Importing Seeds

[vertigo]

LATEST UPDATE

I'm not in jail. I have recieved some documents from the Department pf Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. I will post them, as long as there is no legal reason why I can't. I require clearance of attaching these documents to the forum.

 

[samhighley]

LATEST UPDATE

I'm not in jail. I have recieved some documents from the Department pf Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. I will post them, as long as there is no legal reason why I can't. I require clearance of attaching these documents to the forum.

Are they the documents that give you two options:

1. Send them back to the country of origin at your expense
2. Have them destroyed at the taxpayers expense

?

 

[Jase71]

Looks like tobacco is ok which is good. I have a few I'm looking at for herbicidal and insecticidal purposes. Grow, dry, soak in water and spray. Lower doses is insecticide, higher doses is herbicide and its natural and breaks down quickly and non-toxic. The use of this in the states was banned in certain cities in certain states because the Famous Chemical Poision Companies, oh staring with the letter D, etc., selling expensive poisions at your local stores like a Bunnings lobbied to get it made illegal because it works, is cheap and not a big harm to the environment I learned it from the same guy who showed you how spraying beer and soap mixtures onto your lawn will turn them into super lawns without having to spray the big nasty chemical company stuff.

Tobacco is 100% ILLEGAL to grow in Australia without a licence (its under an ATO law believe it or not), so you may have issue with importation of seeds. PM me and I might be able to steer you towards a local source of seeds. Boiling up tobacco leaves is very f##ing dangerous, so well ventilation should be observed, as well as close monitoring of your heart rate.

Vertigo, as for the Hops seeds, glad you went ahead and gave it a go. If I ever order from OS and its of questionable status after referring to the ICON, i'll just go ahead and try it, in the knowledge that it may or may not be seized. Legal plants in Australia, obviously (prison doesnt appeal to me LOL)

Personally, a $30 hop rhizome sourced locally would be your best bet.

 

[Supra-Jim]

I'm not sure how much plant material you need to get a buzz, I would think it is quite a bit. Our resident stoner at work told me that the trick is to put a poppy head, still green, with some slits in the surface up yer bum. No thanks those things are big, 50mm across. :blink:

LOL, that sounds like the kind of advice a straight person (looking for a laugh) would give to a jittery stoner just to see if they'll try and do it.

:icon_cheers: SJ

 

[pdilley]

Tobacco is 100% ILLEGAL to grow in Australia without a licence (its under an ATO law believe it or not), so you may have issue with importation of seeds. PM me and I might be able to steer you towards a local source of seeds. Boiling up tobacco leaves is very f##ing dangerous, so well ventilation should be observed, as well as close monitoring of your heart rate.

Well that's a bit of backwards news comming from both the UK and States where it's legal for personal use, just not for resale. Also backwards if true in the capital where it is legal to grow and possess up 5 wacky weed plants. Legal to purchase a distillation device up to 5 litres in the capital territory provided you promise only to distill water --maybe to water those 5 weed plants?

No boiling involved, it's simply dried leaves or if you want to spend a lot a tin of chewin tobacco and just steeped at room temperature in water.

 

[Supra-Jim]

I am pretty sure it is illegal because the government makes a very healthy (no-pun intended) profit from the taxes associated with the sales of tobacco products. Yes, i realise they also make moeny taxing beer, but no-where near as much. Tobacco is a very tightly controlled substance. Try sneaking onto a legal tobacco farm up Murtleford way and you'll see.

:icon_cheers: SJ

 

[Jase71]

I've seen the ATO document with my own eyes and I can advise taht it's certainly illegal to grow tobacco in any capacity without a licence - unless this has changed in the past 18 months. The vagueness of the document doesn't even identify species, so it's an open-ended law that could include ornamentals. Although I wonder how they would go about charging someone for growing Australian Native species such as Nicotiana gossei.

 

[chappo1970]

FFS I say it again...

but to paraphrase from AQIS
"It is the importer's responsibility to identify and to ensure it has complied with, all requirements of any other regulatory and advisory bodies prior to and after importation including the Australian Customs Service, Therapeutic Goods Administration, Department of Health and Ageing, Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts, Australian Pesticides & Veterinary Medicines Authority and any State agencies such as Departments of Agriculture and Health and Environmental Protection authorities"

Customs is not the only authority you need to comply to, yeah? Nice out clause there on the website.

 

[pdilley]

I deal with the ato on a different level so I asked around and got to read all the recent rulings. You're correct. By if you read the wording of the rulings you can easily see the logic, lack thereof vey strange seeing a tax collecting agency arbitrarily in all the rulings side with itself and grant itself more and more powers outside it's scope.

