It's sad that Aussies can't import plants into the continent except through flasks. This seriously delays the blooming times by 10 years to the rest of the world. I hope this can change in the future.
In the meantime, kudos to all you koalas for doing such a great job growing and expanding your collections.
It is frustrating. It also means that there is very little available to purchase. There aren't many nurseries here. I certainly can't go and purchase a FS roth or sanderianum if I wanted to. There are just no plants around. As a result what plants do turn up from time to time can sell for incredible prices.
It is possible to import large plants in from overseas. In fact, this roth was imported from Taiwan as a near flowering seedling. The problem is the plants have to sit in quarantine for three months where they are invariably fumigated with methyl bromide (even though they are exempt from because of their sensitivity). This spray does so much damage. A lot of plants won't survive and even if they do, they just sit their for years sulking. This particular roth I got in 2013 and it did nothing for many years, but all of a sudden took off. Most of the other roths I got at the same time either died or are still struggling. My experience is that it is not just worth importing in from overseas. It is expensive (the quarantine costs are exorbitant) and most plants will never survive to flowering. In the end it is cheaper and quicker to grow from flask or buy small seedlings that have been deflasked.
A few years ago, Sam Tsui shipped a whole lot of large Paphs into Australia. We were told they would not be spraying with methyl bromide. Alas one or two insects were found and they fumigated the whole collection at way over the recommended dosage. It was a complete disaster. Just about every plant was killed. I had ordered 10 plants (at a cost of about $1100) and I ended up with just one. It is just starting to come good. There were people who ordered a lot more than me. I would estimate that maybe $80,000 worth of plants were lost. Sam was incredibly generous and offered discounts for future flask orders for those affected. He didn't need to do that. Until they stop spraying with methyl bromide, I'm done with imported plants.
