It's Been A While
Blogs. It has been a while since my last one hasn't it? Well, I did state long ago when I started this website that I was not your traditional blogger. No way in hell do I have time to make entries as often as most bloggers do. I envy their drive and commitment. I have hard enough time doing one at any time. After all, I have a full time job. I have a house, yard, garden, and greenhouse to take care of and each requires time. I also have a wife and two dogs to entertain...these being my priority.
So all of this leaves me with little time to do some blogging...even when I have things I'd love to share. These new Thailand blogs have gotten off to a piss poor start. This was the first trip I can remember where jet lag has gotten its meaty paws onto me. I got back late evening on June 25 and all I pretty much did for several days was sleep. I had no desire, ambition, drive, gumption, or care of getting up off the couch or out of bed. Really sucked and was tough to kick. So there wasn't shit being done my first week back.
The next thing that troubled this chore was that this time around we took pictures using my wife's phone...instead of lugging my big camera around. Worked out well taking the pictures. My wife uploaded them to "the cloud". Now I've never tooled around with this before. Sounded like a keen idea. The problem was that unless you took the time to organize them into groups as you upload them, the cloud arranges them however it seems fit to do. And for some reason, we were not getting all of the pics into the cloud. I've started, stopped, deleted, and started again the galleries for this trip a couple times now and have not been a happy camper. My wife finally took the time out for me and arranged the pics in day by day folders. So I'm starting all of this over...again. Now you can understand why I don't do this shit very often!
The next thing that troubled this chore was that this time around we took pictures using my wife's phone...instead of lugging my big camera around. Worked out well taking the pictures. My wife uploaded them to "the cloud". Now I've never tooled around with this before. Sounded like a keen idea. The problem was that unless you took the time to organize them into groups as you upload them, the cloud arranges them however it seems fit to do. And for some reason, we were not getting all of the pics into the cloud. I've started, stopped, deleted, and started again the galleries for this trip a couple times now and have not been a happy camper. My wife finally took the time out for me and arranged the pics in day by day folders. So I'm starting all of this over...again. Now you can understand why I don't do this shit very often!
Thanks!
An enormous thank you goes out to my brother Van. He stayed here at the house mainly to care for Boon & Faah, our kids/dogs. He also had the burden of watering the greenhouse plants, plants outside and garden. He even mowed the lawn for me. The kids love him to pieces and you just can't begin to imagine how much of a relief it was knowing he was here. It certainly helped let us enjoy our vacation.
Another thank you goes out to our next door neighbor Amy. Amy came over during the day and let the two hooligans out to pee. This was big time helpful because my brother often worked over time. She would sit and visit with the kids as well. We appreciated it and so did Boon & Faah.
And of course the family. Without you, it would not have been much of a trip. You've always managed to keep everyone satisfied. I really appreciate you both for allowing me to "recreate" your yard!
Another thank you goes out to our next door neighbor Amy. Amy came over during the day and let the two hooligans out to pee. This was big time helpful because my brother often worked over time. She would sit and visit with the kids as well. We appreciated it and so did Boon & Faah.
And of course the family. Without you, it would not have been much of a trip. You've always managed to keep everyone satisfied. I really appreciate you both for allowing me to "recreate" your yard!
Preparation
Okay...let's get to the meat of this here blog! It's been five years since my last trip to Thailand. Dealing with airlines and sitting for twelve plus hours on one leg of many is just too much. This year the trip was not only for fun and travel, but it was definitely going to be a working vacation.
I brought a bunch of plants from the greenhouse over to Thailand with me to plant out in the folks' yard. I also brought a few mango scions to graft onto existing trees at the house.
But it all begins with the plants I'm bringing over there. While Thailand has incredible diversity, they still lack the availability of some of South America's finest. I'm sure there are private collectors out there growing some of these but I'm just not going to go to the market and find these trees.
My choices were some of my favorites discovered on our trips to Puerto Rico. The acahairu and madronos were definitely coming with me. I also had a couple of the now famous Luc's garcinia, or Limoncello, or Mexican garcinia. This is supposed to be bigger and even better than the achachairu. I also had a bunch of rollinia seedlings sitting around so why not?
