The cost of some very expensive gausia maya seeds

[happypalms]

Sowing a few maya seeds, this little lot of 100 seeds didnt come cheap, simply for the reason of customs seizing the rest of the seeds in the order. So the cost of 100 maya seeds was$437 Aus dollars for a 100 seeds if you add up the cost of priority shipping, phytosanitry certificate, customs fees and the seeds themselves. It kinda makes you wonder, and the best part is how many will germinate due to a 5week delay in customs, you gotta love the government they got me on this one a real beauty. But that’s the gamble of importing, what is it they say only gamble what you can afford to lose, well I lost this one! 🤣

[JohnAndSancho]

This is another instance where it's almost cheaper to fly there and buy and stuff them in the old prison pocket for the flight home. Jesus, y'all are serious down there. Those are some expensive craft beads..

[Jonathan]

Which seeds did they seize Richard, and did they give any reason?

[happypalms]

2 hours ago, JohnAndSancho said:

This is another instance where it's almost cheaper to fly there and buy and stuff them in the old prison pocket for the flight home. Jesus, y'all are serious down there. Those are some expensive craft beads..

Iam up for that, the prison pocket that is. Yep and there not  cheap craftwork beads, so if they don’t germinate they will get made into a necklace!

[happypalms]

1 hour ago, Jonathan said:

Which seeds did they seize Richard, and did they give any reason?

The usual mould reason, I can live with that, but it’s the licuala triphylla seeds a stack of them they got. But don’t worry I got another 300 coming this week in the mail they didn’t get. 

[Harry’s Palms]

Man , that’s a shame . I thought it was bad here . Don’t get me started on government . I hope those germinate for you. I have no idea how long seeds are good for , I’m pretty sure it varies with different palms . Harry

[happypalms]

14 minutes ago, Harry’s Palms said:

Man , that’s a shame . I thought it was bad here . Don’t get me started on government . I hope those germinate for you. I have no idea how long seeds are good for , I’m pretty sure it varies with different palms . Harry

Talk to nearly everyone who imports seeds and they will say the same, it’s cheaper to arrange going overseas yourself and getting large orders to cover the cost of doing so. But for some postage is convenient. Seed viability depends on a few things, but some seeds the smaller they the less viable they are as the days tick on bye from harvest date. One would expect 3 to six months for most tropical species up to a year perhaps.

Richard 

[JohnAndSancho]

2 hours ago, happypalms said:

Iam up for that, the prison pocket that is. Yep and there not  cheap craftwork beads, so if they don’t germinate they will get made into a necklace!

That, sir, is dedication to a craft but I don't think I would mention that in any advertisements for any of the palms you sell. But we might have to start doing that here, too. 

[WagnerMX]

Guassia maya is a very fast germinator. I recently germinated some very fresh seeds, and the first one showed signs of life after 3 weeks.

[happypalms]

13 hours ago, WagnerMX said:

Guassia maya is a very fast germinator. I recently germinated some very fresh seeds, and the first one showed signs of life after 3 weeks.

I purchased some 30 seeds prior to ordering the ones I already had. They germinate half way through just waiting for my order. Quick to germinate! 

[happypalms]

17 hours ago, JohnAndSancho said:

That, sir, is dedication to a craft but I don't think I would mention that in any advertisements for any of the palms you sell. But we might have to start doing that here, too. 

I could open a jewellery shop with the amount of seeds that havent germinated, wouldn’t have to sell palms then, be making a mottza from jewellery! 

[JohnAndSancho]

17 minutes ago, happypalms said:

I could open a jewellery shop with the amount of seeds that havent germinated, wouldn’t have to sell palms then, be making a mottza from jewellery! 

And if you had the jewelry shop we wouldn't be talking about where to hide seeds to smuggle them into the country lol. Although I'm sure people have also smuggled jewelry in the old prison pocket. Like the Christopher Walken scene in Pulp Fiction. 

[Tyrone]

22 hours ago, happypalms said:

The usual mould reason, I can live with that, but it’s the licuala triphylla seeds a stack of them they got. But don’t worry I got another 300 coming this week in the mail they didn’t get. 

Was it actually mould or was it that they didn’t understand what perlite or vermiculite is. I had that issue with them years ago. Plus the fact many can’t spell, so when they put a permitted species into BICON spelt wrong it’s rejected and you have to fight tooth and nail that’s it’s already on BICON therefore permitted and doesn’t require a permit etc etc etc. Worst service ever for a department that has no incentive to get it right. 

