[Green Chemist]

Hi all, we have purchased a property in Tasmania and will be moving in the next couple of months from Queensland. I want to bring 4 plants with me.

1: Kaffir Lime Tree

2: 2X cappi vines that are in pots at the moment.

4: Elder berry.

I plan to trim them back and clean the roots before palcing in a seasol solution in coir fiber for the journey.

WOuld there be any issues do you think with bring them down?

If Any enothbots in Tasmania that could reply with their eperiences of growing plants down there. The Cappi I will slowly aclimatise to being in tassie.

Cheers

Green Chemist

[Rabelais]

As long as you are not bringing them through the airport?...maybe? Sniffer dogs and quarantine are a heavy presence there looking for plant and fish stuffs. You might be asked to put them in the quarantine bin if they find them. Would probably be the same at the ferry terminal, though I have not caught one in over a decade.

On the plus side, watching the sniffer dogs use the luggage conveyer like a treadmill as they sniff all the luggage is hilarious.

Might be better to oganise mailing them to yourself.

I am in Tas and my Caapi in a big pot makes it through winter in a semi-shelterd sun deck/room. Don't get me wrong, it HATES the winters down here but it pulls through.

Edited September 6, 2011 by Dale Cooper

[Green Chemist]

As long as you are not bringing them through the airport?...maybe? Sniffer dogs and quarantine are a heavy presence there looking for plant and fish stuffs. You might be asked to put them in the quarantine bin if they find them. Would probably be the same at the ferry terminal, though I have not caught one in over a decade.

On the plus side, watching the sniffer dogs use the luggage conveyer like a treadmill as they sniff all the luggage is hilarious.

Might be better to oganise mailing them to yourself.

I am in Tas and my Caapi in a big pot makes it through winter in a semi-shelterd sun deck/room. Don't get me wrong, it HATES the winters down here but it pulls through.

 

Will be driving down and catching the ferry across. Some of our stuff here will be shipped down with a removal company. Was planning to take the plants in the car across the ferry.

[theuserformallyknownasd00d]

if by ferry you mean spirit of Tasmania last time i went over I saw no quarantine and had a heap of plant stuff they woulda wanted

[Tas75]

AQIS Tasmania do monitor the Bass Strait ferries. My car was checked by a detector dog when I came across a year ago.

There are a heap of regulations on which plants you can bring and which ones you can't. I know that Alliums and Solanaceae are not allowed at all. Your plants will need a Plant Health Certificate. It's a pain in the arse, your best bet is to ring AQIS Tasmania and find out the process, the cost, and who can do it for you.

For seeds the process is easier, only some plant families require fungicide treatment, others are totally unrestricted.

Your plants will need to come labelled (with scientific names) and with an itemised list declaring what they are.

It's up to you whether you want to chance it or not, many people do, and don't get caught. The maximum fine would be $10,000 per offence if you try to smuggle them in (in your case four plants are four offences, or $40,000, but that's just the maximum and they won't necessarily prosecute you for that much if you're caught).

[Shroomeup]

Ive been across on the ferry a bunch of times over the last ten years and theyve had dogs sniffing for plant/vegetable matter every time.

I did get through one time with some fruit i'd forgotten I had in the back of the car. Another time I watched one of the dogs sniff out and find an unopened bottle of OJ someone had.

[WoodDragon]

My car was checked by sniffer dogs too, which was interesting because I had two Newfoundlands in the back!

You won't get plants through, and given that kaffirs and elders are easily found down here, I wouldn't bother. I can't comment on caapi, as I've never seen it, but I reckon that you'd be better off setting yours free and seeing if you can sort out some new stuff when you get down here. From what I know about caapi you'd need to be properly set up before you think about starting on it, otherwise you'll just be wasting your time. The nights are still getting down to 5 or so, and there are only a few days above 12-15 atm, so there's a while to go yet before unprotected plants could make it.

FYI, mail is being more and more scrutinised too, and it won't be long before any plant material is easily detected. If you really want to bring anything down here, your best bet is to do it legit, or not do it at all.

[Green Chemist]

No worries. Thanks to everyone who replied :)Will have a careful think about it.

[watertrade]

I think Tas75 and WoodDragon have it right - do it legitimately and try and get locally what you can't take in. The AQIS laws are there for good reason and it wouldn't be worth the fines.

[obtuse]

There are companies who will shiip you plants from interstate with the necesary certification documents if there are plants you are after and cant find here.

This thread is the first time i've heard of caapi surviving a tassie winter. Unforunately my experince is that some plants will grow great during summer, but come autumn, winter, they wont survive. I've had no luck with, for example, argeyrea or rivea, but different people seem to be able to grow different things.

Tassie does seem to be good for desert plants/ plants from harsh environments, but things are much slower.

When you get here set up a really good greenhouse, and work out what you can and cant grow in your region.

I echo watertrades sentiments in that Tas75 and Wooddragon are on the money. do it legit, its not worth the fines, but most importantly tassies is a pretty special place with some amazing species and we need to keep it that way as long as possible by keeping out weeds and plant and animal pathogens.

Anyway You'll love tassie, it really is quite amazing and well worth the move.

Cheers, Obtuse.

[Evil Genius]

Now that we´re talking of it, what are the worst introduced Plants/Animals you got in Tassie? Got some of that nasty cane toads too? I was just shocked to learn how many plants have been introduced into germany in the past century and it´s a highly interesting subject. In some of the warmer parts of germany, even Trachycarpus fortunei has invasive growth tendencies.

One of our worst plants is Robinia Pseudoacacia. Its as invasive as hell. Great plant for Permaculture though. And blackberries. God i hate them so much...

[theuserformallyknownasd00d]

Wow ill seriously reconsider next time I do the bass straight, I must have been extremely lucky to see no sniffer dogs or checkpoints!

[Tas75]

The worst pests? Humans!

Not a single other species has been responsible for such extreme environmental degradation and extinction of fellow species.

Other than that, take your pick: rabbits, sparrows, starlings, feral cats, rats, trout, gorse, willows, blackberries.

My picks, since I work with plants, would be blackberries and gorse.

[devance]

http://www.earthfoot.org/p2/au012.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tasmanian_giant_freshwater_crayfish

So your going to be the guy that protect them and not eat them..

Must be very pure water so good water.

The species is only found in Tasmanian rivers flowing north into the Bass Strait (with the exception of the Tamar)