So I imported 3 varieties of seeds

[happypalms]

I finally got my seeds, ordered on the 26-1-26, so I finally get them into my grubby little cultivation fingers today 15-4-26, not to bad considering customs and a lovely delay that they provided me with. 
But wait theres more to this story of 50 seeds, total cost of this project was wait for it $950 Australian dollars. The delay and the lovely bill from customs was $620 dollars. Three varieties of seeds where ordered and one lot of ten seeds was seized. 
It’s fun importing seeds and even more fun knowing how many will germinate from the 40 seeds I have left,  if they do germinate they will be very exspensive little seedlings. 
That’s growing palms could have been worse I germinate all of the seeds and the rats get them. 
Luck of the Irish on this one! 

[alzo]

Atleast they're nice fast growers🙃 you can self supply in the future

[WaianaeCrider]

Wow, glad I don't live "down" there.  To much government intervention in life.

[tim_brissy_13]

1 hour ago, WaianaeCrider said:

Wow, glad I don't live "down" there.  To much government intervention in life.

I’ll wear the cost. We have a pretty good track record with very rare introductions of catastrophic insects of recently times. What’s happening to Pritchardia sp in Hawaii for example is pretty sad (not saying there aren’t measures in place there, but Aus is as strict as anywhere). 

[happypalms]

2 hours ago, alzo said:

Atleast they're nice fast growers🙃 you can self supply in the future

Gotta get them to germinate yet! 

[happypalms]

2 hours ago, WaianaeCrider said:

Wow, glad I don't live "down" there.  To much government intervention in life.

Don’t muck with customs in Australia, and the whole stuff up wasn’t even my fault! 

[happypalms]

24 minutes ago, tim_brissy_13 said:

I’ll wear the cost. We have a pretty good track record with very rare introductions of catastrophic insects of recently times. What’s happening to Pritchardia sp in Hawaii for example is pretty sad (not saying there aren’t measures in place there, but Aus is as strict as anywhere). 

Yep that’s the way it is, our bio security is for good reason, and I respect that reason! 

[happypalms]

This is there way of explaining the costs! 

[gyuseppe]

950 Australian dollars. That's a lot of money. I understand it's important not to introduce invasive species.
Richard, the only thing you can do is sow as many species as possible so that you can have seeds in Australia in the future.

[happypalms]

46 minutes ago, gyuseppe said:

950 Australian dollars. That's a lot of money. I understand it's important not to introduce invasive species.
Richard, the only thing you can do is sow as many species as possible so that you can have seeds in Australia in the future.

I don’t mind protecting our environment, but $950 for 40 seeds that are sort of common and obtainable. For that sort of money I could have purchased a few good sabinara seeds. Yes plant as many rare palms as I can for future seeds. 

[WaianaeCrider]

On 4/14/2026 at 9:44 PM, tim_brissy_13 said:

I’ll wear the cost. We have a pretty good track record with very rare introductions of catastrophic insects of recently times. What’s happening to Pritchardia sp in Hawaii for example is pretty sad (not saying there aren’t measures in place there, but Aus is as strict as anywhere). 

Yea the CRB is gonna wipe the out.  There is plenty of "mulch" in the forests for them to breed/mature in.  Problem there/here is that the government did NOTHING but watch them spread when one or two hopped a ride on an AirForce jet coming from Guam.

[WaianaeCrider]

On 4/14/2026 at 10:08 PM, happypalms said:

Don’t muck with customs in Australia, and the whole stuff up wasn’t even my fault! 

I once got a $100 fine from the Feds for sending some Pritchardia marti seeds w/flesh still on to someone on the mainland.  

[zero]

On 4/15/2026 at 12:49 AM, alzo said:

Atleast they're nice fast growers

Surely you're not referring to Pseudophoenix sargentii!

[alzo]

32 minutes ago, Fusca said:

Surely you're not referring to Pseudophoenix sargentii!

I heard they move fast as lightning

[happypalms]

1 hour ago, WaianaeCrider said:

I once got a $100 fine from the Feds for sending some Pritchardia marti seeds w/flesh still on to someone on the mainland.  

Yep it’s basically a fine I got for doing something wrong that wasn’t even my fault in the first place , I had all the phytosanitry certification. I would not dare import anything without the correct paperwork heaven forbid one strike with customs and wherever you go it’s into the room for a full body search. 🔍 

[zero]

2 hours ago, alzo said:

I heard they move fast as lightning

Maybe you're thinking Archontophoenix.  I wouldn't call a palm that grows 1 new frond a year as a juvenile fast!  They might be quicker in places like Hawaii and Thailand where everything seems to grow fast.  Check this thread: 

Here's my P. sargentii six years from seed.  Its first three adult leaves were burnt in January's brief freeze.

[happypalms]

9 minutes ago, Fusca said:

Maybe you're thinking Archontophoenix.  I wouldn't call a palm that grows 1 new frond a year as a juvenile fast!  They might be quicker in places like Hawaii and Thailand where everything seems to grow fast.  Check this thread: 

 

The only trick to growing sargentii is getting old watching them grow! 