[happypalms]

24 minutes ago, Tyrone said:

Was it actually mould or was it that they didn’t understand what perlite or vermiculite is. I had that issue with them years ago. Plus the fact many can’t spell, so when they put a permitted species into BICON spelt wrong it’s rejected and you have to fight tooth and nail that’s it’s already on BICON therefore permitted and doesn’t require a permit etc etc etc. Worst service ever for a department that has no incentive to get it right. 

It actually was perlite I spoke with the seller and prior to shipping they commented about the perlite, the test results said differently, one thing I know don’t muck with customs. But on the good side I got my sabinara through even though they rejected them on the first inspection and billed me $67 bucks for looking up the bicon list of permitted species, all I know when it comes to customs is yes sir no sir you have a wonderful day! 

[Tyrone]

30 minutes ago, happypalms said:

It actually was perlite I spoke with the seller and prior to shipping they commented about the perlite, the test results said differently, one thing I know don’t muck with customs. But on the good side I got my sabinara through even though they rejected them on the first inspection and billed me $67 bucks for looking up the bicon list of permitted species, all I know when it comes to customs is yes sir no sir you have a wonderful day! 

No. I tell them that they’re wrong and why. I got an apology from Canberra over a shipment they totally stuffed up. It did take them ages to release my seed of which most came up luckily. I then just took my sweet time to pay their hopeless service charge. They’re totally understaffed, under trained, and don’t care. They are not fit for purpose. If it was an appliance under Australian law you could take it back and get a refund. 

[happypalms]

6 minutes ago, Tyrone said:

No. I tell them that they’re wrong and why. I got an apology from Canberra over a shipment they totally stuffed up. It did take them ages to release my seed of which most came up luckily. I then just took my sweet time to pay their hopeless service charge. They’re totally understaffed, under trained, and don’t care. They are not fit for purpose. If it was an appliance under Australian law you could take it back and get a refund. 

Oh they said it was an it mistake the sabinara refusal, yer right. I don’t even bother with them anymore just chick it in the bin I say, but even that has changed you now have to submit a form to give permission to dispose of them. And I will say get the correct format or they reject and you have to resubmit the application online, no more send em an email saying bin it. 

[Hu Palmeras]

On 13/9/2025 at 2:59, happypalms said:

Sembré unas cuantas semillas de maya. Este pequeño lote de 100 semillas no me salió barato, simplemente porque la aduana confiscó el resto del pedido. Así que el costo de 100 semillas de maya fue de $437 dólares australianos, sumando el costo del envío prioritario, el certificado fitosanitario, las tarifas aduaneras y las semillas. Te hace pensar, y lo mejor es cuántas germinarán debido a un retraso de 5 semanas en la aduana. ¡Qué suerte tiene el gobierno que me dieron con esta! Es una verdadera belleza. Pero así es la apuesta de la importación. ¿Cómo dicen que solo hay que apostar lo que se puede permitir perder? ¡Pues yo perdí esta! 🤣

Richard and those beautiful seeds, my friend. They're crying out to germinate. They're waiting to see the light.

[Hu Palmeras]

8 minutes ago, happypalms said:

Dijeron que fue un error el rechazo de Sabinara, tienes razón. Ya ni me molesto con ellos, solo los tiro a la basura, pero incluso eso ha cambiado: ahora tienes que enviar un formulario para dar permiso para desecharlos. Y te diré que uses el formato correcto o te lo rechazan y tienes que volver a enviar la solicitud en línea. Ya no les envías correos electrónicos diciendo que lo tiren. 

Hi Richard, you might also consider buying directly from local suppliers. Those seeds are waiting for you, my friend. It's a magnificent palm tree. I hope to germinate them soon.

[Tyrone]

7 minutes ago, happypalms said:

Oh they said it was an it mistake the sabinara refusal, yer right. I don’t even bother with them anymore just chick it in the bin I say, but even that has changed you now have to submit a form to give permission to dispose of them. And I will say get the correct format or they reject and you have to resubmit the application online, no more send em an email saying bin it. 

They’ve always needed your permission to bin them. They are not quarantines property to make that decision. You may want them reexported (at your expense of course). If a shipment is rejected it is your option (not theirs) to destroy them or reexport them. If they do either without asking they’ve broken the law. 

[Hu Palmeras]

4 minutes ago, Tyrone said:

Siempre han necesitado tu permiso para desecharlos. No son propiedad de cuarentena para tomar esa decisión. Podrías querer reexportarlos (a tu cargo, por supuesto). Si un envío es rechazado, es tu opción (no la de ellos) destruirlos o reexportarlos. Si hacen cualquiera de las dos cosas sin preguntar, han infringido la ley. 

I've had entire packages of seeds destroyed at Chilean customs, including a box of dates purchased in Israel. When that happens, you have to be strong.

