I ususally just give mine away unless you want to spend the time and effort marketing them.

Thanks, Virginian

My marketting strategy was consisting of contacting landscaping companies. What better candidate to buy a few palms? I was also thinking about selling just under wholesale.

ebay is a possibilty but I must say there is not much money in it unless you sell alot and the hastle of mailing is another matter. Shipping can cost as much as the palm and very few understand why it cost so much for the palm after you add shipping.Bare root is not a good idea on palms past one gallon so its a catch 22.Good luck

do you have a craigslist or other local classified ads website for your area?

The first and foremost thing you have to consider are the agricultural law constraints against you. You don't say in your header or on your Gardenweb page where you are from, but a real consideration in trying to send palms through th email, whether as trades, gifts and particularly as a commercial venture, is that several states (I can think of MS, CA, LA, TX, AZ, FL, HI and Puerto Rico just off the top of my head, and I think AL may also be in there) have laws against the importation of all palms/certain species of palms due to the Lethal Yellowing of Palms Quarantine. Any palm trees/seedlings have to be inspected and or treated for Lethal Yellowing before shipment. Burrowing Nematode is also a consideration.

Not to also add, that to sell ANY plant/plant material of any type whatsoever in any of the US States and Puerto Rico, you are supposed to hold a valid nursery certificate/license as either a primary nurseryman/grower or a plant wholesaler/plant broker. Every box of plants that crosses a state line is supposed to be marked with an official inspection seal (as opposed to you just writing "Live Plants" on the box)

I know a lot of folks on eBay don't adhere to these rules (even though eBay has posted links to the main USDA sites to protect themselves from any liability incurred by their sellers...that way they can say "We are just a venue, they have to take responsibility for their own actions and lookey here, we did inform them"), and some may not even be AWARE of these laws. But once you become aware of them, you kinda need to follow them.

I know that the thought of being caught by the "plant police" is one that may make you chuckle, but it does happen, and will probably happen more in the future because the USDA has been reassigned to come under the auspices of the Dept of Homeland Security.

In case you think its a joke, every state USDA has a form letter that they send out to people that they "catch" sending illegal plant material through the mail. It has a box on it for "commercial" and a box for "PRIVATE" (that means "TRADE")

Great points!

I am from zone 10 (FL). I know date plams are subject to LY, and I think Queen Palms are not.

I have seen date palms on many locations here in FL, so I wonder if getting the actual permits would be a problem (maybe to keep back yard nursery n00bs like me at bay).

I was hoping to keep it simple. Something along the lines of (hey landscape guy, I have a few cheap palms if you're interested).

They all germinated about a month ago, so I probably have a few years to figure it out. And yes, I might just give them away, maybe just trade for some other goodies if I find anyone willing.

You have to look at the individual list for each state you wish to ship to and see which palms they have on their individual prohibited lists. There are several species of palms that are subject to Lethal Yellowing, not just the 2 you mentioned.
That's why I don;t sell plants out of state (or in state, for that matter) anymore. Its simply too hard to keep up with the Ag Laws for each of the individual 50 states.

What city in FL to you live?

You might be able to sell those queen palms once they reach a certain height but you probably won't make much of a margin on them once you take into account the amount you will spend to get them there.

The date palms, probably not. Landscapers generally use named varieties that have been vegetatively propagated, because they're guaranteed to all look the same.

Your best bet would be to either sell them to people you know who are into palms, or trade them for other plants.

Hey, Tampapalm

I'm in Ft. Lauderdale.

This is good advice. I originally grew them cause I wanted to have something to hang a hammock on, but never thought I'd be this successful. It's a lot of fun. So far I haven't invested too much (mostly dirt and reusable pots). I think if in 5 yeas, I can break even, or even a modest loss is acceptable... I'd think of it as money better spent than the alternatives of beer, vodka.... wait a minute!

Don't know that this would work for you - but it has worked for me.

I never sell or trade anything. I just give them away - no strings attached.

As a result people are constantly giving me plants. I have been given entire truckloads of plants (and trees) at one time - so many that I had to divide them with neighbors because I just couldn't plant them all.

I figure whatever karma is at work here is good stuff and I want to keep it going. The more I give away the larger my garden becomes.