Elmohr Iris Society has a rhizome sale the end of July every year and I've talked them in to advertising any left over on Facebook for mailing out sales. I've seen some phyto certificates on a few boxes coming in--just wondering if you all know if there are any states that I won't be able to mail rhizomes out to? Certainly don't want to get myself or my iris group in trouble for postal issues....

It is my understanding that nobody is supposed to be sending any plants anywhere without a nursery certificate.

I can tell you with certainty that some out-of-state plants (at least daylilies) can get interdicted here in CA if they don't have a certificate. (I've gotten a slap-on-the-hand letter from the USDA or whatever watchdog organization (and there are literally watchdogs (of the canine sort, not kidding) at the mail sorting centers sniffing out illicit plant shipments) more than a few times, because some nursery or other tried sending me a daylily without a certificate. ) Some such shipments (to me) were returned to sender (by the human watchdogs), some they let through.

Now whether or not irises will be let through, I don't know. If memory serves, the plants that were forwarded on to me even without a certificate (though there was that nasty letter), was because they were well cleaned bare root plants and the staff biologist inspecting the suspicious plant contraband decided that they were okay.

(Let me be quick to proclaim my innocence in those shipments; I had no clue that the "nursery" wasn't doing their job and did not have certification. )

So my suggestion to you would be to clean the heck out of any rhizomes (foliage trimmed, no sign of disease, absolutely no dirt anywhere, maybe do a bleach dip), and include a cover letter in the package stating what the plants are (bare root iris rhizomes) and any treatment you did (bleach dip or whatever).

Wow, educational! Thanks so much for the advice. I will make sure every rhizome that's mailed is thoroughly cleaned; I know a bleach dip is part of the preparation before the sale as well.

Liz, I would love to know when you're having that sale.

Great info Marilyn!

Me too and AR is just against mailing hazardous materials, batteries and bombs.

I can post the varieties here if you'd like, in nursery sale is Friday and Saturday on Colorado Springs, think it's the 27th and 28th of July. I'll share what's left here evening of the 28th.

Be prepared and well organized, the orders will come flying in all at once.

Here's a few tips to help ease the chaos that will immediately follow the posting of the sale.

-Post the list first, along with the date and time the sale will begin. That way people will have their lists ready and everyone will feel like they had a fair chance to get what they wanted. It will also help minimize the flow of changed orders. For example, post the pre-sales list on the 28th and have the start of sale on the 29th at exactly 5PM Colorado time. (Or what ever time you choose)

-State the shipping charges and prices of the rhizomes clearly on the pre-sale day post and again on the sales day.

-Ask for any questions about the sale to be posted in the pre-sale thread/post only.

-State the methods of accepted payment clearly. (PayPal, money order, etc...)

-Start the sale in a separate thread, or FB post.

-Ask for no edited posts in the sale. State that any changes need to be in a new separate message.

-Ask that all orders are to be posted (or sent) to one location. What I mean is, either have them all posted in the public comments, or in private messages....but not both. You will get confused and have to match the times of the messages versus the times of the posts to see who was actually first, second, third etc.... If they are all sent in the same way, you'll clearly see who got it first and you can work your way down.

Hope that helps!

Thank you!!! Wonderful advice, I'll follow it carefully.

Our garden is inspected for bugs etc by MA ag dept. & for plants going out of state I always have certificate on outside of box. Wonder why my shipment to OK for median convention has not been heard from. Shipment to AIS has been e-mail accepted.

I had a box that I shipped to Sherry intercepted once in Calif. I got a letter from the state that basically said I should write, "OK to open for inspection" on the box. I have been doing that to shipments to Calif. now. According to the letter, they are looking for insects.

I just now understood what CONUS stood for.

Continental U. S.???

I'm not sayingit's "right" to do it, but, I have sent a few boxes of iris to Canada.....marked "Fragile ...antique garden ornaments"....they made it, just fine …..they were "historic" iris, so, at least I didn't lie

Most states are not as bad as California with its seemingly draconian rules. But I have stopped poking holes in any box going to Cal or Canada. Antique flags maybe Arlyn? I also avoid any large boxes that might cause suspicion. Marking "May be Opened for Inspection" seems like a good idea.

I will mark them as May be opened for inspection and will enclose a letter with the cleaning process that's done on them. They all are washed and trimmed and dipped in a bleach solution. We're lucky in CO—no borers or many pests at all that like irises except for grasshoppers! I'm just hoping there are enough sales this way to make it worthwhile. I will post a listing here as well Saturday eve in case any of you are interested and I'll take the listing of hard to find irises with me on Friday to the sale—if I find any I'll set them aside and report back here immediately!

And sorry for any confusion I caused with the CONUS thing—I was in the army for 8 years and still work with the military so I throw around acronyms like crazy.......

Thank you for your service Liz!

Ditto here - thank you for your service, Liz.

Re CA being draconian.... they are trying to protect our agriculture here, and it is not just insects that they are worried about, but also malignant soil borne things such as nematodes or pathogens. Hence why you need to make sure anything you are shipping here is squeaky clean, and why a bleach dip may be beneficial.

(FWIW, shipping FROM CA to some states can also be problematic. From what I recall (the one time I looked into this), the big thing other states are worried about getting from us is the brown garden snail. I can't say that I blame them! )