[Mazat]

On 9/13/2025 at 7:59 AM, happypalms said:

Sowing a few maya seeds, this little lot of 100 seeds didnt come cheap, simply for the reason of customs seizing the rest of the seeds in the order. So the cost of 100 maya seeds was$437 Aus dollars for a 100 seeds if you add up the cost of priority shipping, phytosanitry certificate, customs fees and the seeds themselves. It kinda makes you wonder, and the best part is how many will germinate due to a 5week delay in customs, you gotta love the government they got me on this one a real beauty. But that’s the gamble of importing, what is it they say only gamble what you can afford to lose, well I lost this one! 🤣

Unfortunately, there are selfish tinkerers or institutions (the state) everywhere who simply live at the expense of others. Yes, there are no rules without exceptions. However, these are probably in the minority.
ID error, yes, exactly, maybe someone fell asleep while checking the application and then just filed it away in the file folder, and AI approved it, of course.
Yes, the pearl necklace is wonderful in an emergency...

No, I hope for you, Richard, and wish that the remaining pearls, oh no, seeds, all germinate 🤗

 

[happypalms]

5 minutes ago, Tyrone said:

They’ve always needed your permission to bin them. They are not quarantines property to make that decision. You may want them reexported (at your expense of course). If a shipment is rejected it is your option (not theirs) to destroy them or reexport them. If they do either without asking they’ve broken the law. 

They know the rules and they change them to suit themselves, it’s totally up to them if they get through or not. You just dont have a say with the government,, I respect our bio security laws for good reasons. But there’s no commonsense in the matter!

[Cannonball]

1 hour ago, happypalms said:

It actually was perlite I spoke with the seller and prior to shipping they commented about the perlite, the test results said differently, one thing I know don’t muck with customs. But on the good side I got my sabinara through even though they rejected them on the first inspection and billed me $67 bucks for looking up the bicon list of permitted species, all I know when it comes to customs is yes sir no sir you have a wonderful day! 

That is the gold right there ladies and gentlemen! Yes sir no sir three bags full sir is the only way it works.

[Hu Palmeras]

In Chile, I have to buy 10 seeds when they're large. When they're small, I buy more. Chilean customs are very strict. They can smell you from a distance.

[happypalms]

1 minute ago, Mazat said:

Unfortunately, there are selfish tinkerers or institutions (the state) everywhere who simply live at the expense of others. Yes, there are no rules without exceptions. However, these are probably in the minority.
ID error, yes, exactly, maybe someone fell asleep while checking the application and then just filed it away in the file folder, and AI approved it, of course.
Yes, the pearl necklace is wonderful in an emergency...

No, I hope for you, Richard, and wish that the remaining pearls, oh no, seeds, all germinate 🤗

 

Without us importing they don’t have a job, so they need to change the rules to keep themselves in a job. Heaven help us with AI on the job! Oh well it looks like those craftwork beads will come in handy!

[Tyrone]

I think what really irritates me is we definitely need quarantine services in Australia, that is a given, but when you do everything right, you label them correctly, get the phyto sorted, jump through all the hoops they require you to jump through, then they take their sweet time to basically do nothing with them, pick your shipment for having perlite in the package (which helps prevent a fungal outbreak), then because they’ve taken too long to inspect them fungus may break out. They then reject your parcel and charge you for their failure to do their job in a timely manner. Rant over. 

[Mazat]

14 minutes ago, Tyrone said:

They’ve always needed your permission to bin them. They are not quarantines property to make that decision. You may want them reexported (at your expense of course). If a shipment is rejected it is your option (not theirs) to destroy them or reexport them. If they do either without asking they’ve broken the law. 

That would actually be the law, but if it is interpreted differently...
Then they are breaking the law—the authorities...

[happypalms]

16 minutes ago, Hu Palmeras said:

Hi Richard, you might also consider buying directly from local suppliers. Those seeds are waiting for you, my friend. It's a magnificent palm tree. I hope to germinate them soon.

The seeds I want a rarely available locally, actually pretty well much non existent, and the top quality rare top of the shelf seeds may be available but the palm mafia control that market well, so choose to import my own.

19 minutes ago, Hu Palmeras said:

Richard and those beautiful seeds, my friend. They're crying out to germinate. They're waiting to see the light.

They will pop up iam confident they looked healthy enough.

[Hu Palmeras]

If Chile didn't have customs restrictions, it could already create an Amazon rainforest. Richard, my friend, you'll have to buy those seeds in small quantities and you'll have them. That's what I do. The seeds of Sabinaria Magnifica (Panama-Colombia) are very large, almost the size of a borasus.

