Hi All,

I went to the NYC Orchid Show at Rockerfeller today. The orchids on
display were beautiful. I was so disappointed when I bought three
phals from Orchis Floricluturing Inc. all the roots on those plants
were rotted. I can also guarantee that the rest of their plants are
bad. Is there anything I can do about this or somewhere I can go to
complain about this besides here. :) I am so disappointed, I waited
so long for this show thinking I can get some good orchids.

Its Sunday, go back and complain to the vendor. (I wonder if they'd let
you in again....??)(What am I saying, its New York, nothing's free!)

K Barrett

"Lisa" <lisaliwong [at] gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1145781482.387619.189570 [at] u72g2000cwu.googlegroups.com...
> Hi All,
>
> I went to the NYC Orchid Show at Rockerfeller today. The orchids on
> display were beautiful. I was so disappointed when I bought three
> phals from Orchis Floricluturing Inc. all the roots on those plants
> were rotted. I can also guarantee that the rest of their plants are
> bad. Is there anything I can do about this or somewhere I can go to
> complain about this besides here. :) I am so disappointed, I waited
> so long for this show thinking I can get some good orchids.
>

I have the same problem in that at least half the plants I have bought
were bad under the hood. Guess we will just have to look first. Hard to
do by mail and who wants the hassel to send them back, just a big rip
off.
Joe T

Kathy's suggestion is the obvious best path, but if yu can't get back there,
where is this outfit located? I'd be complaining until I was blue in the
face and had a refund check in my hand. You have to do this right away,
though.

Tip: Next time, poke around in the pot a little bit and check the roots.

Kathy, is OGRES functional these days?

Diana

I will try emailing them. It's hard for me to get out to NY again. I
have three little girls and I didn't want to drag them out to NY since
I leave in NJ.

I am well aware that there are some unscrupulous folks out there selling
garbage orchids. Why they keep being invited back to OS-hosted shows is
beyond me, but it happens regularly. Nevertheless ...

Speaking as a grower, I would very much appreciate it if people would ASK
before doing something that might render one of my plants unsaleable till
the next time it blooms, or otherwise damage it -- e.g., handling flowers;
peeling old sheaths or bract material and perhaps breaking off a pb or new
growth in the process; digging around in the media, which can cause the
flowers to wilt prematurely; stuff like that.

Diana's comment about reporting problems as soon as possible is also very
important. Once a plant is out of the grower's care, the grower has no way
to know what the purchaser might have done to the plant -- and the folks who
post here truly would NOT believe some of the things people do to them. So
the faster you get back to the grower with your complaint, the better your
claim for a refund or replacement. Kenni

"Diana Kulaga" <diandfrankcat [at] bellsouth.net> wrote in message
news:ruO2g.7987$MM6.428 [at] bignews3.bellsouth.net...
> Kathy's suggestion is the obvious best path, but if yu can't get back
> there, where is this outfit located? I'd be complaining until I was blue
> in the face and had a refund check in my hand. You have to do this right
> away, though.
>
> Tip: Next time, poke around in the pot a little bit and check the roots.
>
> Kathy, is OGRES functional these days?
>
> Diana
>

Kenni Judd wrote:
> I am well aware that there are some unscrupulous folks out there selling
> garbage orchids. Why they keep being invited back to OS-hosted shows is
> beyond me, but it happens regularly. Nevertheless ...
>
> Speaking as a grower, I would very much appreciate it if people would ASK
> before doing something that might render one of my plants unsaleable till
> the next time it blooms, or otherwise damage it -- e.g., handling flowers;
> peeling old sheaths or bract material and perhaps breaking off a pb or new
> growth in the process; digging around in the media, which can cause the
> flowers to wilt prematurely; stuff like that.
>
> Diana's comment about reporting problems as soon as possible is also very
> important. Once a plant is out of the grower's care, the grower has no way
> to know what the purchaser might have done to the plant -- and the folks who
> post here truly would NOT believe some of the things people do to them. So
> the faster you get back to the grower with your complaint, the better your
> claim for a refund or replacement. Kenni
>
> "Diana Kulaga" <diandfrankcat [at] bellsouth.net> wrote in message
> news:ruO2g.7987$MM6.428 [at] bignews3.bellsouth.net...
> > Kathy's suggestion is the obvious best path, but if yu can't get back
> > there, where is this outfit located? I'd be complaining until I was blue
> > in the face and had a refund check in my hand. You have to do this right
> > away, though.
> >
> > Tip: Next time, poke around in the pot a little bit and check the roots.
> >
> > Kathy, is OGRES functional these days?
> >
> > Diana
> >

I am afraid you are too late. Orchis Floriculturing is a China- based
company-- they are back in China by now. I agree with Kenni's comments
100%. I just had a person bring back a plant she got less than a month
ago-- The entire plant was white!! That can only happen by putting it
in a car, in the sun and leaving it for enough time for the sun to heat
the inside of the car to 120 degrees. The person swore she didn't but
plants don't turn white {I mean every part of the plant}. I gave her
another because that's what we do-- call me stupid but that's our
policy. It doesn't happen often enough to worry about as most people
are honest. Sorry I can't say the same for vendors-- well most are
honest but like Kenni said some are garbage vendors & will deliberately
bring stuff to "get rid of" & the societies just keep inviting them
back-- because they also undercut the decent vendors price wise. I have
learned to be very careful to ask about "return policy" & people from
another country better have a sterling reputation or-- I pass them by.
The lessons we learn the "hard way" are the ones we don't forget
easily. Good Luck Bill

By the way Lisa, Their website is: www.orchis.com/tw if you go there
you can find telephone #s and can email them from their site {cheaper}
They are located in Taiwon, Republic of China. Good Luck, Bill

Buy local!

