Mail ordered plants don't appear as advertised

[smokinjoe1952]

This is the second shipment of orchids where the coloration of the blooms are not nearly as nice as the photos on the vendors website. The most recent shipment included a:

Aliceara Donald Halliday 'Smile Eri'

There are 2 blooms out right now, and there is NO pink fringing on the edges...all white. Supposedly, the fringing gets darker as the blooms age, but frankly, there is none to get darker. The plant as it looks right now is not something that I would have purchased.

I am not sure if I should be concerned about these instances or not. Buying locally is not an option unless you want NOID Phals.

I am not sure what to do, if anything. I have not contacted the seller, because I am not sure if I have an issue.

Maybe my superior culture techniques will bring out the beauty next time it blooms!

[Optimist]

I would ask if it has bloomed before? or is it a blooming size that is finally blooming for the first time.. n my own experience, the first blooms that the plant has ever put out are often freakish, and sometimes the petals stick together and such. There is also the crazy "individuality" of plants. Was it aclone? or a seedling? If it was from a seedling population, and first blooming it is about 5 to 7 years old, and will show individuality (sometimes lighter, sometimes darker etc.) I did a google image search of the plant, and see that the fringing is from nearly none, to very thick, so it looks like each will have its own fingerprint.

[Orchid Whisperer]

Optimist is right regarding the seedling vs. clone issue. A plant that is a mericlone of the plant you saw in the picture should bloom "close" in appearance. With seedlings that are merely of the same grex (cross), there can be huge variation.

Even mericlones, or the exact same plant, can bloom differently from one time to another, depending on cultural leading up to the blooms. I have one plant (Cattleya Orglade's Blaze) that is spectacular, and fragrant, at some times, and not fragrant/ho-hum at other times.

I would discuss with the vendor any satisfaction issues you may have. However, if it is a seed-produced plant, and is otherwise healthy, I am not sure you have an argument to make.

[jkofferdahl]

Yes, what vendors post are going to be pictures of the best example they can get of the bloom for sale. Results will vary a lot with seed-grown plants, with some possibly not even resembling the "ideal". The differences in culture will also affect the bloom's appearance, so unless you grow the same plant as the vendor under the exact same circumstances as he grew it you're not going to get an exact match - and as OW alluded to, the same plant can vary from year to year. just like a crop of wine grapes may be special one year and meh the following.

[smokinjoe1952]

This is the description from the website:

____Aliceara Danald Halliday 'Smile Eri' (Aliceara Tahoma Glacier x Oncidium Richard Waugh) - 3.5" pot size. Flowers are about 4.5 inches wide. Flowering plants are about 23 inches with the pot. From Japan. Blooms twice a year. Warm tolerant. Purple edging on flowers becomes more intense as flowers age. One of our favorites hybrids. Not in bud at this time. ____

It has 2 PB's and there is an obvious cut spike on the first PB, so assume this is the second blooming.

From the desc. there is no way to tell if is a clone or from a seedling. Is that correct?

I have attached a pic of my plant and what I thought I ordered.

[AnonYMouse]

Send the vendor the photo and see what they say.

[jkofferdahl]

It looks to me like it's probably the same, just yours is a less attractive form.

[Leafmite]

If the buds are just opening, wait a little while to see if the color changes. I have a couple of orchids that have color changes. Most dramatically, I have had Lotus blooms that go from white to pink (and they do not stay open long at all!). Many flowers of all types do this. So, just wait and see, first, before calling them.

Second, temperature can play a role when it comes to the addition of red. Often a flower grown under cooler temperatures will be more 'red' than one that is nurtured under warmer temperatures. I have seen this with my own orchids and a few other types of blooms. Some of my Cattleyas are a redder shade of purple when blooming under cooler temperatures and cooler temperatures definitely improve the Nelly Isler blooms (much less white and much more red).

[Bohata]

I think Danald Halliday would be the grex name with 'Smile Eri' the clone (variety) name. It is the usual convention to put the variety name in single quotes, but not the grex name. Having said that, a mericlone will have come from a single cell of the parent plant, and they will occasionally mutate, so not quite all offspring will be identical to the parent, even assuming identical culture.

[smokinjoe1952]

Lesson learned:

Don't buy an orchid unless:

A. It is blooming.
B. It is a known clone of a pictured orchid.

Is that sage advice?

I'll let the blooms age, but it appears this is not a clone. We'll see.

SJ