I've imported paphs. from Taiwan last year. As long as you only import paphs. that are legal in the U.S. you should be alright. No viet., hangianum, helenea or anything like that. The problem that I ran into was that many of the places had large min. orders. Also the prices that they give a small guy like us is basicly much higher then they would give to a guy or gal who imports thousands. Basicly almost retail. I also had problems with any of the smaller seedlings staying alive. Many of them didn't make it. All the mature paphs. did GREAT.

The truth of the matter is that I don't think it would have come off if I didn't know someone from Taiwan that in turn knew the owners of the Orchid nurseries. What my friend was able to do for me was pick out a few select plants in flower (naturally at around 3 times the price of the average plant of that cross). This allowed me to get some great plants in.

My friend was even able to have one of the vendors who brought paphs. in for the WOC to bring me my order this year. That allowed me to not pay the shipping cost. Also this year, I learned to only import mature plants.

Just remember that the import license is only good for the one country that you applied for. I have not brought in flasks but do understand they must have a clear gel growing medium.

Hope this helped.

Bob in Albany, N.Y.

"Just remember that the import license is only good for the one country that you applied for."

Either you were given incorrect information or they've drastically changed things in the past year. I just renewed my permit last year and it's still valid for "admissible nursery stock, plants and roots not subject to postentry quarantine, seeds of trees and shrubs and also seeds covered in part 319.37-6" from "various approved countries."

In other words, it's good for any plant material you may legally import from any country from which you may legally import it. (lol) The permit has more to do with control/tracking than "permission" for any particular material to be imported - everything is still subject to inspection/refusal at the time of entry if it doesn't met whatever requirements are in place at the time. Unless you live close enough to the inspection station to go make noise in person (or hire a broker), there isn't much you can do if/when something goes wrong...

I've never imported paphs at all but I think as long as they're from a recognized nursery and don't look too bedraggled, you should be OK. But a surly ag inspector is always a possibility and like the proverbial city hall that you can't fight, there isn't much you can actually do - in time anyway - if a shipment is seized.

One heads up is that for a while, a couple of years ago, the USDA was demanding phytos even for flasks, which is a minor pain but does add to the expense.