[tim_brissy_13]

1 hour ago, Fusca said:

Maybe you're thinking Archontophoenix.  I wouldn't call a palm that grows 1 new frond a year as a juvenile fast!  They might be quicker in places like Hawaii and Thailand where everything seems to grow fast.  Check this thread: 

Here's my P. sargentii six years from seed.  Its first three adult leaves were burnt in January's brief freeze.

I think there’s a healthy dose of sarcasm in both of alzo’s posts. Don’t think I’ve ever heard of B dumasii or P sargentii being described as anything approaching fast. 

[happypalms]

41 minutes ago, tim_brissy_13 said:

I think there’s a healthy dose of sarcasm in both of alzo’s posts. Don’t think I’ve ever heard of B dumasii or P sargentii being described as anything approaching fast. 

The only thing fast about this post is how quick customs took my money! 

[Tropical Toni]

that is insanity. & I thought the US tariffs that dumb dumb recently imposed was bad...

[alzo]

Apologies if my attempts at humour weren't coming through. I am indeed aware of P sargentiis reputation of growing at snails pace.

[happypalms]

5 hours ago, alzo said:

Apologies if my attempts at humour weren't coming through. I am indeed aware of P sargentiis reputation of growing at snails pace.

Don’t worry us Australians know what you’re talking about, it goes with being an Australian. We are renowned for a bit of humour along with a bit fun!

[happypalms]

5 hours ago, Tropical Toni said:

that is insanity. & I thought the US tariffs that dumb dumb recently imposed was bad...

That’s the way it is, the government recently strengthened border security injecting millions of dollars to keep there jobs, now we are paying for that, to keep them in a job!

[Jonathan]

17 hours ago, Tropical Toni said:

that is insanity. & I thought the US tariffs that dumb dumb recently imposed was bad...

Unfortunately, it's not insanity...have a look at the current thread on CRB in Hawaii

As @tim_brissy_13 pointed out above, it's worth paying the price to not have horrible, uncontrollable pests like CRB in the country. ..at present Australia is reasonably free of a lot of the worst stuff that you guys in the Northern Hemisphere have to deal with (including that dumb dumb, but not his crippling fuel costs unfortunately),  and being an island its reasonably easy to police imports.

Given that Richard has probably imported 10's of thousands of seeds, the cost per seed of quarantine probably evens out over the long term. Hopefully he gets a good return on investment when he sells the palms later on! 

To my mind that's how liberal democracy works. Everyone shares the costs and the potential rewards, if you take a bigger risk, you can potentially reap a bigger reward and that's your own choice to make but ultimately the state provides the mechanisms and security nets. That's why we pay our taxes and share the costs of government and its what those idiot 'sovereign citizens' and that clown in Washington can't seem to comprehend!

[Jonathan]

On 4/15/2026 at 3:54 PM, WaianaeCrider said:

Wow, glad I don't live "down" there.  To much government intervention in life.

Steve - you can't have it both ways mate.

What's happening to you with CRB is devastating but you actually needed more government intervention, didn't you?

[Tyrone]

Quarantine didn’t stop shot hole borer from getting here. Funny how it got to Fremantle first. All that wood furniture coming through from Asia through Fremantle. Then you hear of borers in wooden furniture from Harvey Norman. I think big business are more likely to breach quarantine, not little palm collectors who have no interest in doing the wrong thing and don’t want to import pests and diseases either. 
We absolutely need quarantine and biosecurity in this country. It’s how they go about the process which is maddening. They should be working with collectors not against them. A case in point is all the wrong palm names on BICON. They’ve been approached to help correct them. They’re not in the slightest bit interested. 

[Jonathan]

1 hour ago, Tyrone said:

Quarantine didn’t stop shot hole borer from getting here. Funny how it got to Fremantle first. All that wood furniture coming through from Asia through Fremantle. Then you hear of borers in wooden furniture from Harvey Norman. I think big business are more likely to breach quarantine, not little palm collectors who have no interest in doing the wrong thing and don’t want to import pests and diseases either. 
We absolutely need quarantine and biosecurity in this country. It’s how they go about the process which is maddening. They should be working with collectors not against them. A case in point is all the wrong palm names on BICON. They’ve been approached to help correct them. They’re not in the slightest bit interested. 

Agree with that as well Tyrone. 

The adversarial approach by AQIS  doesn't help matters or encourage people to do the right thing, although I suspect the problem is more about resources than anything else. There's something like 350-400,000 plant species...guess it's pretty much impossible to vet them all for import risk, however you'd think that families with obvious horticultural or economic desirability would be given preference, ie palms, bromeliads, orchids...all the things we love around here!

Probably what's needed are deputations to the DAFF by special interest bodies like PACSOA or the Bromeliad Society of Australia presenting a risk matrix of species for import, to help the government make good decisions. But who's going to volunteer for that world of pain, lol?