The first thing I had to do was bare root each of the plants and repot them in vermiculite. The plants had to be bare rooted in order to enter Thailand. I chose vermiculite as a temporary media so if I could not just bring them as-is, getting the plants out of this media would be a lot quicker and less stressful on the plants, and me, than other media might be. I did this several months in advance of the trip.
My choices were some of my favorites discovered on our trips to Puerto Rico. The acahairu and madronos were definitely coming with me. I also had a couple of the now famous Luc's garcinia, or Limoncello, or Mexican garcinia. This is supposed to be bigger and even better than the achachairu. I also had a bunch of rollinia seedlings sitting around so why not?
The first thing I had to do was bare root each of the plants and repot them in vermiculite. The plants had to be bare rooted in order to enter Thailand. I chose vermiculite as a temporary media so if I could not just bring them as-is, getting the plants out of this media would be a lot quicker and less stressful on the plants, and me, than other media might be. I did this several months in advance of the trip.
The shot above is my madronos after the repotting.
Now, the next step is to get the Ohio Department of Agriculture out here to inspect my plants and issue me a phytosanitary certificate that states my plants are free of disease and pests. This will give Thailand Agriculture warm and fuzzies and allow my plants into the country.
So after a few calls, I get signed up for the proper USDA logins and with the help of the inspector, get the form filled out correctly and submitted. The inspector, Brad, came out a few weeks before the trip and found the trees to be clean. Brad was a great guy. He was very patient with all of my phone calls, questions, and concerns. He seemed genuinely interested in my plants, greenhouse, and what I had going on in the yard. He had tons of knowledge of course and did not have any problem sharing it with me. It hung around at least an hour chatting and checking everything out. A great afternoon and I got my phyto. That was the easy part!
But hold on! If I take this suitcase full of plants to Thailand, won't I have an "empty" suitcase to come back with? Does that not see odd to anyone? I don't know why I didn't think of this earlier, but hey! Why don't I bring a few plants back home to the states with me?! Makes no sense to have an empty suitcase. But time is short and running out. I'm a little over a week away from leaving.
I called the USDA in Maryland and talked to a very helpful agent by the name of Ken. Super guy and super helpful. I explained what I was hoping to do. He shot back with concerns of his own. Together, we seemed to have worked out what was best and the methods on how to proceed.
The first thing was me getting level 2 access authorization from the USDA. I had to fill some online forms out and then head downtown in Columbus here to the local USDA here and show proper ID in order to get the access I needed to start filling out the permit forms to get plants into the states. I was in and out within 15 minutes. The lady who took my ID was a complete sweetheart.
I had to once again enlist the aid of Ken in filling out the permit. Once this was done, Ken would actually write what they call a "letter of no jurisdiction". Since I was going to bring home 12 or fewer plants...AND the plants I wanted to bring home were not on any restricted list or needing post entry quarantine, then this letter served as my "permit" so to speak. It stated that the plants were not restricted by USDA and had the permission of USDA to bring the plants home providing they met all regulations. More on that later. This letter should be enough for Thai Ag to proceed with issuing their phyto.
So thanks again to Ken for all his help and advice. Even though there are plenty of approved media for packing bare root plants, he advised that I used the shredded paper. I was coming back thru Chicago and they are not a USDA inspection station. He thought it would be better to have no plant material whatsoever so there would be no doubts with Customs and Border Protection folks that I would be meeting.
Speaking of Customs and Border Protection...I called them in Chicago and talked to one of the main guys right at the terminal where international flights come in. I told him exactly what I was planning, my conversations with Ken at USDA, and my letter of no jurisdiction. He agreed that as long as the plants were clean, I had the letter from USDA, and I had the phyto from Thailand, I should have no problems coming thru. In fact, he even offered to spread the word to the other agents after I told him when I would be flying into Chicago. So far so good!
Now, the next step is to get the Ohio Department of Agriculture out here to inspect my plants and issue me a phytosanitary certificate that states my plants are free of disease and pests. This will give Thailand Agriculture warm and fuzzies and allow my plants into the country.
