harveyc

Chong, I can answer some of the questions but nothing about sources for the tropical things you mentioned.

Richard listed the GRIN site above. These materials were supplied by the USDA repository out of Davis, California as part of their mission. A phytosanitary certificate accompanies the material and all regulations are complied with, nothing under the table is needed. I suspect most material was collected sometime between December and February and then mailed by FedEx with delivery in a couple of days. I picked mine up in person. Pomegranates and figs can last much longer than that, if needed. I helped as a volunteer on a project at Davis that involved some budding of frozen pomegranate material to see if long-term storage could be done this way. The pomegranate material was "fried" and completely dead and none of those buds took but some that were frozen at higher temperatures did "okay." I don't think that would work for everygreen plants like you're talking about.

Good luck,

Harvey

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