Is this psychopsis a lost cause? Should I return to seller?

[Leafmite]

As the vendor stated that this was for experienced growers only, she was not misleading you and you should not leave a bad review or demand a refund. However, this should be a lesson learned.
Your growths are all viable but you just have to know what to do. (In the early days of orchids, many orchids came to growers much like this.) If you cannot get a kelp product, soak it in rooting hormone (sold at Walmart and all garden centers) and then do as Ray suggests. Then put it by a heating vent as the heat is a great motivator in growing roots.

If you don't have the money for rooting hormone and have some good quality sphagnum moss and a shallow tray (as found when ordering salads at a fast food restaurant), one thing I have found that works is to line the tray with about an inch or two of moss and to set the orchid on top of the moss. Keep the moss damp and provide warmth. If you can use distilled water, that is best. I have used this method to start leafless back-bulb divisions (often just one growth) and also to get tiny seedlings going. Currently, I have a little one-growth bulbo in this set up that a vendor ripped off his plant for me.

[Paul]

Can't help you on the question of kelpmax, but with regards to the seller and the rating ...

Much would depend, IMO, on how the eBay ad was worded and what, if any, pictures were included. If the plant had been depicted as a lush plant with active leads, for example, you'd definitely have something to complain about. If, on the other hand, the vendor was up front about the plant needing some tlc and/or showed accurate photos, then you don't have a leg to stand on.

[astrid]

Originally Posted by Paul

Can't help you on the question of kelpmax, but with regards to the seller and the rating ...

Much would depend, IMO, on how the eBay ad was worded and what, if any, pictures were included. If the plant had been depicted as a lush plant with active leads, for example, you'd definitely have something to complain about. If, on the other hand, the vendor was up front about the plant needing some tlc and/or showed accurate photos, then you don't have a leg to stand on.

She lists certain ads as "rescue" but this one was not listed as a rescue. If it were listed as a rescue, I would completely expect something like this. It was not.

She relisted more like this in this ad.

However, she lists many orchids as "rescue" like in all of these ads.

If the ad was titled "rescue," I would not be upset. I would expect this.

However, because she differentiates like this, I expected a small, so-so condition bulb with a few living roots. I expected that the low cost accounted for the fact that it would take quite a long time for the plant to reestablish itself and bloom, but this condition of the plant I was sent is really just on the level of a "rescue" in my opinion.

Other websites list things as being for experienced growers, which I determine to mean "people who understand how to keep an orchid alive and well and will not be unhappy to receive an orchid that is not in bud/spike/bloom" or "people who understand this will take several years to bloom."

The seller refunded me and is sending a replacement plant, but the picture looks almost as bad as this one as far as the roots go. So she is going above and beyond to give customer service, but it still isn't amazing if the product falls into a "rescue" rather than "mature division" category as it was listed.

I don't think I'm being too unreasonable, I asked either for a refund or for a plant that fit the description, but she gave me both, which is nice but I still feel iffy about the whole thing. I would rather have just had one or the other because I feel both is taking too much. Oh ebay.

---------- Post added at 12:18 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:11 PM ----------

Originally Posted by Leafmite

As the vendor stated that this was for experienced growers only, she was not misleading you and you should not leave a bad review or demand a refund. However, this should be a lesson learned.
Your growths are all viable but you just have to know what to do. (In the early days of orchids, many orchids came to growers much like this.) If you cannot get a kelp product, soak it in rooting hormone (sold at Walmart and all garden centers) and then do as Ray suggests. Then put it by a heating vent as the heat is a great motivator in growing roots.

If you don't have the money for rooting hormone and have some good quality sphagnum moss and a shallow tray (as found when ordering salads at a fast food restaurant), one thing I have found that works is to line the tray with about an inch or two of moss and to set the orchid on top of the moss. Keep the moss damp and provide warmth. If you can use distilled water, that is best. I have used this method to start leafless back-bulb divisions (often just one growth) and also to get tiny seedlings going. Currently, I have a little one-growth bulbo in this set up that a vendor ripped off his plant for me.

The issue for me is that I know I could grow a single bulb with a few viable roots if it was given to me, but I feel like this plant should have been listed as a "rescue." She differentiates between rescue and non-rescue in her ads, which is why I feel I am a bit more in the right than not in the right to be irritated.

Thanks for the alternate care advice. Again, with soaking- Ray made it sound as though I should submerge the whole plant, and I feel like that's not quite what I should do? Am I misinterpreting something? I have the plant sitting on damp sphagnum moss and I plan to mist them a couple times per day and just start the waiting game.