So after a few calls, I get signed up for the proper USDA logins and with the help of the inspector, get the form filled out correctly and submitted. The inspector, Brad, came out a few weeks before the trip and found the trees to be clean. Brad was a great guy. He was very patient with all of my phone calls, questions, and concerns. He seemed genuinely interested in my plants, greenhouse, and what I had going on in the yard. He had tons of knowledge of course and did not have any problem sharing it with me. It hung around at least an hour chatting and checking everything out. A great afternoon and I got my phyto. That was the easy part!
But hold on! If I take this suitcase full of plants to Thailand, won't I have an "empty" suitcase to come back with? Does that not see odd to anyone? I don't know why I didn't think of this earlier, but hey! Why don't I bring a few plants back home to the states with me?! Makes no sense to have an empty suitcase. But time is short and running out. I'm a little over a week away from leaving.
I called the USDA in Maryland and talked to a very helpful agent by the name of Ken. Super guy and super helpful. I explained what I was hoping to do. He shot back with concerns of his own. Together, we seemed to have worked out what was best and the methods on how to proceed.
The first thing was me getting level 2 access authorization from the USDA. I had to fill some online forms out and then head downtown in Columbus here to the local USDA here and show proper ID in order to get the access I needed to start filling out the permit forms to get plants into the states. I was in and out within 15 minutes. The lady who took my ID was a complete sweetheart.
I had to once again enlist the aid of Ken in filling out the permit. Once this was done, Ken would actually write what they call a "letter of no jurisdiction". Since I was going to bring home 12 or fewer plants...AND the plants I wanted to bring home were not on any restricted list or needing post entry quarantine, then this letter served as my "permit" so to speak. It stated that the plants were not restricted by USDA and had the permission of USDA to bring the plants home providing they met all regulations. More on that later. This letter should be enough for Thai Ag to proceed with issuing their phyto.
So thanks again to Ken for all his help and advice. Even though there are plenty of approved media for packing bare root plants, he advised that I used the shredded paper. I was coming back thru Chicago and they are not a USDA inspection station. He thought it would be better to have no plant material whatsoever so there would be no doubts with Customs and Border Protection folks that I would be meeting.
Speaking of Customs and Border Protection...I called them in Chicago and talked to one of the main guys right at the terminal where international flights come in. I told him exactly what I was planning, my conversations with Ken at USDA, and my letter of no jurisdiction. He agreed that as long as the plants were clean, I had the letter from USDA, and I had the phyto from Thailand, I should have no problems coming thru. In fact, he even offered to spread the word to the other agents after I told him when I would be flying into Chicago. So far so good!
So enough of the applications and permits. I had a total of five madronos, seven achachairu, two Mexican garcinias, and a handful of rollinia that would need to be bare rooted, roots wrapped in damp sphagnum moss, bagged up, then crammed inside a hard shelled suitcase. I wanted to do this the evening before our flight so that the plants had as little time bare rooted as possible.
Dunking the plants in a bucket of water loosened the vermiculite up and I was able to pretty much just lift the plants out of the water clean as a whistle. Vermiculite should be an approved packing media the world over but we were never able to get a clear approving nod from Thai Ag so I went with the moss option figuring they have seen this before. I will say that in the short time the plants were in the 100% vermiculite, the roots put out considerable new growth.
Wrapping each root mass with the damp sphagnum moss was tedious trying to make sure pieces were making contact with all of the roots...and still not damage any. The shot below shows all the plants ready for jamming inside the luggage. Keep in mind, while it may not look like it below, three of the plants are at least 36" and several over 24". The inside length of the luggage is exactly 24". Luckily the plants are still pliable enough to bend easily.
Dunking the plants in a bucket of water loosened the vermiculite up and I was able to pretty much just lift the plants out of the water clean as a whistle. Vermiculite should be an approved packing media the world over but we were never able to get a clear approving nod from Thai Ag so I went with the moss option figuring they have seen this before. I will say that in the short time the plants were in the 100% vermiculite, the roots put out considerable new growth.
