Selling plants - Plant passports - Inspection

[SimonT]

I hope that Plant Passports will become a sign that plants for sale have actually been very carefully checked for all pests and diseases.
Even common pests like Mealy bug, RSM and similar can be a real pain to manage, especially given the pesticides we now have available.
I'd certainly pay more for plants if they were guarenteed 'pest free'.

[el48tel]

I hope that Plant Passports will become a sign that plants for sale have actually been very carefully checked for all pests and diseases.
Even common pests like Mealy bug, RSM and similar can be a real pain to manage, especially given the pesticides we now have available.
I'd certainly pay more for plants if they were guarenteed 'pest free'.

I admire optimism. They don't have sufficient staff to do the job properly now. What you desire would class as a dream.

[SimonT]

I'm not usually an optimist- I don't know what came over me.
The flip side of the argument is that if common pests are difficult to control then how are
new pests that are a biosecurity risk going to be controlled? The control measures used are generally the same.

[esp]

I'm not usually an optimist- I don't know what came over me.
The flip side of the argument is that if common pests are difficult to control then how are
new pests that are a biosecurity risk going to be controlled? The control measures used are generally the same.

Many common pests are indigenous, or ubiquitous enough that re-infection is likely even if they are eliminated at some point ion time.
Hopefully passporting would enable some monitoring and possible retrospective control if an novel outbreak were to occur. Maybe.

[LM2020]

Yes there do seem to be lots of grey areas so I've found it confusing. I was wondering if they may publish more clarifications over time as it's been a few years since it was introduced.

With Mealy bugs and such, they aren't covered by the passport. It's only 'notifiable pests'. https://planthealthportal.defra.gov.uk/ ... ble-pests/ I was trying to learn the notifiable pests when I applied and couldn't see ones that succulents could get.

[Chris in Leeds]

I really don’t understand why they exist if you aren’t selling to other countries as it is putting so many people off propagating from seed and selling the surplus plants
I have seen so many people stop selling plants due to the confusing information they get

[Darren S]

I really don’t understand why they exist if you aren’t selling to other countries as it is putting so many people off propagating from seed and selling the surplus plants
I have seen so many people stop selling plants due to the confusing information they get

Follow the money Chris. Call me a cynic but those big nurseries who can absorb the cost and hassle now have less competition from smaller operations and amateurs selling online....

I am one of those who has stopped selling surplus as strictly an amateur. I can't get to physical locations and the online option has all these regulatory uncertainties. And I dare not break whatever vague guidance exists because professionally (environmental chemist) I do a fair bit of work with Defra and soon Kew.

I hope I will not be put in the position of having to destroy spare plants to free up space, but.....

[SimonT]

A whole set of these new regulations seem to disadvantage small operators.
Anything that applies a fixed cost to a group of things where the group can be of variable size.
The smaller the group, the higher the overall cost per item within that group. Sorted!