Online sellers
 

Hi. I live in NY. Can anyone share their favorite online sellers with me? I’ve purchased from Hausermann and Kalapani and was very happy with both. Who else is reputable?

Andy's.

Thank you, Subrosa.

Odom's and Marlow's are both amazing. Sunset Valley Orchids is great. He most specializes in Catasetinae, which is not my main interest, but he also hybridizes a lot of miniature to compact Cattleyas, and they are great plants. Akatsuka Orchid Gardens specializes in budded orchids for the gift market, but you can certainly buy a gift for yourself. THey have a lot of Cattleyas, most of which are their own cultivars, and they have a good selection of Oncidium intergenerics as well. They are far superior to Kalapana. Kalapana has a reputation for selling virused plants, or plants that few to no live roots. Most of the plants I have bought from them were rootless and so shriveled that the pseudobulbs were basically flat.

Hausermann, Odom's, Akatsuka, Marlow's, and SVO are the main ones I buy from, and I always get good plants from them. Carmela's orchids is great too, but she mostly sells young plants still quite a way from blooming size, but they're great plants. If you're interested in Cymbidiums that bloom in the summer and don't need a cool down period to spike, The Orchid People of Hawaii are excellent, but their minimum order is 5 plants, but I recently got 5 plants from them, and they are all in great health and all in spike.

Orchids Limited in Minnesota. A bit pricey but of very good stock and variety. Jerry Fischer and son Jason have my vote. SVO,Hausermann and Odom. Andy and J&L(Connecticut) are go-to for small and mini mounts. Big Leaf Orchids has lovely selections too(Texas).

I would say the answer to your question depends on what genus you're interested in as most sellers/breeders have particular interests or a specialty, if you will.

Thank you all very much.
Thanks JScott for info about Kalapani. I got 3 from them and luckily no issues. But I will beware!

Carter & Holmes sells seedlings, small mericlones and flowering size plants. They sell Cattleya species and new hybrids, Paphs, Phals, Dendrobiums, and more, some of which sell out quickly. They sell Trichopilia suavis seedlings every few years. Their seedlings and small mericlones are small for the price, but healthy. They grow well. Larger plants are often in spike. I have two Cattleya harrisoniae from them. They are tiny but growing well. They are one of the few US sources for Laelia purpurata seedlings. I bought a Phal. Creme de Menthe from them a year or so ago. It is spiking again. I will show photos when it opens.

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Since the virus hit, Ecuagenera has not been able to sell plants at the canceled orchid shows. They have been sending their plants to Florida in bulk, with proper international shipping permits, for reshipment in the US.

I have had unhappy experiences with Ecuagenera plants in the past, when bought at shows near the end of a sales tour to the US. I decided to give them another chance since I knew I would be getting plants sent to the US very recently. Also, the Cattleya warscewiczii from them is doing very well, after taking 18 months to acclimate to my growing area.

The plants arrived in good to great shape. Every one was larger than I expected. The high ambient temperatures during shipping don't seem to have affected them much, except perhaps Pleurothallis niveoglobulum; there are a number of dead leaves, but I hope it pulls through.

I would like to add Tropical Orchid Farms in Hawaii to the list. Most plants are species but they do have some hybrids. They usually throw in a bonus plant and it's generally a very nice plant. With my last order I had talked to Kathy about the Doritis (Phalaenopsis) pulcherrima. There was only one left but I decided not to purchase that. When my order arrived I was very surprised to find that my bonus plant was the Doritis.

I've received excellent plants from SVO. All of them are putting out new growth. Carmela Orchids has specials so check into those because the prices are good for the number of plants you get although with most of the specials you can't choose your plants. I did a special for my first order and was generally pleased although a few plants were loose in the pots with minimal roots.

I've been thinking of purchasing something from Carter & Holmes or Hausermann just to try them out. Sign up on Carter & Holmes mailing list to get coupons and information about any specials they might be offering.

I might add C&H occasionally divides very unusual plants and sells pieces. I missed getting a big piece of Bulbophyllum zuluense earlier this year. Should have moved faster. They also occasionally sell divisions of their awarded stock plants, virus tested. You need to be on their E-mail list to be notified.