Wrapping each root mass with the damp sphagnum moss was tedious trying to make sure pieces were making contact with all of the roots...and still not damage any. The shot below shows all the plants ready for jamming inside the luggage. Keep in mind, while it may not look like it below, three of the plants are at least 36" and several over 24". The inside length of the luggage is exactly 24". Luckily the plants are still pliable enough to bend easily.
And the final step is complete. All snug as can be so there shouldn't be a lot of shifting around inside there. A copy of the USDA letter and the phyto was also put inside with the plants in case someone got nosy along the way.
Arrive in Thailand
There are many words that can give one a vivid description of flying to Thailand. My favorite is "brutal". We have a short leg from Columbus, Oh to Chicago...little over an hour with around 2 hours layover. Then the bitch leg of the trip is flying to Hong Kong. This little jaunt was around 15 hours. We paid for the upgrade to Premium Economy and believe me, having flew regular economy, this was a positive step up. More room. Seats recline more. Adjustable foot rest...which is wonderful to help take stress off the lower back. Better meals. But as fine as this was, I still cannot sleep worth a shit. So I watch movies and eat. The last leg was a 3 hour flight from Hong Kong to Bangkok putting our arrival at around 1:00 a.m.
Getting thru passport control and immigration was quick and painless. They must have made changes since my last visit because there were no customs declaration forms to fill out while on the plane. Our luggage arrived shortly afterwards and it looked like no one had bothered the suitcase with the plants. So far so good. Now for the tough part. Will all my inspections, getting the phyto, and all the tedious work play out like it should?
We did our homework...well, ma here in Thailand did the homework for us. She talked with the customs folks here and they said as long as I had a phyto, they probably wouldn't even look at the plants. However, there is always an implied "but" in there. There could be a new person who doesn't understand the rules, pissed off over something, or plain just doesn't give a shit. You meet up with one of these people and it doesn't matter what documentation you carry and how clean your plants are. They could still get confiscated.
So bags in hand, we stroll up to customs and...there is not a soul in the declarations area! The adjacent area was "nothing to declare" and they are pointing at everyone and waving us thru as if to get us the hell out of there as fast as possible. I look up and I see my wife tromping thru like she hasn't a care in the world. I catch up and out we go. No muss. No fuss. So I have no idea whether the process works as it should. Don't get me wrong. I'm happier than pigs in shit that I got my plants thru, but it would have been nice to really know if the process worked as it was supposed to.
So celebrations are in order for the ride home. I'm met in the car with a big basket of fruit containing mangosteen, longkong, and rambutan. Can't talk...eating.
Getting thru passport control and immigration was quick and painless. They must have made changes since my last visit because there were no customs declaration forms to fill out while on the plane. Our luggage arrived shortly afterwards and it looked like no one had bothered the suitcase with the plants. So far so good. Now for the tough part. Will all my inspections, getting the phyto, and all the tedious work play out like it should?
We did our homework...well, ma here in Thailand did the homework for us. She talked with the customs folks here and they said as long as I had a phyto, they probably wouldn't even look at the plants. However, there is always an implied "but" in there. There could be a new person who doesn't understand the rules, pissed off over something, or plain just doesn't give a shit. You meet up with one of these people and it doesn't matter what documentation you carry and how clean your plants are. They could still get confiscated.
So bags in hand, we stroll up to customs and...there is not a soul in the declarations area! The adjacent area was "nothing to declare" and they are pointing at everyone and waving us thru as if to get us the hell out of there as fast as possible. I look up and I see my wife tromping thru like she hasn't a care in the world. I catch up and out we go. No muss. No fuss. So I have no idea whether the process works as it should. Don't get me wrong. I'm happier than pigs in shit that I got my plants thru, but it would have been nice to really know if the process worked as it was supposed to.
So celebrations are in order for the ride home. I'm met in the car with a big basket of fruit containing mangosteen, longkong, and rambutan. Can't talk...eating.
There are more blogs to go! To check out part 2, click on the following: Part 2, hanging with the folks.
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