[Jonathan]

One last rant on this topic...

Maybe we need to appoint a Palm Ambassador to Queensland...I hear they have palms of many, various and wonderful species up there, but who would know?

[happypalms]

8 hours ago, Tyrone said:

Quarantine didn’t stop shot hole borer from getting here. Funny how it got to Fremantle first. All that wood furniture coming through from Asia through Fremantle. Then you hear of borers in wooden furniture from Harvey Norman. I think big business are more likely to breach quarantine, not little palm collectors who have no interest in doing the wrong thing and don’t want to import pests and diseases either. 
We absolutely need quarantine and biosecurity in this country. It’s how they go about the process which is maddening. They should be working with collectors not against them. A case in point is all the wrong palm names on BICON. They’ve been approached to help correct them. They’re not in the slightest bit interested. 

Don’t forget the scorpions in timber from Asia! 

[happypalms]

7 hours ago, Jonathan said:

Agree with that as well Tyrone. 

The adversarial approach by AQIS  doesn't help matters or encourage people to do the right thing, although I suspect the problem is more about resources than anything else. There's something like 350-400,000 plant species...guess it's pretty much impossible to vet them all for import risk, however you'd think that families with obvious horticultural or economic desirability would be given preference, ie palms, bromeliads, orchids...all the things we love around here!

Probably what's needed are deputations to the DAFF by special interest bodies like PACSOA or the Bromeliad Society of Australia presenting a risk matrix of species for import, to help the government make good decisions. But who's going to volunteer for that world of pain, lol?

I think pacsoa have voiced there opinions about the subject in writing to the powers that be! And I think a few others have verbally voiced there opinions in such a manner that it seems to have upset the powers that be! 

[happypalms]

10 hours ago, Jonathan said:

Unfortunately, it's not insanity...have a look at the current thread on CRB in Hawaii

As @tim_brissy_13 pointed out above, it's worth paying the price to not have horrible, uncontrollable pests like CRB in the country. ..at present Australia is reasonably free of a lot of the worst stuff that you guys in the Northern Hemisphere have to deal with (including that dumb dumb, but not his crippling fuel costs unfortunately),  and being an island its reasonably easy to police imports.

Given that Richard has probably imported 10's of thousands of seeds, the cost per seed of quarantine probably evens out over the long term. Hopefully he gets a good return on investment when he sells the palms later on! 

To my mind that's how liberal democracy works. Everyone shares the costs and the potential rewards, if you take a bigger risk, you can potentially reap a bigger reward and that's your own choice to make but ultimately the state provides the mechanisms and security nets. That's why we pay our taxes and share the costs of government and its what those idiot 'sovereign citizens' and that clown in Washington can't seem to comprehend!

You gotta spend money to make money, personally iam not in the game of growing palms purely for profit, it’s the love of palms and gardening that drives my obsession. And if I can make a few bucks along the way even better, but you can rest assure it will take quite a few palms sold before I get anywhere near my money back. And at the current rate of everything going up in price, I need to be growing quite a few more rare palms than 1500 joeys! That said the rewards are there just not overnight, I have met a few growers who have been growing palms a lot longer than myself, they have been successful in what they have done. But it takes a long time to do so! 
The older  we get the better our palms look! The little adscendens in the picture 27 years old this is the sort of time it takes. 

[happypalms]

8 hours ago, Tyrone said:

Quarantine didn’t stop shot hole borer from getting here. Funny how it got to Fremantle first. All that wood furniture coming through from Asia through Fremantle. Then you hear of borers in wooden furniture from Harvey Norman. I think big business are more likely to breach quarantine, not little palm collectors who have no interest in doing the wrong thing and don’t want to import pests and diseases either. 
We absolutely need quarantine and biosecurity in this country. It’s how they go about the process which is maddening. They should be working with collectors not against them. A case in point is all the wrong palm names on BICON. They’ve been approached to help correct them. They’re not in the slightest bit interested. 

I have had a lot of seeds with a live grub in them and it was  flattened in 1 second flat. And the batch of seeds was treated with insecticide. A responsible collector would do that in a heart beat. Large corporations are in it for money. It’s been going on for hundreds of years just look at rattus  rattus. Climbing down a ship’s mooring rope and destroying an islands habitat completely shattering the ecosystem. 
Fortunately collecters of plants can see the injustice of a government system. It’s the government who doesn’t see there injustice! 

[WaianaeCrider]

19 hours ago, Jonathan said:

Steve - you can't have it both ways mate.

What's happening to you with CRB is devastating but you actually needed more government intervention, didn't you?

Not really this was a "stoaway" on an AirForce plane.

[Jonathan]

4 hours ago, WaianaeCrider said:

Not really this was a "stoaway" on an AirForce plane.

I see. Well hopefully at some point they find a way to deal with it, particularly worrying for the native Pritchardias. Good luck.