Akadama

[Diane Lund]

From my feeble memory. Double Red Line Akadama is fired or heated to 800° C. That will kill any organism in it.

Again, the importer needs to have a conversation with the Dept. of Agriculture supervisor at the port of entry. Find out if their regulations recognize this and then get a certificate from the shipper who gets a certificate from the manufacturer that states the heat treatment. The stuff is well sterilized and I don't think it needs to be destroyed. The key is to be humble and try and get the order reversed. Don't know how far the importer is from the port, but if they use a Customs House Broker for importation that Broker can have the conversation with Dept. of Ag rep on behalf of the importer. I wouldn't let this go if it were my investment.

BTW, the shipper should have offered and provided the certificate up front. It should have been attached to the shipping documents. If it had been Agriculture would have had it in hand when the shipment landed.

The Double Red Line is not heat treated. There are other brands that are heat treated but to my knowledge Double Red Line does not make one. The company has recently changed ownership. I can't help but think the new owners have not been as quality conscious and are mining the product to close to the soil surface thus getting organic particles.

 

[bretts]

We have a great supplier of double red line akadama here in Australia. First off I have to say I think you guys are getting ripped off by your suppliers. If we can get it for around $16 a bag after shipping it around the country by the pallet load then you guys must be paying more than 150% mark up per bag. So it might be viable for a group to start importing it themselves.

I believe what they are talking about here is the hemp like fibres that are mixed in with the akadama bags and not the akadama itself. I have wondered how these fibres could remain after the akadama was fired and then be aloud to be imported to Australia which has VERY strict import laws.
How the fibre remains was explained to me but I have forgotten. Maybe as it has been said here double red line is not fired but I would like to hear that clarified.
Personally I think/hope this shipment getting sent back is just a misunderstanding as we have had those fibres in the akadama bags for at least the few years I have been using it here in Australia and I doubt it would be aloud in here if there was a problem.

 

[yenling83]

We have a great supplier of double red line akadama here in Australia. First off I have to say I think you guys are getting ripped off by your suppliers. If we can get it for around $16 a bag after shipping it around the country by the pallet load then you guys must be paying more than 150% mark up per bag. So it might be viable for a group to start importing it themselves.

I believe what they are talking about here is the hemp like fibres that are mixed in with the akadama bags and not the akadama itself. I have wondered how these fibres could remain after the akadama was fired and then be aloud to be imported to Australia which has VERY strict import laws.
How the fibre remains was explained to me but I have forgotten. Maybe as it has been said here double red line is not fired but I would like to hear that clarified.
Personally I think/hope this shipment getting sent back is just a misunderstanding as we have had those fibres in the akadama bags for at least the few years I have been using it here in Australia and I doubt it would be aloud in here if there was a problem.

Yah I agree they are talking about the hemp like fibers and other organic junk in the bag.

So how much do you think you would have to purchase to get it for yourself? Would you need sometype of license to buy? I'm surprise more clubs don't pitch in and purchase a large amount. But then again I have no idea who you would purchase it from.

 

[Smoke]

From:

U.S. Department of Agriculture
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
Circular
Q-330.300-1
Soil (01/2010) Revised


How is soil packaged for movement from point of origin to its US destination, and subsequently treated?
Soil must be shipped in a securely closed, watertight or leak-proof container (primary container, test tube, vial, etc.) which must be enclosed in a second, durable watertight or leak-proof container (secondary container). Each container must be able to contain the soil independently. Three categories of treatments are authorized for soil: (1) Dry heat at 250o F. for at least two hours, or (2) Steam heat at the same temperature for 30 minutes at 15 lbs/p.s.i. pressure, or
(3) Other treatments and conditions such as: (a) destructive analysis, (b) acid washing, (c) hydroclave, and (d) incineration. Under facility specific conditions, small amounts of soil in water may be flushed into sewage drains if the water is processed in a tertiary treatment system, (such as a municipal sewage system).

Soil from all foreign countries, U.S. territories and areas within states that are under Federal quarantine can be moved into or through the continental US only if conditions and safeguards prescribed by the US Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) are met.

NOTE: All shipments may be inspected at a US port to identify the material and verify it is free of pests and prohibited contaminants. A shipment may be refused entry or require treatment based upon inspection findings.

This is the USDA publication on importation of soil products. I think Wee Tree Farm needs to have some further conversations.

What this publication tells you is that soil products can have contaminants in it. That there is a way to make them harmless. And that specified treatment makes it acceptable to import into the US.

I used to handle importation and exportation of all manner of products and have dealt with similar issues before. You should have an 80 ton piece of all stainless steel machinery held by USDA because they want to look for bugs.

There are reasonable people at the ports and their goal is not to prevent you from getting your imports, their job is to make sure you do.

Again, Wee Tree Farm needs to have some conversations.

From a web site of a seller of Double Red Line Akadama:

This is burned by 850°C for app. 30minutes. Because of this process, the Burned Akadama is very clean and the plants can grow in very healthy earth.

It's not the stainless they are concearned about it's the packageing it's on. Pallets are the no. source for Asian Longhorn Beetles getting into the USA. Even pallets of akadama have to be inspected.

 

[Mac In Oak Ridge]

Smoke,
I oversaw the importation of about 100 of these machines into the US. I know what I am talking about. The "packaging" they were on was the deck of an ocean going vessel. 80 ton machines don't get "packaged". The largest equipment I imported weighed 200 tons, in one piece, 8 of them over a 20 year period. They also didn't get packaged, in fact these were the only cargo on the feeder vessel from the factory in Norway to Hamburg.

 

[Klytus]

Why import a soil when you can import a mineral?

 

[Mac In Oak Ridge]

Because something called, "Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States" tells you what you can call something you are importing.

 

[Diane Lund]

We have a great supplier of double red line akadama here in Australia. First off I have to say I think you guys are getting ripped off by your suppliers. If we can get it for around $16 a bag after shipping it around the country by the pallet load then you guys must be paying more than 150% mark up per bag. So it might be viable for a group to start importing it themselves.

I believe what they are talking about here is the hemp like fibres that are mixed in with the akadama bags and not the akadama itself. I have wondered how these fibres could remain after the akadama was fired and then be aloud to be imported to Australia which has VERY strict import laws.
How the fibre remains was explained to me but I have forgotten. Maybe as it has been said here double red line is not fired but I would like to hear that clarified.
Personally I think/hope this shipment getting sent back is just a misunderstanding as we have had those fibres in the akadama bags for at least the few years I have been using it here in Australia and I doubt it would be aloud in here if there was a problem.

We actually sell the double red line akadama for $14.00 per bag when we sell it by the pallet of 100 bags. The double red line akadama is not fired, our contact in Japan that deals with that company has told us that several times it is not fired. If it was it would be a lot more expensive and there would not be any root fibers in it. USDA pulled a bag to inspect and sent me pictures of the root fibers and plant parts.

 

[Diane Lund]

It's not the stainless they are concearned about it's the packageing it's on. Pallets are the no. source for Asian Longhorn Beetles getting into the USA. Even pallets of akadama have to be inspected.

Our shipments have been on plastic pallets due to the insect/wood pallet issues.

 

[Mac In Oak Ridge]

All packing materials in shipments to the US has to be plastic, plywood or specially treated and certified timbers. For wood and timbers the certificate that it is processed by the accepted method must accompany the shipment and the wood or timbers must have markings on them, each piece, that matches the certification. Plywood goes through a steam process and then the glue and that process is accepted as denaturing the material.

Diane, Send me a private message and I'll send you a link to a company who says their Akadama is heat processed and that they furnish a certificate of that with the shipment.