At the March meeting of the Queensland Bromeliad Society, Olive Trevor spoke about her experiences with importing bromeliads over the last 25 years. This article summarises the main points made by Olive and some additional comments made by other people at the meeting and subsequently.

Olive started importing because many of the plants she wished to obtain weren’t in Australia. Example of bromeliads which are relatively common today but were basically unobtainable in Australia then were virtually all of the Guzmania and Vriesia hybrids, variegated bromeliads such as Aechmea orlandiana Ensign, Neoregelia concentrica marginata, G.lingulata Broadview and nearly all Tillandsias.

Even when you could buy some of these plants in Australia, they were often very expensive. Olive mentioned she paid $100 in the late 1970s for a clump of 10 flowering T.stricta. After allowing for the effects of inflation, this would be equivalent to about $250 today.

So, Olive started her journey of discovery into the “highs” and “lows” of importing bromeliads.

As there were few other people importing bromeliads, there was a large element of “trial and error” in her early experiences of importing.

Olive first imported bromeliads from Lotus Osiris in Brazil. With the memory of her $100 purchase of T.stricta still fresh in her mind, she imported plants of that species. She paid the equivalent of $0.50 for each plant. Along with a range of other plants, they survived quarantine.

The quarantine procedures involved:
 Obtaining a permit to import the plants from the Queensland Department of Primary Industries (QDPI);
 Sending the permit with the order to the overseas nursery;
 Treatment of the plants by the QDPI on arrival in Australia with methyl bromide gas;
 Keeping them in a Quarantine House (basically a specially designed glasshouse) for three months. (Olive initially used QDPI facilities but subsequently also used privately-owned Quarantine Houses).
 Finally, releasing them from quarantine if they were free from disease and insects.

Olive related how it was always a nervous moment when the plants were released from the Quarantine House. Would all or most of your plants have survived, or would you be greeted with a container of blackened remains? Olive has had both experiences over the years. (On a personal note, I will always remember how pleased I was when an Aechmea orlandiana Ensign survived quarantine and how disappointed I was when a T.wagneriana did not).

One experience that Olive had during that period was the use of the term “variegated” when describing plants, by many nurseries in South America. Their idea of a variegated plant was often one which had spotted or banded foliage rather than the definition we use. This difference in terminology led to some surprises, and disappointments, for Olive from time to time.

In the early 1980s, Olive imported plants from North America and Europe. She sometimes achieved very high survival rates. For example in one shipment from Germany, 96 out of 100 plants survived the quarantine process.

Olive also spoke of the help which some overseas nurseries gave her when deciding which plants to import. For example, Jeff Kent from Kents Nursery in the USA would always tell her which plants were unlikely to survive in Brisbane’s climate, where Olive lives.

These positive experiences were offset to some extent by some negative ones. For example, one shipment went missing while in quarantine and was never located. On another occasion, dust containing metallic particles blew into a privately-owned Quarantine House and caused a large number of Vriesias to rot and die.

To give them better control over what happens to their plants after they have been treated with methyl bromide, Olive and Len Trevor have built their own Quarantine House. The facility is built in accordance with a design approved by the Australian Quarantine Inspection Service (AQIS). If you’re considering building a Quarantine House, Olive recommends you employ a builder who has already constructed these facilities, given their specialised nature and the need for AQIS to approve the completed building as well as inspect it periodically afterwards to ensure it is still insect-proof.

If you are considering importing bromeliads, the following points made by Olive and other people who have imported bromeliads will assist you:
 Importing plants is expensive and many are sometimes lost in the quarantine process. It is best to buy locally (if the plants are available) and avoid the potential problems if you can.
 Talk to someone who has recently imported bromeliads to obtain an up-to-date list of things which you should do and, just as importantly, not do.
 If you’re importing plants of a bromeliad species (as opposed to a hybrid) it is often worth considering importing a plant which has a slightly different genetic composition to other examples of that species already in Australia. This is desirable because for some species it is only possible to obtain seed of that species if plants with different genetic compositions (known as clones) are used as “parents”. Such species are known as “self sterile”.

