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Saturday, January 19, 2002

The effects of Sept. 11 were widespread, even reaching the seed industry. Confusion about the Postal Service's plans to irradiate mail to kill anthrax spores prompted many companies to find other carriers to ship seeds. They worried that the electron-beam sanitizing devices would damage and possibly kill seeds and live plant material.

Earlier this month, the Postal Service clarified its policy on irradiating mail:

Mail that was in the Brentwood station in Washington, D.C., and in Trenton at the time those facilities were closed because of the discovery of anthrax was irradiated;

Current mail addressed to ZIP codes in Washington is being irradiated. These ZIP codes include the U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Senate and White House.

"Mail that has been irradiated is placed in a plastic bag and an accompanying letter advising the recipient of irradiation is included," according to a Postal Service statement. "There are no new current plans to irradiate any other mail, unless a new anthrax contamination (or other bio-terrorism) is discovered."

Diane Svoboda, communications specialist for the Postal Service's Pittsburgh District, reiterated that policy.

"There is no irradiation except for government mail," she said, adding that if someone has concerns about a particular package, he should take the parcel to a post office and have it labeled.

The timing of the anthrax scare couldn't have been worse for the seed companies. It marked the beginning of their busy season.

"When we put our [shipping] policy into place, the local post office was very poorly informed," said Ben Walraven, director of sales for Pan American Seed and chairman of the American Seed Trade Association. "In the middle of our shipping season, we couldn't take a chance."

Ball Horticultural Co., one of the largest seed distributors in the world, made the decision quickly to ship via Federal Express or another carrier, said marketing manager Jeff Gibson. In the early days of the anthrax scare, Ball took a "better safe than sorry" mentality, he said.

Ball ships literally billions of seeds each year, primarily for wholesale bedding plant production, cut flower seed, commercial wholesale and to companies for retail packets.

Another concern for seed companies such as Ball was seed that was returned to the company. Growers who order too much or the wrong seed can return it for credit. Should that seed be irradiated on the way back to the company, it would be useless.

Walraven and others said they understood the government's reluctance to explain exactly what was being irradiated and how.

"If you lay out the policy, you're tipping off terrorists," he said.

Home gardeners shouldn't be affected by all this. Most of the seed in question was going to distributors to fill up retail seed packets.

If you do send seeds around the country, especially if they'll be going through post offices where anthrax has been detected, be sure to get your letter or package labeled correctly.

The Backyard Gardener appears periodically throughout the year. To read earlier columns and other garden features, visit PG Online Gardening at http://www.post-gazette.com/garden/. Oster can be reached by e-mail at doster@post-gazette.com or by phone at 412-263-1484.