Frozen damage from shipped orchids - help!

[hypersparkle]

I've been scouring the web, but I'd love your opinions. I had some orchids I fell in love with while on vacation shipped to me. The seller insisted that they ship to cold areas of the world all the time and that they'd have it under control.

Let me show you some pictures. I opened the box and it smelled funny. The flowers I know are goners. Will these leaves bounce back? They feel weird and leathery, but they haven't turned to mush.

Here's a link to Google Image Album. Pictures are from today and yesterday when they first arrived.

I emailed the seller and they replied thinking I was just referring to the blooms. So I wrote them back again because obviously my concern is the plants as a WHOLE not just the blooms and buds

[Orchid Whisperer]

One of the plants looks similar to Colmanara (Oncostele) Catatante Pacific Sun Spots, the other - something in the Cattleya alliance.

Both plants do show some damage to some leaves. Both also have leaves that might be OK. Wait and see?

Document the damage to the seller (send photos by e-mail, ASAP). Take photos every few days, just to document what does and does not progress into dying plant tissue.

Question: Was the package delivered to an indoor location (office, etc.)? Or left at a doorstep? That makes a big difference.

Assuming the seller does not live some place cold, and you were not delivering to a doorstep in some place like Ohio, Maine or New York, the seller may bear some responsibility.

It probably would have been better to ship when out of flower (but warm), or transport them on the plane with you.

[hypersparkle]

It was delivered to my door step and picked up off of it within 20 seconds. I just had to shove the dog out of the way. It was from Hawaii to Wisconsin, but when purchased, they told me they do it all the time and that they also guaranteed. They already offered me a store credit just for the blooms, so we'll see what they say re the plants themselves. I emailed back with some more pictures. The plants smell funny. I haven't cut away the rotten spikes though because I don't want to perform any surgery on the plant until I know exactly how the seller wants to handle things.

I'm reading in some places that I should cut off any damage leaves then listerine/cinnamon the cuts because that darkened damaged leaf will be susceptible to bacteria/fungal/etc due to the damage?? Could damage spread? Thoughts?

I definitely agree that there may be enough there to bounce back, but trying to figure out if I just let it do it itself or I go to performing surgery.

The little one is an Epicatanthe. The other one is oncidium. Both of the varieties were developed by the place in Hawaii where I got them. The colors are off due to the freeze damage.

[Ray]

I was unable to see the images, but what you described sounds like definite freeze damage, and your "trim 'em & cinnamon" approach is a good one.

When I shippped plants routinely, in winter I used 72-hour heat packs and LOTS of insulation, and required 2-day shipping to colder regions. If the plants were delivered indoors (as your were - they didn't sit outside for hours), but had sustained damage, I considered that my fault, so refunded or replaced as agreed with my customer.

You should expect the same from the vendor in Hawaii.

[hypersparkle]

Thanks. I think I'll be doing trimming later today. I've been waiting to see what the seller wants me to do. I doubt they'd want them shipped back, but before I chop.. ya know? They said that they don't do heat packs because they find it causes issues? They didn't insulate well though. It was packaged well for bump damages.. sheds of newspaper then wrapped in layers of newspaper, but then just a loose thin styrofoam sheet that wasn't taped and just gently wrapped & put in box. They did do 2 day shipping, but FedEx was late so they were in shipment one extra day. I'm guessing they didn't store it properly that day either.

[estación seca]

It most likely went out with the truck on the proper shipping day, and the driver didn't get to you because a higher-priority item needed to be delivered. Then it sat in the truck outside overnight. That kind of damage would not likely happen in a plane cargo hold, nor in a shipper's warehouse.

This happens a lot, though the delivery services deny it. A friend saw the delivery truck drive by their place of business on Friday morning with a multiple-thousand dollar shipment of pharmaceuticals that had to remain frozen. The truck never returned that day. By Monday they were all thawed and spoiled. Yes, it was insured, but that didn't need to happen.

[Leafmite]

I hate when that happens. I hope the vendor will take care of you. Good luck!

[hypersparkle]

Yeah it was a major bummer. It looks like they are going to give me store credit so I can reorder in the spring.

[Optimist]

The first time this happened to me, I lost a really big plant that I wanted, and I learned my lesson: Never buy an orchid in the winter time. It was nice and warm where I lived, (New Mexico) and nice and warm where the orchid was, (Florida), but it ended up in a freak winter storm in Texas, and was stuck in an unheated warehouse for a week while the USPS tried to get the stuff stored in the warehouse to its appropriate place.

I'm glad you got store credit (I didn't even get that).

[camille1585]

Glad the grower is being good about it.

I never order in the winter for that reason, and if I do, it's from a vendor in my country (next day delivery). One of the big german nurseries has even decided to halt all orders until March, I think they suffer too much damage each winter.