Hetty, I asked the CA Ag. agent whether it would help to have certification stamps on the boxes I ship and he assured me that it would not matter one iota. He said they find far more "tainted" plants from licensed nurseries than from individuals shipping plants. In fact he said that IF the nursery is in FL, they would red-flag that/those box immediately, without even using their dog. He was kind enough to tell me that my county in Mississippi is not on any sort of quarantine list and as long as I was not shipping fruit or vegetables to CA, I should have little problem. Time will tell whether that is true or not. Even as small as my "operation" is, I would not mind being licensed and certified if I thought that was necessary or would be of help. If I can continue doing what I do, always being careful to notice any sort of pest and being careful to NOT include any "dirt" when shipping to CA, I will just stay the same as I have for the last five years. If change has to come, well, I will make that change.
