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Rare Palm Seeds - RPS


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130 members have voted

  1. 1. How would you rate this seller?

    • POSITIVE - Would recommend to others
      92
    • NEGATIVE - Would not recommend
      37


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I have dealt with RPS on and off since 2000 and results have been vairyed.

I believe that the main problem is slow or no communication.

Several times I have offered seeds for sale to RPS and they take weeks to respond and to finally pay so seeds can be airmailed.

Then the purchaser/receiver goes through the same time delays.

So there is little hope of receiving truly fresh seeds.

Jim

  • Upvote 2

Located on Vanua Levu near Savusavu (16degrees South) Elevation from sealevel to 30meters with average annual rainfall of 2800mm (110in) with temperature from 18 to 34C (65 to 92F).

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  • 2 weeks later...

It almost sounds it would be better to get in touch with the seed collectors - like you - directly (provided you know who they are). Which species have you sold to them so far?.

Frank

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Hi Hamal,

So keep an eye out in the forum PALM EXCHANGE.

Located on Vanua Levu near Savusavu (16degrees South) Elevation from sealevel to 30meters with average annual rainfall of 2800mm (110in) with temperature from 18 to 34C (65 to 92F).

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  • 4 weeks later...

Update on my experience with RPS.

I knew I was taking a chance with the 2 Araucaria species I ordered since they weren't listed as "new" on the website. In the end, only 1 of the 10+ Araucaria cunninghamii sprouted and none of the Araucaria angustifolia sprouted.

None of the Radermachera sinica have sprouted (out of 30+) yet. I thought these would germinate easier, especially since they were listed as new on the website.

Still waiting on the Phoenix loureiroi var. humilis. I recently dug up one seed to check, and it had rotted. Checked another one and it was okay. Will wait and see. 

As for the Eucalyptus (2 species total: viminalis and dalrympleana), 4 viminalis and 3 dalrympleana sprouted. Total might have been even higher if it weren't for a squirrel digging in the community pots the seeds were in)

I'm somewhat disappointed overall- will be a little happier if the Phoenix loureiroi end up sprouting. Again, I know I took a chance getting some seeds that weren't listed as "new" on the website, and some of my growing techniques may have been a factor as well.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Just got an order from RPS. The seeds were already germinating in the baggies (which meant a few of them had damaged roots). Overall this ordering experience was positive

-Krishna

Kailua, Oahu HI. Near the beach but dry!

Still have a garden in Zone 9a Inland North Central Florida (Ocala)

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  • 3 weeks later...

I ordered Caryota ophiopellis on July 6th. Its been 5 weeks waiting and nothing received. So much for fresh seeds. In the meantime I have ordered seeds from Thailand and Austrailia all of which have been delived in excellent condition. Seems that what RPS offers they dont have in their warehouse ready to send and if they did then it says alot about running poor logistics. What drive me crazy is that we cant even check on the status until 7 weeks have past!!!

RPS quote:

"All goods deliverable from the warehouse are generally dispatched within seven working days.  Once dispatched, delivery within the E. U. takes 3 - 5 working days, and for products delivered to other countries up to 6 weeks. Please do not submit delivery status queries before the expiry of these periods"

18n. Hot, humid and salty coastal conditions.

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One more comment and then Ill stop.

Why cant RPS give us a tracking number like all the other sellers? With a tracking number we could at least see when product is shipped and determine where there is the delay. This would good a long way in improving RPS reputation if the delay is indeed after shipping. 

18n. Hot, humid and salty coastal conditions.

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  • 1 month later...

Placed my first order after having a few drinks and reading out the issues people have had. I was sure to only select seeds that were marked as new. The order shipped a few weeks after I placed it (no notice) and I received it yesterday, a little over a month after I placed it.

The seeds all look to be good sinkers. The sprouted seeds all appear to be alive still and have been potted up. While communication would have been nice, I was pleased with the seeds I got.

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  • 3 months later...

My experience So far not bad. I known people have success with them. I placed a order and got a confirmation and billed in a couple of days. I received the seeds a month later. I planted the seeds around December 1st this year. I will have to wait and see about germination rate. I will give an update later.

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4 hours ago, caixeta said:

NO SEEDS , NO TRACKING , NO RESPONSES .

in what date, the money been taken from your credit card?
they usually send out after a couple of days that have been taken  the money

GIUSEPPE

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Well I'm not surprised!!! 

Rps does this, I have bad experience with them aswell. After nearly 2 months waiting for my purchase I received seeds witch are mostly rotten :rage:

So from my batch of syagrus campylospartha and tostana which before week I decided to check them and changing the germinating technic, so far only 3 of each non rotten nuts!

Thanks God I have ordered only small packs!

