Orchid order... are these plants ok??

[isa86]

I made an order from a vendor to pick up at an orchid show, and he gave me the orchids wrapped in paper and plastic, so i didn't get to see them until i got home... and they don't look that healthy to me, to the point where i'm thinking of trying to return them. But i'm relatively new to orchids so i wanted to know your opinion...

The orchids came with a huge ball of soaking wet sphagnum that covered part of the pseudobulbs.

This oncidium barely has any roots, and the psbs are really thin and wrinkly.




this maxillaria has rotten psbs and the roots don't look healthy to me






the two healthier looking plants have this spotting on the leaves that i don’t know if it’s just water damage or something worse. one of them seems to have the only new growth showing signs of rot as well








What do you guys think? am i being picky here, or are some of these plants in bad shape?

[estación seca]

Rotting new growths and pseudobulbs are a bad sign. The plants appear to have been kept too wet and rot has set in. I would contact the vendor. You may have been the last stop on a very long tour.

I would cut off all the dead parts, sterilizing your tool between cuts. Treat with fungicide. Try and re-root the remaining bits. Don't become too hopeful.

[nikkik]

I see the tag in the background and know the vendor. I have bought many plants from them, some fantastic and some not. The long trip, coupled with the wet moss and dark sometimes leads to rot.

I would cut away the rot and treat the plant, but I would also contact the vendor because that plant does look very sad.

[silken]

I'm curious who the vendor is. I can't tell from any tag in the pics. Some will refund or replace. If not, try some seaweed (kelp) when soaking the roots as it really helps stimulate new root growth. I find when I get bare root plants from international vendors, the roots seem to be almost always not too great. I attribute kelp to pulling mine thru in almost all cases.

[naoki]

I'm guessing that this is an import. It is quite a bit trickier than buying established plants. The condition is a bit below average for the import, but if you provide a good environment, it will likely recover. I personally wouldn't complain about the condition. I'm not sure which species it is, but they seem to have enough pseudobulbs to get over the acclimation hump. It will possibly drop lots of leaves in the first month. A couple things which may or may not help is Trichoderma, aspirin (try 325mg tablet in 1-2 liter), and rooting hormones (K-L-N, kelp products etc). High air humidity, and keep the media drier to encourage rooting for the first 1-2 month. Getting the optimum temperature could be also important depending on the species.

[bil]

Those are dire.

In your shoes I would ask for my money back. If they refuse, this is the age where thanks to electronic media, you can make a serious stink on their face book page, etc etc, there will also be business reviews. I certainly wouldn't want to buy from a firm that shipped out stuff like that. it would make me go else where.

[campchi]

You should be able to recover the plant provided that you give the right condition. It will take a while to see any bloom, but it will live. I would remove the dead tissues and pour hydrogen peroxide to clean it and let it air dry then soak it in seaweed or kelp solution for a good 30min daily to promote root growth. Good luck

[lotis146]

I agree that it's possible they'll recover after you treat as others have advised, I also think you should contact the vendor with your pictures and concerns. Much can go wrong in the process of shipping, especially international, but that doesn't mean the conditions of those plants are acceptable. I'm starting to think more vendors need to ship plants more dry than not... Good luck, keep us posted.

What are these plants btw?

[isa86]

Thank you everyone for your input!
I managed to go back to the orchid show and talked to them, the vendor was polite and nice, said they were fine (i disagree) and that i should keep them, and if they die, they'll send me replacements when they're back in the country.
I ended up getting a refund, because in my opinion, if they always package the plants buried in wet sphagnum for long periods of time, i'm not willing to wait 6 months to receive another sick plant.
It's a shame, they seem to have nice plants, from what i was able to read online it's the way they insist on packaging the plants that causes them problems.
So i would recommend anyone that wants to buy from this vendor at shows (Ecuagenera) to check carefully the condition of the plants before you take them home.

The plants were an Oncidium fuscatum, a Maxillaria Schunkeana, a Brassia verrucosa, and a Miltassia.

I ended up picking up a few bulbophyllum at another vendor, i'm excited cause it's a genus i've never grown before.

[gerneveyn]

I had a similar experience a few years ago. Following the advice previously posted should help. There are a few US vendors that regularly import from them and then sell the plants. One vendor waits until the plant has adjusted and is thriving again. Perhaps there is a similar vendor in your country if you ever want to buy a plant from Ecuagenera again.