A few listings I have for some of my palms. The price reflects what it actually cost for rare and exotic palms now. It’s not cheap growing exotic palms nowadays with customs fees, germination rates, shipping, phytosanitary certificates, soil pots, water, electricity for pumps. Plus many other hidden fees.

So what should a rare palm be priced at when you consider what it takes, after the real mathematician has had at go at some numbers. Is it how rare the seeds are, how hard to obtain and so on.

If you import the seeds it’s a whole new number again that gets added to the cost of everything.

So just one plant germinates from a hundred seeds that cost ex amount of dollars to buy and import. You’re not going to take a lose on that business venture. If you germinate a hundred out of a hundred then the cost of a palm can be a lot cheaper from the grower.

Seed availability is another factor, hard to obtain seeds of endangered species changes the mathematical equation a lot. This puts a higher price on such palms.

So it’s not the growers fault for the prices it’s the cost of the whole thing of growing rare and exotic palms. Some palms will take years in Australia before there is a local source of rare palms, and then they may not set seeds. And even then a not to open public supply, with seeds being so rare they would most certainly go to others in the palm community.

That’s the cost of rare palms nowadays. It’s supply and demand like any business it cost to produce. The only real solution is to have a garden full of exotic palms to collect seeds.

Mind you though they all look beautiful in my garden, so I know the look that can be created with rare and exotic palms. I would happily pay this amount for such beautiful palms to have in my garden if I wanted a tropical garden that’s for sure worth every penny!

It's a shame we're so far away, otherwise I would have bought the chamaedoreas, obviously you would have given me a little discount, jokes aside, people don't know what's behind a plant, finding good seeds and how much it costs everything else

I would happily pay those prices, though the only way they would make it to Western Australia is through a concierge service, the only reliable one I’ve found is Bob and Bev up in North Queensland. The plants would end up doing a round trip of Australia, triple the price and that’s also assuming they arrive healthy enough.. It drives me crazy our bio security laws.

7 hours ago, gyuseppe said:

It's a shame we're so far away, otherwise I would have bought the chamaedoreas, obviously you would have given me a little discount, jokes aside, people don't know what's behind a plant, finding good seeds and how much it costs everything else

Obviously a discount is awarded for IPS members, and a free chamaedorea elegans just for visiting.

6 hours ago, Jayce said:

I would happily pay those prices, though the only way they would make it to Western Australia is through a concierge service, the only reliable one I’ve found is Bob and Bev up in North Queensland. The plants would end up doing a round trip of Australia, triple the price and that’s also assuming they arrive healthy enough.. It drives me crazy our bio security laws.

Did you say bio security laws, that’s a nasty word. I would post to you anyway!

It’s such a shame you have such strict rules the same as a few other states do.

I don’t see them stopping the bird flu as it fly’s across the border!

As you say, it’s supply and demand. The only thing I’d add is that to an extent it doesn’t matter what it costs you to buy and grow, if that sets the price too high people won’t buy. Over the course of a couple of years I spent hundreds on rare Syagrus seed from RPS to end up with 1 S harleyi and 1 S cataphracta. That doesn’t mean they are both worth $300-500 on the open market. If I set that price just trying to recover my cost I know no one will buy.

On the flip side, as a collector, there’s species that I might be willing to pay a significant amount for and likely much more than cost price because there may not be other alternatives. Again, all comes down to supply and demand.