Mysterious Seeds from China Being Mailed to Americans -- and Officials Urge Against Planting Them

[Amy-Strange]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by Mosby (a host of the Latest Breaking News forum).

Source: People Magazine

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Mysterious Seeds from China Being Mailed to Americans — and Officials Urge Against Planting Them

Agricultural officials are warning Americans about packages from China containing mysterious seeds after multiple states, including Kentucky, Maryland, New York, Minnesota and Washington, reported their residents receiving them in the mail.

Because the seeds are from "unknown origins," USDA officials urged Americans to refrain from planting them, as they could potentially pose a serious threat to U.S. agriculture.

So far, officials in Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, New York, Virginia, Utah, Minnesota and Washington have all reported cases of their residents receiving the seeds in the mail.

In Kentucky, the fourth known state to report the mysterious packages, Commissioner of Agriculture Ryan Quarles stressed the importance of not planting them in a message on his Twitter account.

[SNIP]

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Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/mysterious-seeds-from-china-being-mailed-to-americans-%e2%80%94-and-officials-urge-against-planting-them/ar-BB17hW9G?ocid=msedgdhp

[HotTeaBag]

1. It's probably fruits and vegetables being sent by a Chinese aid group ahead of what they

know will be a vicious down turn in our economy - making sure we have enough to eat.

[Amy-Strange]

4. They do look like orange or pumpkin seeds n/t

[rockfordfile]

22. what?

[Sneederbunk]

2. Everyone should re-read Jack and the Beanstalk now.

[Pisces]

3. This is so crazy. It should be all over the news.

[Hip2bSquare]

5. Ok, didn't have mystery seeds on my apocalypse bingo card

This is a new one... more stupid from trump's mouth, got it, idiots not wearing masks, got this one, economy crashing, yes. Mystery seeds from China and a hurricane blowing down tRump's border wall, certainly not expecting. I did have trump's wall being crap and coming down early, but not by a hurricane.

Mysterious seeds from China...who'd ever guess??

[Scarsdale]

18. Does Ivanka's name appear

anywhere on the package? She likely has a trademark for these seeds from Jyna.

[C Moon]

6. The instructions say to put one seed in a glass of water next to your bed, before you go to sleep.

(I'm joking, of course)

[TeamPooka]

7. A friend of mine here in CA got a package of these seeds. The package said it was wire connector par

ts, he had not ordered either, or anything.
Just showed up at his house in a package sent from China

[japple]

8. In the picture posted with the article, they look like cantaloupe seeds.

eom

[Midnight Writer]

9. Whatever you do, don't water them after midnight.

[Srkdqltr]

10. Nothing is said about how to dispose of them particularly if they are dangerous.

[kag]

13. Actually, the article says to contact your state agriculture authorities.

Of course, the feds won't actually DO anything, they just tell us about the scary thing and say "contact someone else."

[pnwmom]

15. Not true. My cousin called the number. She was told to either send them to them OR burn them.

She chose to burn them.

[eppur_se_muova]

23. Burning seems the obvious choice.

Even if you just cook them in the oven for a while, that's enough to kill any plant.

[durablend]

11. Maybe they're money tree seeds?

[Binkie The Clown]

12. Pod People! Pod People! If you plant one, don't go to sleep! nt

[TomVilmer]

14. ... just a new type of scam

Later police updated their original post to say the mysterious packages are likely due to a scam in which an online seller sends unsolicited and inexpensive items to random addresses and then give themselves positive feedback on the transaction.

[bamagal62]

20. It's called brushing.

I got several over a 3 week period from Amazon.
I called them and they said to just keep them or throw them away. It was weird random stuff:
A tulle shirt, a sweatshirt, a passport travel holder, an odd looking plastic mathematics calculator thing
That no one I know has any idea what it’s used for.
I kept them for a while, then put them in my goodwill pile.

[bucolic_frolic]

16. Election operation to make people paranoid and soften their minds

[Mendocino]

17. It's a combination of

Maui Wowee and Labrador.

[link:

|

[The Blue Flower]

19. What to do with them: Official response from the Virginia Dept of Agriculture

Thank you for emailing the Report A Pest email with the Virginia Department of Agriculture.

If you are NOT a Virginia Resident, please contact your respective Department of Agriculture. Contact information can be found here: https://nationalplantboard.org/membership/.

If you are a Virginia Resident and are reporting Mystery Seed Packages, please see below for further information.
If you still have the seed packets and shipping/packaging materials, please do the following:
Do NOT open the seed packets;
Do NOT plant the seed packets;
Do NOT compost the seeds;
Do NOT throw the seeds in the trash, flush them down the drain, or expose them to the environment in any way; and
Put all packaging materials and seeds into a Ziploc bag.
Ship all seed and packaging materials to the following address:
Chickeilla Carter
USDA-APHIS-PPQ
5657 South Laburnum Avenue
Richmond, VA 23231
If you have already planted the seeds, please take one of the following actions
Pull the plants up;
Put all plant materials in a sturdy plastic bag;
Securely seal that plastic bag;
Put that bag in another plastic bag, securely seal the bag; and
Place all, double-bagged plant materials in the trash.
For all other pest concerns, we will reach back out to you when we are available.



--
Office of Plant Industry Services
Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services
102 Governor Street, Room LL55
Richmond, VA 23219
Office: [phone]

[Grokenstein]

21. The rightwankers respond! (/sarcasm)

"I saw the warnings from Deep State Big Ag. It's all a conspiracy to keep us from getting the goose that lays golden eggs!"

"I fed 'em to my kids. Suck on that, libs! Pwnage!!"

"I spoke with President Xi, and we used the best words bigly, you wouldn't believe, and...where are we? Really? ...and he came to Me, with the tears in his eyes, and he said to Me, your favorite president, all-time, he said, "Sir." And it was amazing, like angels pooping Bezos pizza ringlet gabba ream-out yeempopo.........ah, um, anyway! He said, "we so very sorry we send Kung Flu at you, please have ancient Chinee secret, ooooee" and gave Me these seeds. So I took them (snuffles) and I feel incredible! Incredible! You wouldn't believe! (starts bleeding profusely from ears and nostrils)"

[Hotler]

24. Tell the repugs thay're magic beans and they produce bootstrap bushes. nt

[Mosby]

25. LOCKING

this is an amalgam of previously reported information.

See:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/26/us/seeds-from-china-mail.html

And:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/ag-officials-warn-of-unsolicited-seed-shipments-to-states/2020/07/27/bf750d2e-d032-11ea-826b-cc394d824e35_story.html