Just curious to know if trees are still being imported from China.
There's a couple of YouTube videos that show a shipment of Chinese Elms and Fukien teas arriving in FL from China.
The videos are only 2 years old.
Regulations on importing trees, especially bonsai trees, from China and Japan are strict. Imported elm bonsai from China are proven source of a potentially devastating pest--the Asian Longhorn Beetle. The bug was discovered in a shipment of Chinese elm bonsai a decade or so ago. That discovery spurred changes to importation of trees from China.
This article covers some of the reasons for importation rules
https://www.aphis.usda.gov/publicat...table_version/PlantInspectionStations2007.pdf
This is one of the most important paragraphs in the document:
"All imported articles intended for propagation, including seeds, must also be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate of inspection by the exporting country.
Phytosanitary certificates verify that the shipment has been inspected by the exporting country’s national plant protection service and found to be free of plant pests or diseases prior to export. The certificates also identify the plants by their scientific names and confirm that the shipment meets U.S. regulations for importation.
U.S. importers should secure agricultural permits for shipments far in advance of their transport. Import permits may be obtained from:
USDA–APHIS–PPQ
Permit Unit"
To get a phytosanitary certificate in the case of bonsai I think requires a minimum of a year of quarantine in a certified facility either in at a U.S. import site or in the country of origin. Additionally to get that certificate, bonsai have to have ALL their soil stripped and roots fumigated with anti-fungals and other stuff then repotted. This process is extremely difficult for plants and results in huge mortality rates for professional importers (who can spread their losses over a larger shipment). I've seen smaller importers lose entire shipments of big, old Chinese elm imports to the bareroot process.
Unless you have a truckload of cash and know someone with a quarantine facility, importing a tree from China or Japan is best left to those who can stand to lose a lot of trees. I don't know why anyone would want to import a tree anyway, as there are plenty of already-imported trees of pretty high quality already available in the U.S.
Edit: The Asian longhorn beetles discovered in bonsai weren't from China, but Korea. Doesn't make that much difference, as the pest was discovered in imported bonsai---
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-beetle-battle/
