Buying Jumbo Amaryllis bulbs at the Amsterdam Airport

Found this in an old LA Times article.

“ The Netherlands and the U.S. have worked to “pre-clear” some items, including flower bulbs, which represent about $713 million in exports from that country.

“It is called the ‘white sticker’ program,” . “Prepacked flower bulb packages are stickered with a declaration stating that they meet U.S. phytosanitary requirements. “These bulbs are sold at specific sites [mostly Dutch tourist places and also at Schiphol airport].”

Make sure that the documentation also includes a declaration of freedom from potato cyst nematodes and a USDA import permit, a USDA spokesman said in an email.

Otherwise, your bulbs will be resting at the bottom of a trash barrel instead of in a lovely pot in your festively decorated home.”

And, of course, they must be declared on the customs form.

Bulbs ok’d for import to the USA are always labeled with a sticker stating exactly that. Many shops in AMS airport sell them. Bulbs without the label will be confiscated.

We had half of the “USA approved” tulip bulbs taken away , out of our luggage, at JFK when we were sent to an agricultural inspector after getting off our flight from Amsterdam. They needed to have a special metal clip in them that would show up on a scanner to be allowed. Somehow they missed the other half of our bulbs. I bought them all at the large Bloemenmarkt in the city.

I would go the Patricia route, if they're selling bulbs in the airport they would be crazy not to ensure they are US compliant and have such labelling all over them.

Otherwise, there's this thing called the internet ...

Most of their customers are likely other Europeans, so the expense of meeting US packaging requirements may not be worth it for everything.

The US Ag folks aren't interested in just the dirt. They would be aware of any current issues regarding insect infestations or diseases in the bulbs themselves. But you're still supposed to declare them and let the agents decide. They get pissed off when something clearly declarable is not declared, and then they might take them in spite.

I bought bulbs at Schipol and brought them back to U.S.. I did get pulled aside so they could inspect the certificate, but I had no problem. You are allowed to bring back up to 12 bulbs as long as they have a phytosanitary certificate.

https://help.cbp.gov/s/article/Article-600?language=en_US

Quite frankly, I’ve had better luck with bulbs that I’ve bought from the local nursery, so I wouldn’t bother to do this again.

. . . and PS, I was just up at our local garden center, and they told me all their bulbs - tulip, iris, crocus, amaryllis, hyacinth, etc., - come from Holland.

No certificate attached to my bulbs so I guess they are in the garbage bin!!!! SO SAD

Give them to a stranger, at least...

I wouldn't.
Bio-security is a very real thing nowadays, and they will be taken off you at the slightest suspicion that they may contaminate American plant life .
Most of the bulbs we can buy here in Canada come from Dutch-owned nurseries here, and always produce amazing flowers in my experience.
Buy some Dutch cheese to bring home instead!
Your allowance for that is much bigger!
(20 kgs here in Canada.......!)

My husband bought some bulbs at AMS airport that had a sticker indicating they were okay to import, but then he had to stand in line at the ag inspection line upon arrival in the US, which would definitely not be worth it for something you can get through the mail.

guess they are in the garbage bin!!!! SO SAD

That would be sad. And if the garbage bin gets dumped and the contents buried with dirt at some point, they’ll wind up “planted.” Just not at your garden. What unacceptable things still wind up staying permanently in the USA? Or are tulip bulbs actually destroyed in such a way as to pose no harm? Burned (then, air pollution, on some level), or chemically dissolved (ewwwww)?

I have a friend who worked for Ag doing this at a major airport. He said all the confiscated stuff, including those Italian salami's and undeclared fruit, gets bagged and burned. They're trying to protect the US agriculture industry from insects and diseases, not be jerks.

I brought home 10 pounds of gouda home, and now its a permanent part of me.

This is what pests do the US https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/invasion-of-the-longhorn-beetles-145061504/

Which is why USDA/CBP is very strict (and always, always declare).

On my way to Scotland via Schiphol one year, I thought I might buy Dutch bulbs for my friend in Scotland.
I was horrified at the prices of them, but the woman in the shop there just shrugged and said "It's airport prices, what do you expect."
I didn't buy any.

We have many Dutch owned nurseries and distributors near here in Canada, and their prices are quite reasonable for great quality bulbs.
I know, it's not the same as saying you bought them in the Netherlands.