Wanted to put up a brief review to warn others. I had been looking for seeds over several months. I finally gave in and decided to try Rare Palm as they didn't have much positive or negative out there.
I ordered 4 seed packs. Commiphora, Boswellia, Bursera, Pachypodium brevicalyx. Attached are pictures of some trays. Guess which tray contains the seeds from Rare Palm??
To their credit, they have responded in a timely manner each time, they also made paperwork relatively easy. However, with shipping only via DHL, plus phytosanitary… I was in just over $200 and only 1 variety looks to be healthy, the Boswellia which are notoriously easy. The pachy seeds all molded when I lifted the lid to check morning two, but only the pachy seeds which isn't a good sign. I have one seed that made it from the brevicalyx (largest seed notably) which makes me believe they weren't stored well or weren't fully mature seeds.
I am going to continue waiting for the bursera and Commiphora, I have some Operculicarya seeds just chilling too, so we'll see. If I get anything at all, I'll make sure to come back and edit my post. But when I was initially looking, I couldn't find much. I hope this helps other people when making the decision. If it was significantly cheaper, or I was in EU.. maybe it makes sense. As a US buyer, it wasn't worth the procedure and outcome IMO.
by Manganmh89
4 Comments
Pachypodium seeds aside from lamerei are tricky, they have very short shelf lives from my experience and need to be sowed fresh or viability goes way down. I’ve purchased seeds from like 6 sources and have a whole 3 seeds germinate out of like 60-75 seeds, and I have plenty of experience growing cacti and succulents from seed… they don’t even rot, they just turn black over time instead of starting. Just ordered more from another source, maybe I’ll have better luck with them.
Rarepalmseeds is a well known source for quality seeds. Pachypodium is tricky by itself. You can’t always expect good success with all species, regardless from the source.
I haven’t ever purchased from them due to the prices. 13,3 E for Uncarina Roesliana? At Koehres they are 5,90 E.
Now that you mention lower quality I don’t think I will ever purchase from them.
For caudex in Europe my go tos are ADBLPS, Koehres, Succseed. In that order. ADBLPS especially has an amazing germination rate, but you will not find everything you’re looking for. Like a restaurant that has 8 dishes but all of them are amazing.
Bursera is tricky too, I’ve had just 3-4 germinate from a batch of 30 from a local, fresh source (I’m local to a bursera native range). Not saying rare palm seeds is good, just that those sound like hard to germinate.