[Hu Palmeras]

7 minutes ago, happypalms said:

Las semillas que quiero rara vez están disponibles localmente, en realidad son bastante inexistentes, y las semillas de primera calidad, de primera calidad, pueden estar disponibles, pero la mafia de la palma controla bien ese mercado, así que opté por importar las mías.

Aparecerán, estoy seguro de que se ven bastante saludables.

Claro RPS from Germany is top quality. They ship germinated (live) seeds; some seeds arrive already germinated, while others have a good percentage about to germinate. They purchase them directly from natives around the world.

[peachy]

Remember back in the days of Landline telephones ? When to call another state cost a small fortune ?  I had some seeds seized by Quarantine and had the letter to say they were on the prohibited list. They were wrong. I made a very expensive phone call to Sydney argued my case, was getting nowhere until 'the other Peachy' took control of the conversation, demanding this idiots full name and insisting to speak with his supervisor. That was enough to make him get off his lazy arse and actually read the bloody list.  No apology of course. They refused to reimburse me for the phone call too. How rude when it their laziness that made me call them.  I did get my seeds eventually. (and my revenge, but that is a story for a less public forum)

Peachy

[peachy]

On 9/13/2025 at 4:55 PM, Jonathan said:

Which seeds did they seize Richard, and did they give any reason?

Aren't you glad we have never smuggled any plants ?

Peachy

[Hu Palmeras]

17 minutes ago, happypalms said:

Las semillas que quiero rara vez están disponibles localmente, en realidad son bastante inexistentes, y las semillas de primera calidad, de primera calidad, pueden estar disponibles, pero la mafia de la palma controla bien ese mercado, así que opté por importar las mías.

Parecerán, estoy seguro de que se ven bastante saludables.

Claro RPS de Alemania es de primera calidad. Envían semillas germinadas (vivas); algunas llegan ya germinadas, mientras que otras tienen un buen porcentaje a punto de germinar. Las compran directamente a agricultores de todo el mundo.

 

Well, that's bad. That's how complicated customs are. They hold everything up. It's a shame they confiscated our seeds at some point. Probably all of us on the forum.

[happypalms]

30 minutes ago, Cannonball said:

That is the gold right there ladies and gentlemen! Yes sir no sir three bags full sir is the only way it works.

Dont forget have a lovely day!

[happypalms]

28 minutes ago, Hu Palmeras said:

If Chile didn't have customs restrictions, it could already create an Amazon rainforest. Richard, my friend, you'll have to buy those seeds in small quantities and you'll have them. That's what I do. The seeds of Sabinaria Magnifica (Panama-Colombia) are very large, almost the size of a borasus.

We are allowed to import just germinated seeds, but I don’t push that envelope. The world lost  its common sense a while ago. Seed size doesn’t matter if imported into Australia.

[Hu Palmeras]

You still have a chance, Richard, my friend. Australian customs could release them to you first thing Monday morning.

[happypalms]

18 minutes ago, peachy said:

Remember back in the days of Landline telephones ? When to call another state cost a small fortune ?  I had some seeds seized by Quarantine and had the letter to say they were on the prohibited list. They were wrong. I made a very expensive phone call to Sydney argued my case, was getting nowhere until 'the other Peachy' took control of the conversation, demanding this idiots full name and insisting to speak with his supervisor. That was enough to make him get off his lazy arse and actually read the bloody list.  No apology of course. They refused to reimburse me for the phone call too. How rude when it their laziness that made me call them.  I did get my seeds eventually. (and my revenge, but that is a story for a less public forum)

Peachy

Those were the days hey peachy, you calked someone and if they weren’t home you called back later on. And a letter was old school way of communicating, that worked now just a second or two your in contact with someone gals way around the world. And I could only imagine the the other side of peachy that for obvious reasons you would it want to meet. I guess the good old days shall remain as that, the good old days. 
Richard 

[Mazat]

59 minutes ago, Hu Palmeras said:

Claro RPS from Germany is top quality. They ship germinated (live) seeds; some seeds arrive already germinated, while others have a good percentage about to germinate. They purchase them directly from natives around the world.

I've never had seeds from there before, but it's good to know that they seem to be of good quality.

[peachy]

5 hours ago, JohnAndSancho said:

And if you had the jewelry shop we wouldn't be talking about where to hide seeds to smuggle them into the country lol. Although I'm sure people have also smuggled jewelry in the old prison pocket. Like the Christopher Walken scene in Pulp Fiction. 

I have some fresh Lodoicea seeds you can have if you care to smuggle them by the aforementioned method.

Peachy

[happypalms]

3 minutes ago, peachy said:

I have some fresh Lodoicea seeds you can have if you care to smuggle them by the aforementioned method.

Peachy

Ouch!! 
Richard