Importing a Ficus bonsai from China to Australia

[Bonbon]

Hi Noah,

Please share your experience about importing your Fig from China.
How did you do it? Is it worth it?
It's possible, I heard, but very hard and lots of hassle, right?

Bonbon

[Matthew]

Mate, i will write up a little history on this fig shortly. Still looking for other pics of it. I thought pics would add to its progession. Also id like to take shots of where it is today but id have to get it out of its current spot and i need a mate for it. ITS heavy. i have all relavant paperwork here i just need to go through it .I promise i will get around to it shortly and will include where i got it from exactly. (nursery and location).

cheers.

[Bonbon]

Sorry Noah, I did not know you are writing a complete chronicle for the Fig tree which of cource will take a long time.

How about just a few thought about importing trees. Is it hard? Does it worth it? How long it takes? What percentage die in quarantine?

Thanks
Bonbon

[Matthew]

Ok a brief overview.

I imported some ficus from china in 2006. I bought 7 with the one seen in my display area the best. I have since sold 5. Of the 7 all made it through quarantine except one which didnt handle the methyl bromide treatment (which is mandatory on all tree imports) the others defoliated themselves due to it but soon reshot been a fig. The basic lowdown is you need a import permit from AQIS (austrailian quarantine inspection services) this can be obtained throught the internet under aus govenment web site , department of argiculture if i remember.........this permit was $120.00 last i checked and is valid for one year. You need to check on there web site what species you can import and where you can import them from. Conditioins are usually a 12 week stint in a quarantine approved facitity, methyl bromide treatment and all plants to be exported soil free.
the permit has various details required like who you importing from, air path flight(other countries plane may land in) exact common and scientifc names, post santatery certificate from country of origin, what quaratine approved facility the trees will be held at ( Eagle farm in brisbane if in QLD).
you are also recommended to get a customs broker as they will deal with customs, monitor you flight, make sure your goods are unloaded, make sure all paperwork is correct, make sure your trees are transported to facility after methyl bromide treatment.

once at the holding facility your trees are hosed and repotted into whatever medium they have unless you can specify a bonsai mix. I recommend pots travel as well so they have a pot large enogh to plant your tree in as mine where in a solid gell moisture retentive . looks like clear jelly. Your trees will spend 12 weeks there with a small charge each day depending on how much space they take ( it was $2.45 per metre per day last time i checked).

a basic breakdown of price
large fig $180.00 aus
flight charge ($150.00 aus when diveded between 7 trees)
methyl bromide treatment $21.00 when diveded between seven trees
customs broker charge $770.00 which covers all customs paperwork etc ( that charge includes a number of trees the charge is pretty much the same whether you import 1 or 10 trees)
quarantine facility 90 days at 2.45 per metre which covers single large fig ($220.00)
permit $120.00 aus
so all up for that single fig from china cost is $1461

to me that is a good price considering its size, development, been a microcapra. I havent seen to many around except leongs which has some amazings ones. I also made back from selling the others what i had overall paid so to me it was worth it.
The main point i would stress is know who your dealing with at the other end and make sure they are aware of our countries quarantine requirements. If any of the requirements with regard to soil, pests, disease paperwork are not meet quarantine has the right to either destroy on the spot or ship back to country of origin at your expence the trees.
Maybe i got lucky. I have heard of some who havent been so lucky.

hope this helps and i will add more when i do a history on that fig.

[Dave54]

Hi Noah,
sounds like a great experience. I wish I had done some early investigation before my trip to Japan, some of the trees for sale over there made me cry, I was gutted that I couldn't bring any back.
One thing for people to remember is that not only are they bare rooted, but if you bare root a deciduos in its Winter, it arrives downunder in mid summer.
May I sidetrack your thread with a story out of "BONSAI RAMBLINGS"(available through marketplace in this forum)

