First of all, let me apologize if this is the wrong message board for this, but it seemed to be closest to the subject matter.

Anyway, as my profile says, I’m in northern California. It’s cold enough where I live to kill pretty much anything citrus like, except for maybe trifoliate orange and I’m not even too sure it could live through a hard winter. Because of the low winter temperatures none of the local nurseries carry any sort of citrus, and due to California’s import laws, large mail order nurseries won’t ship to California.

I’ve been growing a few container citrus from seeds as decorative plants, and I’ve wanted to get them on some proper root stock for a while. Now, what I’d like to do is get Trifoliate orange fruit or seed from someone else on this board, it seems to be one of the more commonly traded seeds and it would undoubtedly be cheaper getting it here instead of ordering from a nursery.

However (and now we get to the actual point of this post) I have no idea what California’s laws specifically forbid and allow. I’ve checked Google, but I’ve been unable to find anything that clearly states what import restrictions exist. So I’m left unsure if I can legally get seeds from, well, anywhere. I’m not even sure what the in-state laws governing citrus transportation are. So does anyone have a list or something that says where California can import from?

At the Federal level, you can search the USDA website for citrus regulations. It is basically not allowing movement of citrus propagating materials into Citrus Producing States like Arizona, California, Hawaii, Florida, Louisiana, Texas (I may have missed a few here). You can move citruses out of these places into non-citrus producing states. Movement is allowed but you have to apply through your state and the proper USDA permits.

While the federal level applies to California, local rules must be followed. For movement within California, I have some PDF publications stashed somewhere but you can obtain the latest and the greatest. Just search for the term Kern County Citrus. Basically you cannot move citruses in and out of the quarantined areas within California. Kern County is one big quarantined area because it is the citrus belt of California, and now big parts of San Diego due to the ACP.

The other general rule is that no one can propagate citruses without registering it with the CDFA. The only allowed propagation without a lot of permit is through the UCR CCPP budwood program. Homeowners and hobbyists outside of the citrus producing regions in the state are not generally banned from exchanging budwood as long as you don't touch or pass by the quarantined areas. But homeowners cannot propagate for sale their citruses, and for that you would need to be registered with the CDFA.