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

I ordered a number of seeds about a week ago. After just one week they charged my credit card (which is unusually quick). Usually the seeds arrive 3 or 4 days later (I will report after I have received them). Unfortunately, this is only true for Germany.

The transit time to Brazil will definitely be longer and they have no control over how long that takes and it can vary quite a bit. For instance, I ordered something from China in November, which was shipped next day, but arrived only about 2 months later. According to my experience, tracking information of international packages becomes very inaccurate as soon as the package ends up at customs, so that is no help either.

Frank

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 it does not help the TS (RPS) wont just say upfront he doesn't t have the seeds in stock. he tries to piece mail all his orders via drop ship from various locations around the world. This type of business mentality is very  very bad for customer service!! If you knew this going into a purchase you might think differently about ordering??

  • Upvote 1

Carlsbad, California Zone 10 B on the hill (402 ft. elevation)

Sunset zone 24

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I have to conclude my experience with Rarepalmseeds was fair/poor. None of the Radermachera sinica, which were listed as new, germinated. And no other Phoenix L. var. humilis sprouted. The only positive was the Eucalyptus. Although now I've found that Sheffields has Eucalyptus for a much better price and without having to purchase $30 dollars worth of other stuff. My experience with Sheffields was stellar. The only other thing good about RPS was they shipped somewhat quicker than I expected.

I wouldn't risk Rarepalmseeds again unless it's some plant I REALLY want that no one else provides.

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  • 4 months later...

Seeds of two of the three species I ordered from RPS a few weeks ago arrived today (June 29, 2018). At this point I'm assuming the third (pre-germinated) species is being sent separately. Was nice to see in the package that I've already got at least one germinating seed of the Beccariophoenix alfredii! ^_^

RPS.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

I had a very negative experience thatI was just reminded of, since I had see many people posting of new seeds and I feel that I can't order from RPS any more.  The order I placed with RPS over a year ago got seized by US Ag department, all orders of 10-seed packets, about $250 US total.  The order was in two envelopes.  I got the first envelope, empty with a note from Ag dept and let Toby know.  He responded and asked if the other packet had arrived.  A few days later I got the other envelope, empty with a note from Ag dept and let Toby know.  That was almost a year ago, and I have not been able to get a response from Toby since that time. I've sent 4 emails inquiring and nothing in response.  Just sent another email and maybe posting here will help get his attention...

 

Matt

  • Upvote 1

San Diego

0.6 Acres of a south facing, gently sloped dirt pile, soon to be impenetrable jungle

East of Mount Soledad, in the biggest cold sink in San Diego County.

Zone 10a (I hope), Sunset 24

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On 1/29/2018, 2:03:57, Opal92 said:

I have to conclude my experience with Rarepalmseeds was fair/poor. None of the Radermachera sinica, which were listed as new, germinated. And no other Phoenix L. var. humilis sprouted. The only positive was the Eucalyptus. Although now I've found that Sheffields has Eucalyptus for a much better price and without having to purchase $30 dollars worth of other stuff. My experience with Sheffields was stellar. The only other thing good about RPS was they shipped somewhat quicker than I expected.

I wouldn't risk Rarepalmseeds again unless it's some plant I REALLY want that no one else provides.

Just realized that I forgot to mention that 2 of the Phoenix L. var. humilis did sprout before I posted the above comment- but again, that was all. They are growing decently.

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Order placed on May 26th, no seeds or reply after sending inquiry as of today, July 16th.

 

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On 7/16/2018, 12:24:15, IHB1979 said:

Order placed on May 26th, no seeds or reply after sending inquiry as of today, July 16th.

 

If you paid by credit card you can contact your carrier and request cancellation of sale and refund because of non-delivery of mdse. There is a time limit for complaints so you may want to look into it.

Meg

Palms of Victory I shall wear

Cape Coral (It's Just Paradise)
Florida
Zone 10A on the Isabelle Canal
Elevation: 15 feet

I'd like to be under the sea in an octopus' garden in the shade.

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I got a response today saying that my CC couldn't be charged and they sent an email to me about it in May. I honestly don't recall an email. For a second I thought maybe it went to junk mail but all the rps emails are coming into my mailbox without issue. Maybe I accidentally deleted the email, unlikely but possible. Since my order was never charged I decided not to place a new order.

A tip for others is that when I sent an email inquiry about the order in early July to the service address it was never answered, only when I sent an email to the mail address was there a prompt reply with explanation. Not sure if the service mail address is monitored, had it been maybe we could have straightened this out in early July.

As a customer, one of the most frustrating things in the world is having money in-hand, ready to give someone for a product and service and the transaction fails and you can't get help.