FROM CHINA TO THE BUSH
OR
YOU CAN’T KILL A FIG,
……….(CAN YOU ?)
What a change in lifestyle I now enjoy, after my humble beginnings in a southern province of China.
Let me introduce myself, I am a Fig, my exact
variety debatable as I think my parentage is
questionable with a bit of cross pollination ‘hanky panky’ happening in the rainforest from where I originated.
I’m not sure how old I was when removed from the rainforest by a Chinaman who owned a bonsai
nursery, however, along with many of my siblings I suffered the indignity of being plucked from the lovely place I called home, having my root ball wrapped in hessian and thrown unceremoniously on the back of a rickshaw. On reaching the nursery we were all bare rooted and potted up, watered and placed in long rows. What a change from the beautiful rainforest surroundings from where I came.
It appears that the reason we were collected is because we had a lovely display of aerial roots that we sent down and subsequently attached to our already thick trunks.
We’re not as old as everyone thinks, it’s just that due to the hot, humid weather conditions in Southern China, which are ideal for us Figs, we just thrive and keep growing into enormous trees with thick trunks.
Because I was styled in the Chinese way I am more ‘Freeform’ than ‘Structured’, with branches in all directions but my selling point is my beautiful trunk, with aerial roots dropping from my primary branches which have now hit the soil and thickened up. Can you believe they ‘ plaited’ the three aerial roots at the front and made me look like a damn ‘poof’.
Anyway, you think that’s bad, the worst is yet to come. It appears that the nurseryman has connections in Australia and you guessed it, because I’m one of the best in the nursery, me along with about fifteen of my mates get purchased from photographs, that the Aussie bloke was sent.
I’ve been listening to the guys planning our demise and the grizzly details are quite
frightening. Do you know I get sent ‘Down-Under’ in the ‘nude’.
Picture this, all of us tipped out of our pots, totally ‘bare-rooted’ every last soil particle
removed, sprayed with water and wrapped in that rotten hessian again that itches and annoys the hell out of me. I thought this was disgraceful but I suppose I was lucky that it’s the
middle of summer and at 35c, I can cope. We get transported to the airport, loaded into the hold of the plane and sit for ages, nearly cooking, whilst passengers and their luggage get loaded. Do they forget we have feelings and can break, we get thrown around getting squashed against boxes and suitcases.
We finally take off and at 30,000ft. I’m bloody freezing, will we ever get to Sydney?
At last we arrive at Mascot and I think I’ve turned blue with the cold. The doors open and it’s the bloody middle of winter and I’m nude, can it get any worse? They have got to be kidding. I arrive at quarantine, they remove my hessian without even asking and fumigate me with
pesticides, insecticides and any other ‘cides they can get their hands on. I think I’m choking. All these Aussies look the same and none of them show me respect.

Eventually, freezing to my softwood core, I am repotted and transported to a quarantine
nursery where I have to stay for 3 months before going to my new owner. Lucky they place me in a hothouse, I’ve never been so cold.

The time passes quickly and even though they treated us harshly, I survived because I’m a Fig and you can’t kill a Fig. Although stressed we finally get transported to the new nursery and we take pride of place on the benches to be shown off to all his clients. He tells everyone that I’m not for sale because I’m the best one in the group and I’m to remain in his collection.

Second day out of quarantine and we get hit with the biggest unexpected frost you’ve ever seen that burns all our fresh new growth and now we’re so black we look like we’ve come from Africa. Nonetheless, because we are so different to all the local Figs, most of us sell pretty quickly. I remain the pride of the nurseryman’s collection until a bloke named Dave talks him into a sale. I was just acclimatizing to this place and now I’m off again.

On arrival at Dave’s place some of the other trees in the yard aren’t really impressed because I get positioned in prime viewing spot. Are they racist because I look different or just jealous
because I look so damn good.

