Please do not bring seeds (or any plant material, for that matter) into the US from other countries. You could inadvertently introduce a plant disease into the US that doesn't exist here, which could have devastating effects.

Better check the legal issues too!

There is an article in the CRFG magazine about some Peruvian fruits this month, including the Lucuma. It sounds pretty interesting. The lucuma is growing in the UC Fullerton Arboretum.

Re: importing, I don't think its that hard to legally import most seeds since there are fewer disease issues with the seeds compared to cuttings. A permit is needed. See page below for the rules which also leads to a big list of seeds or plant material with greater restrictions. Prunus seed (peach plum etc) should never be brought in because of plum pox disease. Cuttings are much more likely to carry diseases compared to seeds.

Scott

Here is a link that might be useful: USDA seed import rules

Grandilla is a passion fruit (if I recall correctly) and available in the US anyway.

Prickly pears are available in the US and at least one should be hardy to OH.

Lucuma is definitely not hardy to OH (there are reports of people trying to grow it in Az). Also, you would need to consider that the varieties you consumed in Peru are likely cultivars and not just seedling types. Even if you get it to grow (as an indoor plant) and if it doesn't require a second plant as a pollenator, the fruit you get might be much worse than you remember.

I'd check into Puerto Rican mail order nurseries (which will ship to the mainland, here) to find the plants you covet. Chances are they will be more like what you are seeking (except for the ones I mentioned above) but its likely the plants might be more than you are willing to spend.

Of course, there are plenty of great fruits you can grow in OH with a little patience and chances are they are just as good as some of what you are enjoying in Peru now.

~Chills

Thank you so much for your input. I guess I will give up on the idea. As far as diseases, I imagine that seeds would only carry genetic diseases. Although possible, It would be hard to imagine of any new devastating disease could be carried on seeds that have been disinfected--the old devastating diseases that are carried on disinfected seeds we know about those.

Not wanting to cause anxiety and possibly cause harm to so many, I will retract the offer. Sorry for my thoughtlessness.

As long as the seed is free of pulp, most species are fine to import. Cuttings and rooted plants are the major culprits of bringing pests in.
Of course Patented Plants are another story, so if a variety is patented, you do have issues.
I would ask locally if a plant is considered 'invasive' just to be safe.

dittos what fruitgirl said, Please don't bring anything in.
but also dittos that CRFG members have lots of good info and seeds and cuttings to share.

To be honest, the risk of bringing in "additional" disease with seeds is pretty much zero. You can buy seeds from any overseas catalogs. The big issue is with plant tissue and fresh fruits that could be harboring pests. The seeds thing is a new strategy by the big seed companies to continue to regulate the seed trade so that they can grow their business. It's not in the agrobusiness's favor to have people keep their own seeds.

But most of the things you mention are in cultivation around here anyway. I have a rather large collection of Peruvian fruits, all obtained through the CRFG and nurseries in Calif. These include lucuma, ice cream bean (pacay), cherimoya, capulin cherries, tamarillo, a plethora of passion fruit, the list goes on and on. They all grow all the way up into the least frost prone Norcal microclimates. I grow most of my tenders on a hillside where cold air can drain.

I've never been to Peru but in other tropical countries you can buy packets of seeds, often at the airport.

In countries like Peru where there are farms at high elevation you can find surprisingly cold hardy "tropicals". The few that I have grown here in the states never had the full flavor they did back in their homeland. Still fun to grow, but not that big a deal in the end.

Seeds can carry viruses, bacteria, and fungi, so there is a risk of bringing in a disease. I'm sure that seeds purchased from overseas catalogs are grown in a controlled environment. Yes, the risk is less than with cuttings and whole plants, but it's still there. My point is that it could happen, and would you really want to be the jerk that imported a new, devastating disease?

Viruses - nope, that's in fact one reason to grow from seeds, because that way you get virus free plants. Bacteria and fungus are taken care of by treating the seeds with a fungicide. So sorry, I don't buy in on there being a risk with seeds.

There most definitely are seed borne virus diseases. Do a quick google search and you'll see.

And in order to control bacterial or fungal diseases on seeds, you'd have to know what they could be infected with in order to choose an appropriate fungicide or bactericide. In this case, I doubt the OP would have the resources to properly test and treat seeds.

You are much, much less likely to get a bad disease in from seeds but you could. Plum Pox Virus strain M can be transmitted by seeds.

Scott

I always hate to disagree with my distinguished colleagues, but I find it a little difficult to get worked up about a few imported seeds when you can walk into any supermarket and find fruit from all over the world. Apples, pears, stone fruits, grapes from Chile and Argentina; raspberries, mangoes, bananas and all kinds of vegetables from Central America and Mexico --- I could go on forever. We are in a world economy, and, like it or not, we are stuck with it.

Sure, you may say, all this stuff is inspected and controlled by the USDA, but I would suggest to you that the USDA capability to inspect the large volumes of imported fruit is so miniscule that you might as well call it zero. For practical purposes, none of this stuff is inspected. Controls over the types and amounts of chemicals used to produce these edibles are similarly absent.

Niptrix does not have a revolutionary idea here. Many other people who have lived for years in tropical South and Central America, including me (12 years), have seen all this stuff and much more. Some of these unusual tropical fruits are pretty good, some fair, and others downright disappointing. Anything that will grow and produce very good fruit in the US is already available here, and if it's not that's because it has some major defects. Some tropical fruits like mangoes are very good indeed, and we ate tons of them when we lived in coastal Ecuador, but here we can grow peaches and apricots that stack up well against any mango.

I wouldn't go to a lot of trouble to try to introduce a new fruit from Peru into the US because everything that is worthwhile and will grow in subtropical areas of this country has already been tried, and most are already available from specialty nurseries and seed distibutors.

Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

One thing that I wanted to try growing was a Peruvian corn , they have a type with very large kernals that they make a snack out of, it's a short day type as I recall. Some company tried to patent it and that didn't work out (thankfully).

I'd keep an eye open for different squashes and there are citrus there (I hear) that we do not have here.

I have started several Peruvian chili peppers, aji amarillo, aji panca, rocoto that I found seeds of from companies in the US, I'm sure there are dozens more different types of chilis in Peru. I also grow huacatay, an herb, which is sold an nemotode marigold in the USA.

Enjoy your trip, thanks anyway for the generous offer and idea and keep your eye open for the naked dogs (Perro sin Pelo del Peru or Viringo, a Peruvian cultural heritage treasure) - I have a pair of them. And don't forget to have a Pisco sour or two.