Had a lady come back to me almost in tears on Saturday, about 30 minutes
after she purchased a very nice phal. She had snapped the spike
(dropped the plant somehow), and wanted to know if I could 'fix it'.
Grafting, maybe? Anyway, I replaced the plant with the next nicest phal.

I also think most people are honest. And I prefer to not to think
otherwise. I've replaced plants up to a year after selling them, if I
thought it was my fault that they didn't thrive. Especially for novice
growers. If the story is "I bought a plant from you at this show last
year, but it died a couple weeks later", I've been known to give an
inexpensive replacement to practice on. I suspect most people don't
report problems, but I'd really prefer that they did.

> I am afraid you are too late. Orchis Floriculturing is a China- based
> company-- they are back in China by now. I agree with Kenni's comments
> 100%. I just had a person bring back a plant she got less than a month
> ago-- The entire plant was white!! That can only happen by putting it
> in a car, in the sun and leaving it for enough time for the sun to heat
> the inside of the car to 120 degrees. The person swore she didn't but
> plants don't turn white {I mean every part of the plant}. I gave her
> another because that's what we do-- call me stupid but that's our
> policy. It doesn't happen often enough to worry about as most people
> are honest. Sorry I can't say the same for vendors-- well most are
> honest but like Kenni said some are garbage vendors & will deliberately
> bring stuff to "get rid of" & the societies just keep inviting them
> back-- because they also undercut the decent vendors price wise. I have
> learned to be very careful to ask about "return policy" & people from
> another country better have a sterling reputation or-- I pass them by.
> The lessons we learn the "hard way" are the ones we don't forget
> easily. Good Luck Bill
>


--
Rob's Rules: http://littlefrogfarm.com
1) There is always room for one more orchid
2) There is always room for two more orchids
2a) See rule 1
3) When one has insufficient credit to obtain more
orchids, obtain more credit

Thank you all for your comments. I kind of knew there was nothing I
can do. Even if I went back to the show they might have done anything.
I would be just wasting my precious time away from my girls or would
be dragging them out in the rain. I was just so disappointed at that
moment. I have learnt my lesson. It would have been cheaper and
faster to just buy from HomeDepot. :) I understand if one plant was
like that but all of them. That was just too much. I bag them all up
in plastic bags, hopefully they will survive and get new roots. Thank
you all again.

Hi Lisa,

If you had wanted an established plant, there were many US vendors selling
great plants at reasonable prices. That is not what you bought. You bought
some of the best and newest clones fresh out of Taiwan. You know the clones
are true because you bought them in bloom. Imported plants do not come with
established root systems, to pass ag inspection they must be ripped out of
their mix and sent bare root or wrapped in fresh moss. I have much better
luck importing plants bare root, but a bare rooted plant would not last four
days in the Roc.

Now that you have the plants you will need to graduate to advance orchid
growing to get them reestablished. Break down the flower spike, it will be
a year or two before you see the plant blooming again. Remove the plants
from their 'pots' and remove the moss that was used to wrap the roots.
Throw both away. Run your fingers down the roots and remove any soft
tissue. I do not remove the firm, but broken roots because I think they
help anchor the plant until the new roots get started. Assume all the roots
are going to die and select the new pot accordingly, I reported mine into
3" pots which were even smaller than the 'pot' they arrived in. I will grow
the new plants in the seedling section for at least six months treating it
like it was a plant just out of flask. I loss 25 to 50 percent. As the
plant get established it is going to tap the leaves for energy and you are
going to loss a couple. Plant I bought from 'Jane' last year are now either
dead or establish with four leaves, two weak looking things that came with
the plant and two fresh healthy ones that have grown over the last year.
They are blooming with a couple of flowers. Next year they should be great
looking plants.

When Orchis has a clone I really want, I buy three. This year I bought one
'Red Cat', I only wanted the pollen, if the plant lives great.

Next year you might consider attending my wife's lecture on Friday. She
spends a lot of time talking about what needs to be considered to be a wise
orchid consumer.

Good luck with the plants, if you can keep them alive, you will have some of
the coolest and most unique plants around.

Pat


"Lisa" <lisaliwong [at] gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1145948747.463048.139280 [at] i39g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> Thank you all for your comments. I kind of knew there was nothing I
> can do. Even if I went back to the show they might have done anything.
> I would be just wasting my precious time away from my girls or would
> be dragging them out in the rain. I was just so disappointed at that
> moment. I have learnt my lesson. It would have been cheaper and
> faster to just buy from HomeDepot. :) I understand if one plant was
> like that but all of them. That was just too much. I bag them all up
> in plastic bags, hopefully they will survive and get new roots. Thank
> you all again.
>

A lot of straight talk in this thread. It helps me today, makes me a
better buyer. It has helped me in the recent past with less than hoped
for plants. I have bought a dozen this year and all are still alive and
growing new roots and pbulbs, about half came with bad roots. Even a
Oncidium and a Epiphyllum that I have had for more than five years are
growing like mad. I am still changing pots, water, light, everything
trying to get it right, I think newbies must all go through this. I
have pretty much quit buying plants off tailgates (some tailgates are
dressed up to look real professional).
Joe T