My 'therapeutic' orchid order is here! :)

[silken]

They all look very healthy and I hope they brighten things up for you.

[camille1585]

I think I just broke the record for how long it takes me to kill an orchid. The package arrived Tuesday, and last night the Haraella dropped all its leaves, rotten at the base. I don't know what happened. The orchids were unbelievably well packed, and it wasn't even that cold outside (still doesn't go below freezing at night)
Guess I'll email the grower to see what he'll do about it.

[Junebug]

Hey Camille,

Sorry to hear about the Masdie. That's a bummer. All of the plants looked pristine in the photo. The Masdie must have received some sort of shock along the way. Had you even had the chance to repot it yet?

[camille1585]

The masdie is perfectly fine, it's the haraella that has the problem!

The grower just emailed back, he will only give me back 4.50€ (the plant cost 11.50€). He says that it's written on his website that Haraella is not an easy orchid to grow and not for beginners, so basically it's my fault it already died.

Wonderful grower, until you have a problem with an orchid.... I have yet to meet a grower in Europe who will 'happily' refund you when a plant has a problem. Each time it involves a lot of begging and negociating. One reputable german grower sent me a rootless Phal, and even with photos of it he put up a stink about giving me back my money.

And so my bad luck streak continues, it's still one thing after another after another.

[Junebug]

Originally Posted by camille1585

The masdie is perfectly fine, it's the haraella that has the problem!

The grower just emailed back, he will only give me back 4.50€ (the plant cost 11.50€). He says that it's written on his website that Haraella is not an easy orchid to grow and not for beginners, so basically it's my fault it already died.

Wonderful grower, until you have a problem with an orchid.... I have yet to meet a grower in Europe who will 'happily' refund you when a plant has a problem. Each time it involves a lot of begging and negociating. One reputable german grower sent me a rootless Phal, and even with photos of it he put up a stink about giving me back my money.

And so my bad luck streak continues, it's still one thing after another after another.

Woops, sorry! Junebug didn't get enough sleep and shouldn't be posting in the wee hours.

Well, you're not a beginner, but at least you're getting a partial refund and that's better than none at all. Will you give the haraella another try?

Bad luck does seem to come in streaks, but don't despair. Things usually resolve and often get better over time. When I feel depressed or overwhelmed by life's problems I make an effort to give thanks for all the positive things...the basics... and I constantly remind myself that there are others much less fortunate than myself. The things we commonly stress over are trivial in comparison to real tragedies. Cheer up girl.

[camille1585]

I'll get another one, but I'll wait until spring. I was hoping to get at least a 50% refund on it.
I'm just really disappointed that I only got to enjoy it less than 2 days. If it had died after blooming then it would at least have been somewhat worth it.

[Junebug]

A fresh start in Spring sounds great. It's a good time of year for plant introductions.

A few hours ago I went out in the shadehouse to do some moonlight gardening...checked on the progess of my little fat catasetum spike and found the spike to be gone with a bush snail in it's place. I won't be enjoying the blooms I'd hoped for but I did get some satisfaction from smashing the snail. I followed up by baiting the pot with sliced potatoes because that one tiny snail couldn't have eaten that much vegetation. I'm looking forward to smashing his friends come daylight.

[silken]

Sorry about the new plant Camille. When things go bad or I have a stressful situation staring me in the face, I tell myself "This too will pass". And you know what? It always does! Sunnier days are on the horizon

[camille1585]

Originally Posted by Junebug

A fresh start in Spring sounds great. It's a good time of year for plant introductions.

A few hours ago I went out in the shadehouse to do some moonlight gardening...checked on the progess of my little fat catasetum spike and found the spike to be gone with a bush snail in it's place. I won't be enjoying the blooms I'd hoped for but I did get some satisfaction from smashing the snail. I followed up by baiting the pot with sliced potatoes because that one tiny snail couldn't have eaten that much vegetation. I'm looking forward to smashing his friends come daylight.

Now that is really not a nice surprise! It's worse than killing a new plant, because you nurtured that orchid to produce the spike. I hope you kill all of them little suckers! I'm surprised that a small snail could do so much damage. Are you sure that something larger didn't bite it off and the snail came to suck up the fresh sap?

I got another nice email back from the grower, really apologetic about what happened even though it really doesn't seem to be either one of us's fault. He did make me feel bad by saying that he had picked out the best and strongest plant for me (and the only one with a spike), since I'm a regular client. Oh well, it's just a plant, there will be more!

[Daethen]

Wow, I feel for you. I have usually had good luck with plant problems here. I had my Paph. Chiu Hua Dancer for about a month or two. It hadn't looked great when I got it, but it went steadily down hill. I spent over $50.00 on it. I contacted the grower and let him know I wasn't real happy with the plant he had sent, expecting nothing after that length of time. Well, for the cost of shipping, he sent me a 2 growth plant to replace my 1 growth dead plant. It is now starting another new growth.