12 years (lol) just kidding, I have no idea.

Sarcasm won't germinate my seeds ! lol..

Why do you think they call them "Mule" Palms ? Can mules have more mules? It's a Hybrid. I have a large Butyagrus that continues to produce seed by the hundreds and I keep cleaning the seed and planting them.(with no germination yet) Robert C.

Here is a link that might be useful: Chumley Cycads

I agree, unless you were the one who did the cross, i wouldnt expect them to germinate! Ive tried to germinate syagrus X butia mule seeds for years with 0 luck, but I continue to try anyway.....

For Jubutia I have a 33.3% germination rate (yes, bought 3, germinated 1). It is the slowest palm ever, It has made one leaf of just over 1 inch in height in 8 months. It is also the slowest to germinate- if it is giving problems you can remove the door covering the embryo using a knife. Any that don't grow straight away will then rot - so it's a calculated risk. Worked for me though. Try more heat than usual - 2 weeks at 36-38C followed by a few weeks at 30-32C.

Butyagrus (mule palm) - seed is impossible to find here in the UK. It comes up occasionally on ebay from a seller in the US, I emailed asking about postage to the UK but got no answer.

Newly purchased Jubutia seeds all make noise as if the middle part is smaller when I shake them. Is this normal or are the seeds dry?

I have 10 seeds in the soil for over 2 years now, only one germinated after about 2-4 months. So 10% germination rate.

In my experience trying to germinate these, they have a very poor germination rate (about 1%). Some have a had a bit better success than I have. But my experience with growth rate has been less than staggering... not too many palms slower growing than these as seedlings... perhaps growth rate improves once it begins to mature, but I have a 2' tall plant that I have had for 8 years now.. and it's still 2' tall, though has made about 2 leaves a year and is finally looking like a palm. At this rate, it will form a trunk in about 3o years.

Thanks for the info. I have one growing from seed that germinated 2 years ago and it has about 4-5 leaves and still a seedling. Other Jubutias I purchased as seedlings and they were shipped bareroot, which killed half of them and others took 1-2 years to recover (or died) and are growing slowly. Yet the Jubutias (probably mislabeled and are Butiajubaeas) that I purchased as 5 gal. plants they are growing quite not so slow, but still slow. I hope they will outgrow my house in about 200 years, heheh...

So, regarding the rattlers and floaters, as I just learned how to call them, I got most seeds rattling (when shaken) and about half are floating after a day in water. I guess my chance of germination will be even lower than 1%.

I'll keep everyone informed of the progress.