Anyway I’m standing next to ‘Pete The Privet’ who you’ve all read about and he whispers to me that "You don’t know what your in for". Was Pete just trying to scare me, he described Dave as the ‘Assassin’. As sure as chop suey is Chinese, out comes Dave with the dreaded tool box and starts hacking away, cutting off two large branches at the top because he says they are too
thick and creating a multiple apex. Next he expresses his displeasure at the way I send out my shoots, instead of individual shoots I send out multiples which are causing trunk thickening in all the wrong places.
He removes every multiple shoot, fills up a garbage bin, mind you, with my beautiful new growth, and now my top is nearly nude. These bonsai people seem to have nudity on the brain.
Then he has the hide to say that I don’t look like I’m thriving, I wonder why!! He decides to
repot me to see what’s wrong and to place me in a smaller pot. (I suppose I was slightly over
potted to encourage faster growth.)
He tips me out of my pot and he wonders why I’m so wet and my roots don’t look too healthy. Well I’d been trying to tell him I was drowning, can’t he understand plain Chinese!!! Some ‘iriot’ at quarantine had placed shadecloth over my drainage holes which had choked up with soil
particles, stopping adequate drainage. As I said before, lucky I’m a fig.

The dramas never seem to end at this place, every time I send out more of those multiple shoots he just pinches them off and the worst thing is that there are pests called aphids, that eat my new leaves even before they open. Dave keeps spraying but they are persistent ‘Little Aussie Blighters’

Things do seem to be settling down with the other yard trees beginning to accept me for what I am and even though I’m still missing my rainforest mates, I’m thinking of taking out ‘Aussie
Citizenship’ because I’m starting to like the place.
YOU CAN’T KILL A FIG,…………. CAN YOU?
Author’s Fig in mid 2007 after much
grafting and shaping. 110 cm tall.
See Article “OH BUGGER” on page number 63 and
“MOTHER OF ALL GRAFTS” on page number 64
cheers
Dave

[Matthew]

Dave,
your right i forgot to add that about climate. I exported in the start of spring here so the start of winter over there so been a fig i wasent too worried that it would negatively effect it too much coming into dormacy straight out so quick. However decididious trees are another matter and the only real safe time to bare root them is middle of winter which would be the middle of summer over here and not real good for them i would think.
feel free to add to my threads anytime and REAL nice fig by the way.I forgot about yours , Mine is sometime off to achieve such roots

[Asus101]

Is there a chance dave we could get that again, not from the tree's perspective?
Its difficulty to actually understand how you got it in here...

[Dave54]

Hi guys,
I didn't import it, as it says in the story it was imported by a sydney nurseryman and I paid an arm and a leg for his trouble.
Certainly made Noahs tree look cheap by comparison
cheers
Dave

[Asus101]

Hi guys,
I didn't import it, as it says in the story it was imported by a sydney nurseryman and I paid an arm and a leg for his trouble.
Certainly made Noahs tree look cheap by comparison
cheers
Dave

Sorry mate, I just was having a hard time trying to reverse it so I could workout how you got it over...

[Matthew]

Guys thought id just post two pics of that fig from china i imported a few seasons ago. This was summer 2008 i think......This summer coming its getting a badly needed repot with root work. All branches will be wired and pruned also. Proberly janurary up here. I will update the thread . The fig is approx 75cm tall. The cuttings i took are all growing well and will be seperated this summer.

fig defoliated 2008.jpg

figdefoliated2 2008.jpg

[Steven]

Brilliant Noah! I know why you kept this one.
Did you personally pick them in China, from photos or sight unseen?
Regards,
Steven

[Matthew]

Brilliant Noah! I know why you kept this one.
Did you personally pick them in China, from photos or sight unseen?
Regards,
Steven

Steven,
all came with photos. It was like a database with dimensions, weight, species, price etc. I noted at least 30 all around 70-100cm tall all with simular price tags. I wish i bought a few more in. My contact is no longer with the nursery and communication is difficult.

[Elias]

I looked into this but I believe they have doubled the quarantine time to 24 weeks, which might make it a bit harder on the survival rate, I've spoken and been in contact with people from Evergreen Nurseries have a look at some of these, they are at good prices if they survive
http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/20858 ... onsai.html

[Jow]

The other thing to bear in mind is the above prices were spread across 7 trees. If you bring in one tree or seven a lot of the costs are the same ie. fumigation and permit costs. This make breinging in one or two trees quite expensive, but the more you bring the more affordable it becomes.

[Matthew]

i believe its still 90 days for ficus as i was online the other week checking importation from Bali. fruiting and flowering trees require 9 months