Never Plant It: Practical But Surprising Advice From MDC

Guys, this might seem somewhat obvious, but just in case, I thought it was important to let you know what's going on. After all, you might have someone in your life that loves gardening and isn't aware of this!

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Really, though, it's okay. It's not going to lose anyone any money or hurt anyone directly. But it is important we discuss what's going on, what it means, and how you should proceed.

What's Going On?

Basically, the MU Extension is getting reports of people receiving seeds in the mail that they didn't order. This is the part that might seem obvious, but....if you didn't buy it, don't plant it.

MU Extension, the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (www.aphis.usda.gov), Missouri Department of Agriculture and other state and federal agencies first issued alerts about this in 2020 when residents began receiving seeds of unknown origin.

So it might be a good idea to check with elderly relatives who keep a garden, for example, and make sure they didn't get any seeds in the mail, or planted them. I get it, if you're a gardener you might have friends who want to give you some of their seeds, you probably give seeds to them, as well - but this isn't that.

I know I had a neighbor who gave us a ton of pepper seeds.  They're still sitting there in the junk drawer. Sorry, Christian.

It's not necessarily always something nefarious, but sometimes online sellers can make their sales numbers look better by sending out packages like this. It's called "brushing". It boosts their ratings with fake orders.  You can't plant them, though, because the seeds could introduce invasive species, pests, diseases, viruses and bacteria that could harm native plants, insects, crops and livestock.  That's a lot from a little seed. 

So What Should you Do?

Again, It's not necessarily a concern that someone might have sent you something poisonous, but something that could be invasive and non-native to the area.  So don't think you're going to need to get a hazmat suit or something.  It's pretty simple. Don't open them, don't plant them, and don't throw them away. Instead, put them in a plastic bag and mail them to the USDA. They have a special address JUST FOR THIS.

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They want you to put the whole package and all the packaging that came with it to this address:  USDA APHIS PPQ, Attn: SEEDS, 1715 Southridge Drive, Jefferson City, MO 65109.

Put the seeds in a plastic baggie.  They want as much evidence as possible so that they can stop this, so if you have the envelope, even better with the return address, or even the whole packaging, just throw it all in there and send it.

You can also call the USDA state plant health director Collin Wamsley at 573-893-6833 or MDA state plant regulatory official Rosalee Knipp at 573-751-5505.  Or, you can report fraud to the FTC online here.

Happy Planting, ya'll.

Seedingly yours,
Behka