Importing Plants (Nursery Stock)

​​​​​​All plants entering Tasmania must meet import requirements, these differ depending on the species or where the plants are coming from. 

There are general requirements that apply to all plants, plant products and horticultural material such as:

  • Ensuring it is free of soil, pest, disease, or weeds.

  • It must be stored, handled, and transported in secure conditions​

  • In clean packaging and labelled with;

    • The name and address of the importer​

    • Plants identified by their scientific name (Genus and species)

  • A Notice of Intention to import is submitted at least 24 hours prior to departure.​​

You can find more detailed information on import requirements in Part 2 of the Plant Bisoecurity Manual Tasmania.

What is Nursery Stock?​​​

Nursery stock means plants in soil-less potting media, bulbs, corms and rhizomes and bare-rooted plants or cuttings (including budwood and scionwood), with or without leaves. 

It does not include tissue culture, cut flowers, seeds or bagged or bulk potting media.

​​​​What do I need to do before I send plants to Tasmania?

​There are a number of requirements you need to meet before you send plants to Tasmania. The checklist below outlines the steps to take. 

 Checklist for importing plants to Tasmania (PDF 172Kb)

If you are still unsure what you need to do, please contact Biosecurity Tasmania for advice. 

Can I import tissue cultures?

Before you import tissue cultures into Tasmania, you need to ensure that the tissue cultures have been produced in a commercial tissue culture facility, that has been declared and endorsed by Biosecurity Tasmania.  

You can find the declaration form over on the Biosecurity Forms page. 

Home gardeners or inidividuals must not import tissue cultures unless they have been issued an individual permit. 

The container (or flask) must be  

  • Sterile
  • Commercial single use flask
  • Properly sealed
  • ​Undamaged
  • Clearly labelled with 
    • the scientific and commons names of the tissue culture
    • the name and address of the supplier/grower and/or packer​​

In addition to the above, any import of plant tissue culture must also meet Tasmania's general and any other specific import requirements for plants and plant products. 

A NoI (Notice of Intention to Import) is required for tissue culture imports and is subject to inspection on arrival.

​​​More Information

For more information on importing small weight seeds visit our Importing Seeds page.​​

​​For all other plant biosecurity, visit our ​Plant Biosecurity page.​ 

Contact

Biosecurity Tasmania