[Brooke]

The leaves and bulbs will take up moisture and will absorb water and anything else in the water.

Do as Leafmite said and treat the pbulbs as back bulbs even though your pbulbs have leaves. You can get get a good seaweed product at a hydroponic store and not have to pay for the shipping.

For you and anyone else who doesn't know, most Psychopsis have very stiff rigid leaves. I actually bumped a Psychopsis into the pot sitting next to it and it snapped a couple inches off the leaf. The plant didn't care.

Brooke

[katrina]

Originally Posted by astrid

... and the leaves are hard like cardboard....

The leaves on Psychopsis (now Oncidium) are stiff and hard...totally different feel from your typical Oncid leaves.



edit >> HA! Looks like Brooke and I were posting at the same time. Great minds....

[pipsxlch]

FWIW, I rescued a desperate Trich. Ollie Palmer (mule ear onc) that was a bag baby a year and a half ago. It was every bit as desperate as yours, maybe even better- the dept. mgr. told me I could have the plant. The leaves were like shriveled two dimensional strips of jerky, the pbulbs just as flat. Roots were straw. I was at my BILs, so I didn't take proper care of it right away- I put it in his fountain and forgot it until the next day. I remembered it when I was leaving the next day. When I got home, I soaked a pinch of sphagnum in FirstRay's fertilizer mix with the kelp, and placed it between the plant and a piece of lava I had. The plant lost all its leaves, but it did plump up (slightly) and did produce new roots and growths fairly quickly. The new growths were tiny, maybe a half inch bulb and leaf- but it has proceeded to grow happily with each growth bigger, and lots of roots. I figure it probably has another 1-2 years before it's blooming size again though.
Hope this helps, the plant can be saved and it shouldn't be too hard (I was helped by the higher humidity here I'm sure). I've questioned some of the sales from that seller, even for an experienced grower with only 1 bulb (seen those) it's easy to have all the eyes damaged. I have a Blc. Maikai 'Louise' right now that is a sprouting single bulb, but the vendor said just take it.

[Romeomffn]

I've seen her auctions on Ebay. I tried to stay clear of her auctions as they seemed too good to be true for the price she was asking for. I've got some Superthrive and some rooting hormone that I can share if you are interested. PM me.

[pipsxlch]

I DON'T know, but I get the feeling they're starting with a more or less mature bareroot plant, and just ripping it into separate pieces of 1-3 pbulbs to maximize payout per plant. Have no idea if that's true, just feels like what you're seeing.

[astrid]

[removed]
I somehow managed to repeat the exact post twice? hmm.

---------- Post added at 02:00 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:55 PM ----------

Originally Posted by Romeomffn

I've seen her auctions on Ebay. I tried to stay clear of her auctions as they seemed too good to be true for the price she was asking for. I've got some Superthrive and some rooting hormone that I can share if you are interested. PM me.

Yeah, they did seem "too good to be true" but for me $12 is okay. I can't buy a new bottle of kelpmax at the moment because valentine's day is coming and I have to spoil my honey instead of my plants.

I think I won't purchase from her again, but so many people left positive reviews that I thought it would be a "safe" bet. If I have a psychopsis blooming in maybe 2-3 years, then I guess it was worth it in the long run.

This is a great learning opportunity, though. I'll PM you.

[Ray]

Originally Posted by astrid

Do you or anyone have a small sample of kelpmax they could send? I don't have any and can't afford the $25 bottle at the moment. I've also been really really curious to try it after seeing some peoples' results!

There are 8 ounce bottles available for $10. I ship those in USPS small, flat-rate boxes for $5.25.

Do you think anyone in my local OS would have some I could try?

How are we supposed to know that???

Or, if I waited a while before I got around to applying it, would the plant be harmed? Orchids grow slowly, but they also seem to die slowly (except in the case of crown rot).

No roots means dying. Waiting means more dead, and less likely to survive.

Also, wouldn't immersing the entire plant kill it? Water would get into the leaves, right? You literally mean the entire plant bulb to leaf?

You want the maximum possible absorption. Fully immersed overnight isn't going to hurt anything. You're the one who said they died slowly...

EDIT: thinking on it, kelpmax seems to have such fragile compounds that it might not be useable if sent in a small sample, would it?

It's actually one of the most stable kelp extracts out there. Testing done four years after extraction showed the continued presence of gibberellins, which are extremely unstable.