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Friday - September 27, 2013

From: Carrollton, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Plant Laws
Title: Moving plants from Texas to Florida
Answered by: Nan Hampton

QUESTION:

Hi, I found your answer for the person traveling from Florida to Texas, I am going the opposite way. Do I need to have my house and yard plants certified by Texas Dept of Agriculutre? If so how do I do that? Also, we are planning on going from Carrollton to Daytona Beach over 4 days. Any recommendations for packing them in a Uhaul? I am getting a Uhaul just for them.

ANSWER:

Please see another answer written about traveling from New York to Florida with plants. You can find the regulations relating to Florida on the National Plant Board's Laws and Regulations page. Here is a quote from the Florida Summary of Plant Protection Regulations:

"House plants which are part of a passenger's baggage or household effects may enter the state provided the plants are accompanied with a certificate of inspection. Should the plants originate from a state that does not offer an inspection and certification service for house plants, the owner must be able to furnish the department a Florida address where the plants will be located. This information will enable the department to conduct a follow‑up inspection if deemed necessary. If sufficient information is given, the plants will be allowed entry."

I went to the Texas Department of Agriculture webpage to try find information about such an inspection and certification service for Texas, but was unsuccessful. I finally called the toll free number for the Texas Department of Agriculture (1-800-TELL-TDA or 1-800-835-5832) and spoke to someone in "Nursery, Floral, Pest, Quarantine or Other Plant Quality Related Issues" after having chosen the link for "Agriculture and Consumer Protection Programs". The person I spoke with said that in order to schedule inspection of plants for certification you need to call the San Antonio office at 210-820-0288. I don't know if this means you have to take the plants to San Antonio for inspection—I certainly hope not—but you need to contact them to learn what you need to do.

There are a couple of links to articles about moving house plants (from Holman Moving Systems and Rossiter Relocation Services) that have very useful information that should answer your questions about the care of your plants in the U-Haul truck.