Can anyone tell me why, or where I can find out why, there are restrictions on getting certain fruit trees in some states? We just moved out of the desert and were looking forward to planting some fruit trees that don't grow well there, and find out that we can't get them shipped to Colorado. We were looking at cherry trees, peaches, plums. My wife reminds me that one of the homes we looked at while shopping for one also had cherry trees planted on the property.....
It will be for quarantine reasons, to prevent certain pests or diseases from getting into the state from outside. You should be able to buy local-grown stock without problem.
The restrictions are being imposed by Colorado. Appropriate state agency will have the details. The problem would be with the state or region the trees would have been shipped from. Other states or regions will be likely to be permitted to ship there. Often there is a bug or blight in the eastern states that a western state is trying to exclude. Shipping from other western states or even other parts of the East may be accepted.
your states website will have the info...just do a search from the home page for 'restricted tree' or something similar and the site should provide a link to the agency that handles this issue. it may be that anything that is native to colorado is allowed and only non-native species are not allowed (existing plants/trees may have been 'grandfathered' in after the law was changed). you won't know for sure until you speak with someone in the proper agency.
I live in Colorado, and have on line ordered many, many, many varieties of tropical and temperate, fruit trees of all sorts, without any trouble at all. Never heard of such a problem as you state. The varieties you list (cherry trees, peaches, plums & much more) are commonly sold by just about every single nursery throughout the entire State of Colorado. - Millet (1,409-)
Colorado nurseries and orchards would be likely to have something to say about efforts to prevent all non-native plants not already present from being brought in.
Thanks, all, for your input. I will check locally and see what I can get. Millet - I was looking to order online and have shipped, like from The Arbor Day Foundation or Gurneys.com. Thanks again.
rediranch, I have ordered from both Gurneys and from The Arbor Day Foundation, without problem. The Arbor Day Foundation sent me their small pine trees in honor of Arbor Day. - Millet (1,408-)
Millet - the following two Cherry trees (we want the Ranier), Gurney's won't ship to CO (says so in the details) - Ranier Cherry Royal Ann Cherry (pollinates Ranier) Arbor Day Foundation site doesnt even list these.
I believe the problem is Plum Pox Virus. http://sharka.cas.psu.edu/ It's a really nasty virus causing a lot of problems with stone fruits. There just trying to control the spread of it. Hope this helps Cheers