So if you bring in a new clone, you may be responsible for enabling seed to be produced of that species for the first time in Australia.

The Queensland Bromeliad Society can put you in contact with someone who will know whether this is a potential issue for the particular species you’re considering importing.
 Make sure all of the paperwork required by AQIS is complete before you order your plants, or you leave Australia if you’re buying them in person. As part of this process you’ll need to select a Quarantine House to hold your plants during the quarantine period. QDPI and other people/organisations own such houses, but usually charge for their services. If a Customs’ clearance is needed (and this will depend upon the shipment’s value) you will need to put arrangements in place to deal with this matter.
 There is often considerable variation in bromeliads. This is true for both “species” and, especially, hybrids. To be sure of getting the plant you really want it is best to buy it in person or at least obtain a photograph of it from the nursery.
 Quarantine Houses can get very hot inside. To help improve your plant’s chances of survival avoid, if possible, having your plants in quarantine during the four to six hottest months of the year.
 The time spent in transit, and the treatment plants receive during that process, is a major factor in determining whether your plants will arrive in a healthy and vigorous, or weakened, condition. Few weakened plants survive the quarantine process.

The best approach is to buy your plants overseas yourself as this enables you to pack them carefully (plants should be packed in a “bare rooted” condition, after being dipped in an insecticide and free of any insects, scale or disease), and bring them back to Australia with you.

This approach means transit time will typically be less than two days, versus the four to 10 days experienced when you’re relying on the nursery to send them. Death-inducing experiences such as plants freezing to death because they’ve been left on an airport tarmac in the middle of a blizzard, will also be avoided.
 If you are relying on a nursery to pack and send your plants, five points worth remembering are:
 The fewer times a consignment of plants has to be put on a different aircraft on its journey to Australia, the better. Hence, other things being equal, it is better to buy plants from a nursery on the west coast of the USA than the east coast.
 Specify to the nursery how you want the plants sent eg airfreight, airmail etc. Unless you’ve a strong preference for a particular method, it is often best to follow the nursery’s advice on the best method.
 Ask the nursery to conspicuously label the box(es) containing your plants with “Perishable” or “Live Plants” stickers.
 Many USA nurseries will offer to supply a phytosanitary certificate, for which an additional charge is made. There is no need for such a certificate when importing plants into Australia.
 Ask the nursery to fax you a copy of the consignment note, or similar document (or telephone you with its details) when they send the plants. This will enable you to “track” the plants’ progress through the shipping system, and alert AQIS and your Quarantine House owner to the shipment’s likely arrival time.
 After AQIS treats the plant with methyl bromide gas, it is important to remove the gas residue quickly so as to avoid further damage to the plant.

Barry Genn stated at the March meeting that methyl bromide gas is 4.5 times heavier than air. So it tends to stay “trapped” between a plant’s leaves. Further, the gas dissolves readily in water where it remains active. (In other words, it can still damage the plant).

One way of treating plants to deal with this situation is to:
 If possible, arrange with AQIS to have your plants gassed in the morning, rather than the afternoon, so the next steps can be undertaken immediately by the Quarantine House owner’s staff or yourself (if acceptable to the Quarantine House owner).
 Immerse them fully in a container of water, (this will tend to dissolve any remaining methyl bromide gas into the water).
 Hang, or hold them, upside down so all the water drains out (this will minimise the amount of water containing dissolved methyl bromide which is left on the plant
 Mist the plant and leave it bare-rooted for 24 hours.
 Repeat the “dipping in water” process outlined above.
 If appropriate, pot the plant.
 Remember the AQIS people are doing an important job trying to keep disease and pests outside of Australia. Please observe quarantine rules and don’t try to smuggle plants in.

Best of luck in your importing efforts!

I gratefully acknowledge the advice I received from Olive Trevor and Barry Genn in writing this article.

BOB REILLY