Does my garden need to be inspected before I can sell and mail live daylily plants? What must I do to mail plants in the US? Does each state have regulations and can you tell me where to get this information. I am not interested in a business, just a hobby to get rid of my plant increases.
Thanks
cdaylily

There can be a lot of regulations, depending on which states are involved with the transaction. The best place to start would probably be the Department of Agriculture in your state.

Ken is correct. Check with your State Depart. of Agriculture. They can also let you know which states you cannot ship to. Most states require you to be licensed to sell. The only exception would be if you decided to sell at a Farmers Market.

Do these regulations apply to selling on the classifieds here on this website?

Well, you probably could answer that question yes or no. If you have no intention of being in business to sell flowers or seeds all year round, I would say an occasional sale in the classifieds would be ok. If you sell seeds or flowers as your business, like I do, I would say yes. I do claim any sales in the classified here as part of my income and I have to pay any sales tax to the state of Michigan if someone from Michigan buys any seeds or flowers from me.

Edited to add: That would be like having a garage or yard sale a couple of times a year. You don't have to pay taxes on that or be registered with the state to do that.

You can find a lot of state regs here:

http://nationalplantboard.org/...

Any time a plant crosses a state line, to be shipped legally, it must be shipped from a licensed and inspected plant nursery. You can have a licensed and inspected plant nursery without having a business license....these are two different things. So to legally ship to another state, even if you only ship a few plants a year as a hobby or even as a gift to someone, you must have your garden inspected and licensed to comply with federal regulations. Fees for the inspection vary from state to state and they will issue a license certificate that must accompany your shipment. Your inspector will alert you to any pests and diseases present in your garden including insects that are present in your soil such as nematodes. Some states actually check the Lily Auction to see if someone is selling from a garden that isn't licensed and inspected. So you should take the inspection process seriously as fines are involved.

America is not the land of liberty and home of the free, but the land of the license and home of the fee!

@seedfork very punny

Davi said:Any time a plant crosses a state line, to be shipped legally, it must be shipped from a licensed and inspected plant nursery. You can have a licensed and inspected plant nursery without having a business license....these are two different things. So to legally ship to another state, even if you only ship a few plants a year as a hobby or even as a gift to someone, you must have your garden inspected and licensed to comply with federal regulations. Fees for the inspection vary from state to state and they will issue a license certificate that must accompany your shipment. Your inspector will alert you to any pests and diseases present in your garden including insects that are present in your soil such as nematodes. Some states actually check the Lily Auction to see if someone is selling from a garden that isn't licensed and inspected. So you should take the inspection process seriously as fines are involved.

Davi, does that apply to seeds as well? I am not currently selling anything but I know the day will come when I will need to divide some of my daylilies...

I honestly don't know, Amber. I hope someone who sells seeds will chime in. Just guessing, seeds should be clean, properly labeled and free from any foreign matter (like weed seeds or a live fire ant!). I think states can probably set their own restrictions... so that is a good question to ask your plant inspector.

You'd have to verify this, but a few years ago there were some exceptions for small lots of clean seed, the main requirement was that the parcel had to be labeled as such, but things have probably changed a lot since then.

Thank you so much everyone for all your helpful information. Now I know where to start.

amberjewel said:@seedfork very punny
Davi, does that apply to seeds as well? I am not currently selling anything but I know the day will come when I will need to divide some of my daylilies...

Daylily seeds are in no way restricted and do not have to be labeled when shipped within the United States or its territories.

Declaration of contents must be made on customs labels when shipping outside the US, but in the 13 years I have been selling and mailing overseas, daylily seeds have not been restricted by any country that I am aware of.