Newbie Growers, please read - Orchid Board

Gin · #1 03-05-2011, 02:17 PM

Just a heads up I have found even the green houses with a good reputation are doing something that ticks me off putting fresh bark on top of old rotted bark to make it look good .
My daughter received 2 plants from a well know green house she has had orchids long enough too know to take a look , rotten mush under the new .
If it was a new grower they would think all is well seeing the new bark and ended up with a pot of rot ..
Yes she did email them

camille1585 · #2 03-05-2011, 03:31 PM

Which is why it's always a good idea to repot, (or at least unpot) even if it's a known grower. You never know what sort of surprises lurk beneath the surface.

I got a little phal from a good grower here. The other plants in the order were wonderfully healthy, roots and all, but that little Phal had no roots left. The medium looked perfectly fine, like for the others. Luckily after 6 weeks with bottom heat, it started 3 new roots

Paul Mc · #3 03-05-2011, 03:41 PM

I too have gotten plants from good growers that had mold and fungus with old rotten medium. I even got one that had scale on it (luckily it wasn't bad and I was able to save it).

Gin · #4 03-05-2011, 04:05 PM

Scale

long time ago I received an order all of the plants were coated with it .. I let them know they refund the $$ don't know how they could not see it one was so bad I disposed of it .
I noticed we have a lot of first time growers on the forum thought it was a good idea to give the warning before they found out the hard way .

Jeff9 · #5 03-05-2011, 07:42 PM

The problem is that alot of growers buy their plants from other places, other nurseries or flasks, or import from other countries like brazil.

So even good growers might have bad plants if they import from somehwere else.

I have a very strict regime on my plants now, as soon as i get something in it spends 5 - 8 hrs in a bleach solution and gets remounted / repotted on or in anything NON organic.

Its key to keep your growing area clean and flush pots like s/h often enough even with a bleach solution sometimes to keep algae at bay.

Also i take all my plants out every now and then and check them thoroughly.

I use sphagnum sparsely but i let live moss cover alot of pots and plants.

Paul Mc · #6 03-05-2011, 09:11 PM

I agree Jeff9. I don't personally blame the growers, especially if I know they are very reputable. If they are reputable, I tend to keep what happened to myself as I realize that they can't control 100% of everything.

I also check each plant over as soon as I get it and repot it immediately. I clean them and make sure everything is in order. This is especially so after I found a small patch of scale on one. If I had waited even a week I don't know that I would have been able to save that plant.

Paul Mc · #7 03-05-2011, 09:14 PM

Oh, and Gin - hello there. I didn't even see your response, lol... My apologies.

I agree, it's always best to let the knew people know what they might encounter so they can be aware of the potentials and plan accordingly.

I'm glad the vendor refunded your money. There was a thread here not too long ago about one vendor that wouldn't even return phone calls. Not many people had anything nice to say about them either. I'm glad your experience was not the same.

johnblagg · #8 03-06-2011, 06:45 AM

Thats a discouraging way to do business.... would be better to ship it without that coverup at the least ...and not acceptable to send rotted roots in any case ...

Gin · #9 03-06-2011, 10:19 AM

Well said john ,it is the cover up that fools new growers and is not right .

Paul Mc · #10 03-06-2011, 10:43 AM

You are absolutely correct there!