Hi All,

Does anyone have any experience or knowledge of collecting trees to bring home. I'm planning on a trip to northern Italy and Switzerland and will be driving back to the UK.

Just wondering what customs would say if they saw a bunch of trees in the back of a van, and what laws they could enforce.

Cheers.

I do not live in the UK snd do not know the regulations but I googled it and it seems the first hit has the information you are looking for: www.gov.uk/guidance/importing-trees-and-...nd-wales-from-the-eu

Should be a good region you go to. I have been in austria recentle and did see nice trees. Impossible to collect though, and I was not there for collecting.

Nice tree in your profile. Yours?

Ah perfect thank you, it's a shame pines are listed as there are quite a few over there, pines and junipers are few and far between where I live but I still look

I still wonder if people bring them back anyway, I went to Switzerland last year and there was a lot of promising material. Anything similar for sale in the UK is very expensive.

Unfortunately the tree in my profile isn't mine, wish it was! I take it your profile pic is yours?

There is a very good reason why interesting plants are expensive -no matter where you go. Collecting them is not a matter of finding a tree and digging it up. If you do that, you will invariably kill it.

Collecting trees is a risky and expensive busineess, especially if you want to do it the right way, including the permits for digging up the tree -Hardly anywehere in euope is it legal to go and dig up the type of trees you would find interesting. And you need the proper tools, materials and also heating beds for establishment. And indeed. You may need to clear the trees in into the UK.

Do not dig up trees if you do not know what you are starting and have never been involved in the process.
Never dig up trees unless you have a permit from the land owner, in the mountains often the goverment.

Can you elaborate on heating beds?

Hi Leatherback,
Although I have a few trees, some bought, some collected (with granted permission via Bonsai groups here in the UK) and am also currently growing from seed, I've never bought any back from abroad. Luckily I know friends that now live abroad so would also get permission to collect. I'd then leave the trees there for 12 months under supervision, but was looking for info about bringing them back safely and legally.
Have you bought any back that have been inspected or cleared into the UK?
Thanks

This is not just a bonsai collection, but also a legal question. You should consult with legal authorities for that part of the question. In fact, there are two different questions, legality of collecting and legality of importing.

The UK, an island, has natural protection against invasive species. Bringing organisms across that barrier could have major consequences. About ten years ago somebody brought a citrus tree of some kind into the US from China, bringing with it a pest which has destroyed a large part of the citrus industry in the US. Speculation is a tourist, who has been traced to one block in LA.

I don't know many details, but I do know the lady who did the math part of the modeling. Be careful about the laws. They are there for a reason.

Thanks Ivan.

www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&rct...zrjNCqRipgeZD2XmBFLr

www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?pid=435