Hi, I ship roses out of state, and how difficult it is depends totally on your own ag rules. I have to be fire-ant compliant for all states, have to get a phytosanitary inspection for CA, OR, and WA, and can no longer ship to AZ at all. In general, I've been lucky so far that my ag department is very reasonable and tries to be helpful. I do not get charged for anything. However, I know a rose grower in TN who has severe restrictions and can't ship to the west coast at all. That could be because they would charge him too much to do an inspection. If they charge $20 per inspection, that's nothing for a big grower, but would eat up your profit as a small grower. Have you contacted your department yet? It probably isn't as bad as you think. It is their job to figure out all the rules and tell you what you need to do to ship into the different states, and it probably won't be more than 2-4 different things.

I'm sure CA doesn't inspect everything that goes into their state, but they do inspect some. If your package is found to be non-compliant, they will destroy the shipment. Worse, they will report it to your ag dept. and you can have your license revoked.

It's very unfair because a people ship illegally all the time, but once you become a legal nursery, you are bound by the rules and competing against people who don't follow the rules.

Feel free to write if you have any questions.

Lisa