I finally got an Elizabeth Anne 'buckleberry'

[Optimist]

I got had. I started to repot it today with some new moss, and found that it was just bits and pieces, like scraps that were just mashed together and thrown into a pot. I do not trust the seller at all. Sadly, it is a seller with 100% good-- I may not know what good is. I bought a 50 dollar pile of sticks. I feel sick to my stomach.

[Dollythehun]

I'm sorry optimist. If it had to happen, I wish hadn't been someone as nice as you.

[estación seca]

Oh no! Earlier you said it was spiking. Are any of the pieces alive?

A lot of people here get plants from various sellers on eBay and Amazon, and are often happy. But I've never been unhappy with plants from some of the big growers like Carmela's, Carter & Holmes, H&R, Orchids by Hausermann and SVO. Yes, the plants are sometimes smaller, but they are healthy and grow quickly.

H&R now has seedling Bulbophyllum Wilbur Chang in 2" pots for six dollars. Yes, there will be a shipping charge. Here is a photo of mine, which arrived Thursday in our society group order. Notice the huge new growth.

[MattWoelfsen]

I have bought many plants from this eBay vendor. I have always given him 5* because every plant met or exceeded my expectations. If I did not already own this plant, I would have bid for the plant you got.

That said, I’m sorry to read about your experience. The plant looked very good when it was up for sale. Some times vendors do put together smaller plants to create a larger, fuller, offering. Did some of the parts die unexpectedly? I’m not defending the vendor. Just asking....

[Optimist]

Originally Posted by MattWoelfsen

. Some times vendors do put together smaller plants to create a larger, fuller, offering. Did some of the parts die unexpectedly? I’m not defending the vendor. Just asking....

The plant did not die. The leaves are still good. A few, like where there was a back bulb on a disarticulated runner did rot. Just about 2 old back-bulbs rotted. Some of the leaves are slightly wrinkled (they were that way when I got them, and I figure the older leaves are that way). It is just that it is 20 plants all crammed together.

It should have been a healthy larger plant, instead it was a bunch of scraps, some with dead roots, others with bulbs that had no leaves. When you look at the whole thing, you think that since it is so big, there will be vigor, but instead, it is a bunch of small weak plants, some with no roots, others with 2 leafless back-bulbs and one leaf (etc.).

I thought they were spikes, but they were new leaves. There are about 11 new leaves. Not all on the same plant, because it is 20 plants.

I did what I could do. I took 4 of the largest and made a basket of them, and put the smaller pieces in separate pots and maybe I will try to sell them later.

That does not diminish the fact that it was sold as one large 10" plant, and not a stack of bits and pieces.

[estación seca]

Wow. I have bought plants on sale that turned out to be 2 healthy pieces in 1 pot, but nothing like what happened to you.

[Leafmite]

For the price you paid for that orchid and having it shipped to you, I understand your disappointment.

Carmela's does this sometimes, too, but they always include pieces that are blooming size and have a decent number of pseudobulbs. I just received a Cattleya with six pieces. The orchid was cheap so I was not expecting a specimen size. What I have are bonus orchids.

When you are expecting and paying for a specimen, you should be getting one.

[Optimist]

Originally Posted by Leafmite

For the price you paid for that orchid and having it shipped to you, I understand your disappointment.

Carmela's does this sometimes, too, but they always include pieces that are blooming size and have a decent number of pseudobulbs. I just received a Cattleya with six pieces. The orchid was cheap so I was not expecting a specimen size. What I have are bonus orchids.

When you are expecting and paying for a specimen, you should be getting one.

I sent him an email last night, and got a reply this moring. He demolished me-- called me an amature because I wanted to re-pot. (I did so because I found some slugs in the moss). The "hey, wait a minute" moment is when you realize that a one or two inch runner with t bulbs on it are not going to have any flowers, and if the plant is 75% of these tiny fragments, you are going to have a big ball of leaves, and probably dying leaves because they are so small. I also am not a grower, and have no green house, so I am not pleased at all in having 25 tiny pots of plants that I have to start from scratch. I just do not have the room. I will end up giving them away for free.

One large plant would have been putting flowers out by now, but I have 25 "starter" plants. It's like buying a flask, but getting old leaves and shriveled bulbs instead of young healthy plants.

By the way, the shriveled bulbs make sense to me now. The "divisions" were not connected to a big plant. They were getting their fuel from the bulbs because the roots were dry as well. There were only "some" viable green roots, and those were the ones that were attached to only a handful of bulbs.

[Leafmite]

I would definitely separate all the pieces in their own pots and get them growing well, then sell them and recap your losses. Bulbophyllum grow quickly and almost constantly and this is one of them. A few of our members have brought this Bulbo for the show table and, not surprisingly, theirs started with a piece from another member.

[In Situ Orchids]

Please see all attached photos of the conversation Catherine and I have had so far and decide for yourself.

The second to last photo is of bare root divisions made yesterday that I offered to send Catherine for free to try and make this right in the best way I know how.

The last photo is of my mother plant before I made divisions of it of which I made more than a dozen and now that I see her plant here in her original post showing it in a 10” basket, I can see that what she purchased was a large chunk that I cut away from my mother plant which because of the rambling growth habit of this orchid, makes it impossible to get a large division that is one single piece. If OPTIMIST and others in this forum do not understand that, then I’m at a loss to explain. Since OPTIMIST would not work with me to try and make this right, I refunded the $55.00 she paid for the orchid. That’s the best I can do under the circumstances.