Mailing Comfrey?

[DeborahL]

Is mailing comfrey legal? From out of state? I mean from a fellow gardener, not from a business.

[!potatoes!]

california does have some plant quarantine things, doesn't it? it would be a state law on your side if there was an issue, I think.

[cynthia_h]

I'm pretty sure the bans apply to live plants and not to seeds, unless they're seeds of a "noxious and invasive" plant. Check the [url=https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/plant/ipc/encycloweedia/encycloweedia_hp.htm]Encycloweedia[/url] (love that name!) to be sure, at least for California; the protections are there for our huge agricultural industry and also our small independent farmers. (The Encycloweedia is maintained by the California Department of Food and Agriculture.)

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

[jal_ut]

I have to ask if mailing any plant parts to California is legal?
I would tell your "fellow gardener" to just not put his return address on it and mail it.

I wanted to ship a box of apples to a friend in California and I had to get them inspected by the USDA before I could ship them. That is different than seed though.

[jal_ut]

Hmmmm, got to wondering what the nature of comfrey is so I looked it up [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comfrey]Here[/url]. Now I have to ask, "Why would anyone want it?"
Symphytum asperum (comfrey) is on the California noxious weed list. Probably would not be good to mail any part of it. (Yes, I am changing my tune.)

[DoubleDogFarm]

This is why I offered Bocking 14 to Deborah. It's a sterile form of comfrey. Comfrey is a very high protein animal feed. Makes a very good compost tea. Composting, sheet mulching, medicinal uses etc etc.....

She turned it down.

Eric

[Anaki]

If it's dried or seed it shouldn't be a problem, even to CA. If it is live plant or rootstock they try to keep that out of the state.