June 05, 2025

Mystery seeds mailed from China: What you should do if you receive them

By Ashley Langreck

Unsolicited seeds, labeled as a variety of things such as beads and jewelry, have been arriving in mailboxes around the nation, prompting an investigation by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The Office of Indiana State Chemist is warning Hoosiers to be on the lookout for suspicious seeds that individuals are finding in their mailboxes from China.

Don Robison, seed administrator for the OISC, said one of his cohorts in another state put out a tweet advising people that if they found a mystery seed from another country, they should not plant it and contact the proper agency right away.

After seeing that post, Robison put out a tweet asking individuals in the Midwest if they had seen or received any unsolicited seed from China.

Robison noted a normal tweet from the OISC receives around 2,000 views, but in the matter of just a few days, the post asking people if they had seen or knew anything about the seeds had been viewed over 30,000 times.

“This is happening all over — Washington, Utah, Virginia, South Dakota, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Texas and Indiana,” Robinson said, adding that citizens in several other states also have reported receiving mystery seeds mainly from China, but also Malaysia and Kazakhstan.

Although the story is just now making headlines, Robinson said there have been reports of individuals getting seeds in the mail from China for the past several weeks.

Robinson said if individuals get a mystery packet of seeds in the mail, they need to make sure they do not plant them because they could be full of potential diseases, or they could be an invasive species or obnoxious weed.

The seed administrator said that individuals should not plant the seeds and they should not throw them out either because they will end up in a landfill where they will still be able to grow.

Robinson said that if individuals receive a packet of seeds in the mail from China, or any other country, they should send them to Nick Johnson, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service state plant health director in Indiana.

The address to send the seeds to Johnson, where they will be logged and incinerated, is 3059 N. Morton St., Franklin, IN 46131.

Robinson said Hoosiers who cannot mail the seeds should make sure to not dispose of the seeds or any of the packaging and contact the Indiana Department of Natural Resources Division of Entomology and Plant Pathology at DEPP@dnr.IN.gov.