Florida Grades & Standards for Nursery Plants open for comment by Jan. 15, 2015

DEADLINE EXTENDED TO JAN 15

REVIEW AND COMMENT ON THE DRAFT UPDATE TO FLORIDA GRADES & STANDARDS FOR NURSERY PLANTS BY JAN. 15, 2015

BACKGROUND: The Florida Grades and Standards for Nursery Plants is used by nurserymen, landscape architects, landscape project contractors, and other industry professionals. It was first released for use by industry in 1959. Since then, the manual has gone through four revisions with the 4th Edition released in 1998.

CURRENT UPDATE: The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Division of Plant Industry called the first Florida Grades and Standards Ad Hoc Working Group meeting on October 10, 2013. Subcommittees were formed for Trees, Palms, Shrubs and Wetland Plants with the goal to update, streamline and convert the Florida Grades and Standards Manual into an electronic online format. In total, the committees and working group met over 20 times during the last year.

A draft of the 5th Edition of the Florida Grades and Standards for Nursery Plants is now ready for comment and review.

TO DOWNLOAD DRAFT, go to this page: FreshfromFlorida.com/Divisions-Offices/Plant-Industry and scroll down to “Hot Topics” section, see link to download.

The review is open for comments until January 15, 2015.

SEND COMMENTS to:
Tyson Emery, Chief- Bureau of Plant and Apiary Inspection
Email: < DPIhelpline AT freshfromflorida.com>
Phone: (352) 395-4709
Division of Plant Industry
Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services

FDACS expect to complete the final document around May 2015, with the new Grades and Standards going into effect in July 2015.