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Home > Horticulture > Shipping Requirements

Shipping Requirements for Plants

Exporting Plants

All plants shipped from Maine must be healthy and apparently free from insects and diseases and have an inspection certificate attached. An inspection certificate is a document issued by the Department of Agriculture stating that the nursery or premises that the plants came from has been inspected and found to be free from pests. In addition, all plants shipped from the state must meet the import requirements of the destination state or country. View a summary of plant shipping requirements to other states. In some cases this may mean obtaining a phytosanitary (plant health) certificate. A phytosanitary certificate is a document issued by the Department of Agriculture that verifies that plants in the shipment have been inspected, are free of pests and found to meet any specific conditions required by the destination state or country. For more information on exporting plants from Maine to other states or countries contact the Department of Agriculture at (207) 287-3891 or email Horticulture.

Importing Plants

Plants brought into the state of Maine must have an inspection certificate, issued by the appropriate regulatory agency of the state of origin, attached to each package and the plants must be apparently free from plant pests. The state also maintains several quarantines that restrict the movement and sale of some plants in the state.

These quarantines include:

  1. Hemlock woolly adelgid quarantine, that restricts the movement hemlock (Tsuga spp.) into the State of Maine. Learn more about Importing Hemlocks.
  2. White pine blister rust quarantine, that prohibits the sale and planting of currants and gooseberries (Ribes spp.). View map (.pdf) of area where Ribes spp. are prohibited.
  3. Pine shoot beetle quarantine, that restricts the movement of pine (Pinus spp.).
  4. Invasive aquatic plant law, that prohibits the sale of eleven invasive aquatic plants.