I applied for a small lots of seed permit and got a very hard to understand, automated response a few days later. Basically stated that it's not legal to receive Capsicum seeds from the requested countries. I figured I'd try applying again, listing fewer countries, but I started poking around the USDA website first.
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Found a statement in the Plants for Planting Manual (see pp. 57) that "A Small Lots of Seed Permit cannot be issued for small lots of Capsicum spp. seeds or small lots of Solanum lycopersicum seeds due to specific requirements for entry"
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Digging deeper, this is because of a Nov 2019 federal order stating that tomato and pepper seeds can no longer be imported without phytosanitary certificate and some other requirements until risk assessment for Tomato brown rugose fruit virus is completed. How long that takes is anyone's guess.
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It's good that USDA is putting precautions in place to prevent spread of virus in the US. But I'm really disappointed that I won't be ordering from Semillas la Palma for the 2021 season.
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Found a statement in the Plants for Planting Manual (see pp. 57) that "A Small Lots of Seed Permit cannot be issued for small lots of Capsicum spp. seeds or small lots of Solanum lycopersicum seeds due to specific requirements for entry"
Â
Digging deeper, this is because of a Nov 2019 federal order stating that tomato and pepper seeds can no longer be imported without phytosanitary certificate and some other requirements until risk assessment for Tomato brown rugose fruit virus is completed. How long that takes is anyone's guess.
Â
It's good that USDA is putting precautions in place to prevent spread of virus in the US. But I'm really disappointed that I won't be ordering from Semillas la Palma for the 2021 season.