Chalk this one up to poor communication after the purchase. I think their operation is fine and give the guys the benefit of the doubt but won't be ordering anytime soon from them.

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  • 1 month later...

I have been ordering far less frequently from RPS. It used to take four weeks to receive my seeds to arrive.Now it takes two months plus. I am currently waiting for an order placed on June 1,2018 .I have sent two emails with no response. I think that a letter to Santas Workshop at the North Pole is more likely to get a response than one to RPS.

  • Upvote 2

El Oasis - beach garden, distinct wet/dry season ,year round 20-38c

Las Heliconias - jungle garden ,800m elevation,150+ inches rainfall, year round 15-28c

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I wanted to wait and give RPS the benefit of the doubt here, since all in all reviews were mixed and usually am not one to complain, but this is just ridiculous! If you are going to have a business that carries many many many varieties of rare seeds, at least be able to manage it. Making sure your seed is fresh, shelf life, etc. We placed our first order with RPS on May 10th  of this year, over $1,000 order in fact! Granted, we understand it may take some time to be sent from Germany to Florida, but over 2 months?!? We did finally receive our order to find at least half of our Borassus seed (ordered 100) were either hollow, or rotted (none have germinated yet, to date) our Copernicia Baileyana seeds (ordered 300) not one has germinated. Little white bugs, were in a few crawling eating the rotting seed. Received some Fallensis and Bailey seed from a different source, already germinating! Our order with RPS included 17 different types of seeds, I will say 5 out of the 17 are germinating as of now. This isn’t our first go around propagating Palm seeds, so we aren’t fooled! Now to what inspired me to write this post, I wrote RPS on the said email on 8/4 with NO ZERO response. I have heard of their” time sensitive” to file a complaint. Well do they take into account from the day the seed is finally shipped and received??? Either way, if your going to run a lucrative business especially one that is time sensitive on freshness of seeds, you need to respond to your customers! I don’t care if it is seed picking season, or the response my husband got aftercalling them today...oh send complaints to service@rarepalmseeds.com, not info@rarepalmseeds.com. There was time to send out your newsletter but not respond to our issue! I feel I waited and resorted all avenues before letting this review out! If your going to run  business make sure your inventorying and sending out quality seed! RPS is one of the  only Rare palm seed suppliers and “know” they will get business, I can’t wait until someone gives them a run for their money and shows them what good customer service, as well as running a decent business is. 

 

 

 

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I would like to add to my post that I have my seeds sent to my Miami address NOT Guatemala . So it is very difficult to understand what is going on with RPS.

  • Upvote 2

El Oasis - beach garden, distinct wet/dry season ,year round 20-38c

Las Heliconias - jungle garden ,800m elevation,150+ inches rainfall, year round 15-28c

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Doing what Toby does is a very hard thing to do and so I give him the benefit of the doubt. 50% germination on my last Macrozamia McDonellii and I was very pleased. Hope my new order of Clinosperma Macrocarpa come through the same! Thanks for your efforts Toby.

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I wanted to wait and give RPS the benefit of the doubt here, since all in all reviews were mixed and usually am not one to complain, but this is just ridiculous! If you are going to have a business that carries many many many varieties of rare seeds, at least be able to manage it, and check your seed before shipping! We placed our first order with RPS on May 10th  of this year, over $1,000 order in fact! Granted, we understand it may take some time to be sent from Germany to Florida, but over 2 months?!? We did finally receive our order to find at least half of our Borassus seed (ordered 100) were either hollow, or rotted (none have germinated yet, to date) our Copernicia Baileyana seeds (ordered 

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@humangenomaproject my post has absolutely nothing to do with the hard work and effort into what RPS does. My post is simply about good customer service, and basic respect and business management. Of course not every seed will germinate, but when dealing with palm tree seeds it IS a time sensitive business, and a strategic business. Shelf life, rotation of fresh seed, possibly discounted as they sit longer?  I guess I must be missing something, should I not be upset that i spent over $1,000 with a business to not even get a response back about the product purchased? Communication and sheer respect would be nice! 

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  • 3 weeks later...

So here is a view from the other side. I supply Tobias with seed. Communication is horrible. Received an email 4 months ago requesting more seed. I responded a few times with no response. I have supplied him with seeds a few times as well as others here in Florida. That is right a lot of seeds you get are supplied from southern Florida. Even though telling Toby the life span of the seeds I have seen them on his website for much longer then what they should be. I will not be doing business with him in the future as I find it unethical. The board should take notice. Ohhh wait he is on the board.

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  • 1 year later...

My experience with RPS, shipping to Australia.

Placed order on 20th Jan. Received instant email which was receipt of purchase.

