Shipping and Permits
Every plant we sell is an established, rooted plant — not an unrooted cutting. It is lifted, root-washed and inspected in West Java after you order it, then flown to you with a government phytosanitary certificate. Shipping is free, worldwide, with no minimum. This page explains what that actually means for your order.
Free worldwide shipping — what is and isn't included
- Included: international freight from Indonesia to your door, and the government phytosanitary certificate for your specific shipment. Both are already inside the listed price. We never add a shipping line at checkout.
- Not included: any import duty, tax or customs brokerage your own country charges. Those are set by your government, not by us, and they are paid by you as the importer of record.
- No minimum order. One plant ships on the same terms as ten.
How long it takes
About four weeks door to door. Roughly 20 business days of that is preparation and paperwork in Indonesia; the flight is the fastest part of the whole process.
We tell people this up front because the alternative — a vague "ships soon" followed by three weeks of silence — costs everyone more. The wait exists because the plant stays with the grower until you order it, and because a phytosanitary certificate is issued against your specific shipment and cannot be prepared in advance.
The full day-by-day breakdown is here.
Permits and paperwork
Under US law the buyer is the importer of record, so the permit question is yours to answer. The short version: APHIS exempts "shipments of 12 or fewer plants, only if no specific restriction applies" (APHIS), which covers most collector orders — but the qualifier matters, the permit is free, and getting one anyway is the smarter move.
- The full permit guide — who needs one, how to apply, what customs checks.
- The one-page checklist — the same thing in ten minutes.
- ACIR — check your own species and country of origin against the current requirements.
Outside the US, your own national plant protection organisation sets the rules. Ask us before you order if you are unsure — we ship worldwide and we would rather get it right than replace a destroyed shipment.
What we do on our side, every order
- The plant stays with the grower until you buy it. Nothing sits in a warehouse losing condition.
- Roots are washed clean and wrapped in moist sphagnum. Nothing ships in soil — growing media is a restricted category and a potted international shipment is a destroyed one.
- The Indonesian quarantine agency inspects the shipment and issues the phytosanitary certificate.
- The invoice carries full scientific names and quantities, which is what an inspector counts.
- If you send us your permit number before we ship, it goes on the box.
How it arrives
Bare-root, dormant, and less impressive than the listing photo. That is what four weeks in a box does to a living thing, and almost every one of them recovers. The arrival guide covers the first hour, the first week and the first month — read it the day your tracking says delivered, not the week after.
If something goes wrong
Email us with photos as soon as the box is open. A plant that arrives limp, leafless or with a yellowing lower leaf is normal and is covered in the arrival guide. A plant that arrives crushed, mouldy through the crown, or that never breaks dormancy is our problem — tell us and we will sort it out.