Can it tell you how big or small your production can be? Ato says yes.
Can it tell you how you are to run your business and record methods? Ato says yes.
Can it tell you how much and what securty you must implement around your crops? Ato says yes.
Will it exempt requests to produce purposes of self consumption and not for resale? Ato says never.
Will it exempt requests to produce not for curing/self-consumption but for self use as pesticide and herbicide? No one applied yet.

Likely under prevailing attitude? I'll leave it to you to decide

Only place I've seen the tax collector able to regulate itself. :x

 

[chappo1970]

Is that right BP. I mean of course it is but wow!? That's scary IMO.

 

[pdilley]

Is that right BP. I mean of course it is but wow!? That's scary IMO.

Very scary, Aussies have given the ATO a 6 Pack of Beer and the keys to the family car!

 

[vertigo]

Hi sammy,

I haven't filled out the paper work yet. But taking what you said into account, I pay tax, so why not. sending them back is just going to cost me more. Sorry if that upsets some people on the forum, but I pay tax for dole bluggers as well.

 

[Jase71]

I haven't filled out the paper work yet. But taking what you said into account, I pay tax, so why not. sending them back is just going to cost me more. Sorry if that upsets some people on the forum, but I pay tax for dole bluggers as well.

And you also pay tax for parent-bludgers, old-bludgers & retarded bludgers as well. As a taxpayer, it's regrettable that you don't have a say in where your mandatory salary tithe goes. I've missed the status of where you're at with this import, it appears that my english is failing me. But if you're at a point where the seeds have arrived, and you need to pay big dollars (and you may well) to have them irradiated & inspected, it's probably going to be in your best interest to tell Quarantine (I assume that's where it's falling under) to go screw themselves, and just buy a rhizome or two locally.

It's pathetic if they hold humulus seeds as a threat to native species - I wholeheartedly agree with the preservation of our native parklands, but FFS are hops likely to be a noxious species ? Out of interest, are they are vegetative propogation plant or a seed-borne spreader by nature ?

 

[chappo1970]

Jase glad to see your back and ranting again! :lol:

I disagree though. Ever heard of the CANE TOADS? PRICKLY PEAR? FOXES? RABBITS? CATS? DOGS? LANTANA? CITRUS RUST? TULIP TREES? Probably right what harm can they do?

 

[dr K]

The answer is pretty simple, just don't do it.
Cultivation of hops from seed is very difficult and beyond the skills of most hobbyists.
First the seeds need to be viable, there are for example bag loads of papaver somniferum in bakers shops all round the country but as to there viability?
Assuming the seeds come from a supplier of viable seed you dont just plant then in some drills and wait. I cannot (sorry) remember the process but its tricky. Like many Australian natives the hop seed is dormant and need to be awoken, in a similar way to seeds that need fire or scarifying.
There is a reason why hops are grown from rhizomes!!
Apart from that AQUIS is there for a reason, a billion dollar reason, we have had enough bunnies screwing things up over the years...

K

 

[chappo1970]

Here, Here DrK

FFS we have enough to answer to our children for, yeah?

 

[Jase71]

Jase glad to see your back and ranting again! :lol:

I disagree though. Ever heard of the CANE TOADS? PRICKLY PEAR? FOXES? RABBITS? CATS? DOGS? LANTANA? CITRUS RUST? TULIP TREES? Probably right what harm can they do?

Dude, I agree with you. My best mate has dedicated his non-work life to bush regeneration, so it's a common topic when we get together. My question is more about the potential environmental hazard of the Humulus lupus. We can't assume it will (or won't) be a threat if left untended.

Dr K's statement about propagation of the species would suggest that it's not going to be a major threat. Can ayone elaborate on the soil conditions required for hop growng vs the accomoding soil networks across australia ?


And for the record, I threw a whole heap of papaver somniferum on my garden a couple of years ago, supermarket sourced, and they went truly nuts. While I like the idea of growing opium, I'm not comfortable with the idea that someone might just knock on my door one day and bust me for an S9 narcotic farm, so I pulled them out when they were seedlings.

 

[chappo1970]

I know Jase it was directed at vertigo, mate. I live on a major water way, the Logan River, and the amount of introduced pests is staggering hence why I find it... well plain... I'm gunna have to say ignorant to import seeds willy nilly with out regard because you pay taxes FFS. What does paying taxes have to do with it?

 

[Jase71]

What does paying taxes have to do with it?

Buggered if I know. I just saw an open window in which to bitch about the fiscal stimulaton.

 

[chappo1970]

Is that the one we REAL tax payer are paying for? I know me and my family haven't seen one red cent of it. But I digress, no?