Received email on 11th Feb saying order has been shipped on 10th of Feb with tracking number, so could check where package status.

Received package on 19th Feb in mailbox.

Checked packages, all contained vermiculite all looked in great condition.

I bought 3 different palms, with numbers of 100,100 and 10. I had more seeds than I order which is a nice bonus.

Put seeds in buckets of water. Beside 1-2 floaters all sunk instantly.

Overall seems good. Now will see how the germination goes.

Note: Only 1 palm was in ‘New’ section.

 

Edited by Palms Brisbane
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6 hours ago, Palms Brisbane said:

My experience with RPS, shipping to Australia.

Placed order on 20th Jan. Received instant email which was receipt of purchase.

Received email on 11th Feb saying order has been shipped on 10th of Feb with tracking number, so could check where package status.

Received package on 19th Feb in mailbox.

Checked packages, all contained vermiculite all looked in great condition.

I bought 3 different palms, with numbers of 100,100 and 10. I had more seeds than I order which is a nice bonus.

Put seeds in buckets of water. Beside 1-2 floaters all sunk instantly.

Overall seems good. Now will see how the germination goes.

Note: Only 1 palm was in ‘New’ section.

 

I'm curious... did you pay RPS to send a phytosanitary certificate with your seed order to an Australian destination? From now on that's probably what I'll have to do to be sure the seeds arrive and are not confiscated by ag inspectors when entering the USA or my California county.  I've had seeds stopped both ways.

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I've ordered from them a few times.  Orders came within 2-3 weeks to Canada, and I think roughly the same time here.  Seeds all looked fine, I've not had the best luck with germination, but that's probably due to my capabilities.

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41 minutes ago, Hillizard said:

I'm curious... did you pay RPS to send a phytosanitary certificate with your seed order to an Australian destination? From now on that's probably what I'll have to do to be sure the seeds arrive and are not confiscated by ag inspectors when entering the USA or my California county.  I've had seeds stopped both ways.

I didn’t get Photosanitary. Reason below.

On the RPS website it said didn’t need photosanitary. I still checked government website as RPS recommends. The government website said in summary if commercial seed company it doesnt need photosanitary for Palms seeds, but other seeds do. So based on that at this stage Australia is fine without photosanitary for palm seeds. I am assuming it will change and be required at some point.

Edited by Palms Brisbane
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3 hours ago, Palms Brisbane said:

I didn’t get Photosanitary. Reason below.

On the RPS website it said didn’t need photosanitary. I still checked government website as RPS recommends. The government website said in summary if commercial seed company it doesnt need photosanitary for Palms seeds, but other seeds do. So based on that at this stage Australia is fine without photosanitary for palm seeds. I am assuming it will change and be required at some point.

Well then, you saved some dollorydoos not having to purchase a phyto from RPS! :winkie:

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  • 3 weeks later...

Update: 

Just over 2 weeks since RPS seeds arrived. Lots have started to germinate.

Variegated fishtail and orange E. edulis

RPS seeds look decent to me.

 

CE2C0E8D-814F-42B8-A5F8-C48438F19BB0.jpeg

A3126B50-73FE-4B93-AD99-2C6BD0D21739.jpeg

Edited by Palms Brisbane
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Last night I have logged into my new RPS account that was created some months ago, after losing the old account to their fresh upgrade, and I have filled my shopping cart with many different seeds in quantity for a large amount and since it was a late hour I went to sleep without saving the contents nor remembering it well. This morning I returned to their store to find my shopping cart completely empty. Most stores online save cart contents for a lengthy period of time. Not this one. In the past when RPS updated their website (it is now nicer but much slower to browse) my account was deleted with all my past orders. They did not move any past orders or accounts to their new site. The seeds that take about 2 months to arrive since they wait a month to charge a card and then another month to deliver arrive continuously partly not viable, shattered or they germinate in very low percentage such as 3% or none. I did have some limited success with RPS seeds in the past, but a lot of misidentifying is going on, even now I realised the couple palms that germinated from the batch are different species than I purchased. Take your chances. If you have no other source for specific seeds, take a chance and good luck. I almost made another mistake rewarding RPS with a large order which they do not deserve. I am now ordering seeds, germinated seedlings and palms directly from their suppliers even if it is harder to achieve that.

Edited by SoulofthePlace

Average day temperatures: +17°C in the winter and +24°C in the summer. Typical Summer: 68F to 77F (20C to 25C). Typical Winter: 55F to 64F (12C to 18C). Record Low (past 5 years): 45F or +7.7C (once a winter, some winters). Record High (past 5 years): 83F or +28C (some days only). Elevation 140 m (459 ft.) to 160 m (525 ft.), latitude 38.54º. Sunset Zone: unknown

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