Butiagrus F1 Hybrid Seeds For Sale - F1 Mule Palm Seeds

[Bigfish]

I've been very busy this year making Butiagrus seeds!  Some of you know this, but I haven't been ready to sell seeds until now.  I made them last year also, but only sold a few and planted the rest.  I wanted to make sure my processes and procedures were solid before selling larger quantities of seeds.  I'm confident in what I have, and I have seedlings growing from last year's seeds that are some nice looking and very fast-growing little Mule Palms.  Several members here have seedlings from my last year's seeds also. 

I have 2 large Butia odorata of my own in my yard, but my neighbor has a grove of them, and was generous enough to let me make hybrids with his palms for this year only.  Syagrus pollen came from a few different palms around Gainesville...and if you know Gainesville, you know that there aren't many to choose from around here.  What there are available have been tested by some cold weather.  Anyhow, I'll include some pictures of the mother Butia palms.  They are all pretty robust Butia.

I'm also selling these on eBay and Etsy, but you can get them slightly cheaper here. 

10 seeds/ $25

50 seeds/$110

100 seeds/$185

500 seeds/$800

1,000 seeds/$1300

I DO ship internationally!  I actually have a lot of experience with shipping to many countries in the EU, Japan, the UK, and elsewhere (even Australia).  I can obtain a phyto from FDACS here in Gainesville very easily and quickly, and my seeds always pass inspection. 

I can't guarantee your results, but I will tell you that I have done a LOT of quality control with these seeds!  I individually went through several thousand of them looking for any possible stones (endocarps without any endosperm or embryos).  I have weeded out the obvious bad ones, cut through hundreds of seeds with my trusty pruners (and killed many, many potential palms), and am only selling what look to be good seeds.  I cut open seeds from every bunch that I harvest.  If I find endosperm and embryos in the first 3-4 seed and the rest look similarly sized and shaped, I quit cutting.  If I find some stones in a batch, I go through the batch very carefully and try to weed out all of the bad ones.  I'm going to miss a few, of that I have no doubt.  It's just the nature of hybrid seeds.  35%-50% seems to be the range for germination percentage.  One member messaged me and said that he got over 60% germination from my seeds from last year.  Part of it is up to you and your methods.  The tighter ship that you run and more attention to detail and desire to achieve good results, the more success you will have.  Don't just throw them in a baggie and wait.  Soak them for a while, maybe try acid scarification, crack the endocarps, apply bottom heat with a heat mat on a timer, etc. I want everyone to have great success!  Eventually one day soon I will have a nursery and grow out my own palms, but until then, I will stick to seeds mainly. 

For those who don't know me (most of you) and are wondering why you should spend your hard earned money on alleged Butiagrus seeds from some yahoo on a palm forum, I have a degree in Horticulture and experience with creating hybrids in other genera of plants (Musa, Yucca, Tillandsia).  I've had a passion for palms for over 20 years, so moving to palm hybridization seemed like a natural fit after moving to Florida in 2020.  I've learned very quickly, and have the OCD personality trait necessary for this hobby/profession.  I did know Dr. Merrill Wilcox, and learned a few things from him back around 2009-2010 after my folks moved to Gainesville.  It always shocked me to watch him slice open a palm seed with his pruners in his hand.  He would cover the whole end of the blade with his hand and really clamp down hard!  I've sliced my palm open twice trying this, but I think I've figured it out now.  A lot of what I learned about creating Butiagrus was in threads on this forum and elsewhere online...but mainly by doing.  There's just no substitute for doing.  

So there ya go.  I'm quite a busy guy during the day with whatever needs to be done, but I'm usually pretty good at returning messages quickly.  Please have a little patience with me if I don't respond right away. 

Oh, shipping within the USA on any order is free until October 1.  After that, it's a flat $4 up to 100 seeds, and then it's free for any order over 100 seeds.  Sorry I can't do that with international orders...

For anyone who has ordered from me in the past and paid the slightly higher prices than these, if you order more I will discount the difference (so if you bought 10/$30 and buy 10 more now, they will only cost $20).

If you have any questions, fire away! 

 

[Bigfish]

Last harvest of the year is in, and I got some beautiful embryos on the first 3 that I cut open.  

[TampaBayRay]

Mines dropping nuts left n right; right now

howd you crack that open?   Mine are hard as rock

[Bigfish]

1 minute ago, TampaBayRay said:

Mines dropping nuts left n right; right now

howd you crack that open?   Mine are hard as rock

These aren’t seeds from a Mule Palm, which are almost always sterile.  These are the F1 hybrid seeds that create Mule Palms.  The seed parent is a Butia odorata, and the pollen parent is a Syagrus romanzoffiana.  
 

I just use handheld pruners to cut them open.

[TampaBayRay]

Mine are obviously duds theyre solid and a dark dark brown

[Bigfish]

Potted up some from last year’s seeds today.  The biggest ones had to go straight into 3 gallons from the community tub.  Honestly, they should probably be larger than that because I should have plucked them out as they sprouted, but life happens.  The larger ones sprouted in April, so are only 6 months old.  They are easily twice the size of some Butia seedlings that are over a year old.

[Mattpalm28]

Would you be interested in shipping some seedlings of mules? Or just seeds 

[Bigfish]

2 hours ago, Mattpalm28 said:

Would you be interested in shipping some seedlings of mules? Or just seeds 

Next year I will probably sell seedlings.  These are the first seedlings from my first attempts, so I’m going to grow a significant number of them out as examples.

[Mattpalm28]

Okay I would be interested in buying a few if that was an option 

[jrshew]

How do I purchase 10 seeds?

 

[Bigfish]

2 hours ago, jrshew said:

How do I purchase 10 seeds?

 

Hey Jeff, please send me a DM!

Frank

[Bigfish]

‘Tis the season for a sale!  For a limited time (probably until Christmas), I’m discounting the seeds as follows:

10/$22

50/$100

100/$160

500/$650

1,000/$1,000

Also, shipping is FREE until Christmas.  

 

[Zone9Palms]

Hello all,

I purchased fresh Butiagrus seeds from Bigfish this year. I can attest to the fertility of these seeds.

I started sowing seeds on August 21. Here are the first sprouted seeds as of December 11. Five of them having double sprouts:

Germination Method

I use a large clear plastic tub with holes drilled into the bottom for drainage and the top near rim for venting. There are 500 seeds in the tub pictured. Soil mixture is 50/50 perlite and coconut coir. The mixture remains moist and the tub is on top of a heat mat 24/7. The mat keeps the seeds very warm. Mat is on the ground of my greenhouse. My location is southeast Texas, zone 9a.

Here is the heat mat I use: https://www.amazon.com/iPower-Seedling-Heat-Upgraded-Technology/dp/B0CSCJF1GW/ref=zg_bs_g_14252891_d_sccl_12/134-2184026-5074417?th=1

I'm looking forward to more seeds germinating over the coming months. Like the parent palms Butia and Syagrus, Butiagrus seeds can take many months to sprout. Just have to be patient and trust the process.

[Mattpalm28]

Wow that’s good! I never seem to have any luck trying to Germinate these seeds! Sadly