Masdie Ebay Buy, meh...

[Tindomul]

So I purchased a Masdevallia princeps (I have a weakness for this species) on ebay. It was cheapish and I figured why not. A bit of history. I have killed my first M. princeps just this year. 6+ years of growth, no blooms and then it suddenly rotted away. I got a second one and it mostly has rotted away, still hanging on with one leaf.

Ok, back to the present. I ordered this M. princeps which should have had three leaves, but it came with two leaves and the roots look bad. I guess the guy felt bad and sent me a free Masdevallia Bay Breeze.
I have never grown any Masdies in the ignea and coccinea group. This one looks a bit better than the princeps, but oh well. So I found this topic on that hybrid,
Fraseri
M. coccinea x M. ignea

John Tomaschke
M. Heathii x M. discoidea

M. Heathii
M. ignea x M.veitchiana
Masd. Bay Breeze 'Empress'

Its real pretty if I get it to bloom. I'm wondering if I should just put them both in Semi/hydro. I gravitate towards semi/hydro or stick things in terrariums because I really suck at watering plants continually long term. With semi/hydro there is a reservoir, and my terrariums are automated.
Any cultural advice on either plant is appreciated.

[Salixx]

I just want to say that I suspect that we purchased from the same ebay Vendor, as I got some very unhealthy Masdies off ebay, packaged the same and with the same handwriting.

Make sure you QT them. My originals came in with scale and thrips.

I bought Masdevallia tuerckheimii and Masdevallia schroederiana. Both had bad (rotten) roots and both ended up dying within a 3 week period. I put them both in S/H to start with, but I have a feeling that it made the rot worse. One by one, they dropped all their leaves.

I will say, the vendor was very good otherwise. I contacted him after they died, well after problems arise and with no pictures. I just wanted to let him know about the pests. He replaced the tuerckheimii and substituted in a Cassiope since he was out of schroederiana.

Those ones are better, and still alive without any signs of dying (the Cassiope is throwing two new growths after less than two weeks).

Personally, if you have really rotten ones, I would sphag and bag them. The others, if okay, I would put in s/h (because I just LOVE it). I have two strictly cool growers (the Cassiope and a chaparensis). I did s/h in clay pots with external reservoir (deep drip trays) to increase the evaporative cooling. Both of them seem to like it and are doing well.

Not sure this helps, but I feel your disappointment! I know I was when I opened the box and found some pretty poor plants from this vendor.

[Tindomul]

Thanks! I'll have to try the sphag and bag method. I'll have to look up how to do it as I have never before done it. Right now they are soaking in rooting hormone.
Also I really like your clay pot idea.

[Pattywack]

I believe I purchased from his vendor as well, same handwriting, same foil packing. My first ever bare root purchase so I was unsure if the plants had gotten too dry or not. I bought 2 Platystele misera (misera they were too!) at a reasonable price. The seller sent 3 plants hmmm? Anyway, one plant was pretty poorly when they arrived and they were very small. I potted them all together in the spag that was in their foil, put them into a tiny plastic pot and watched them drop leaf after leaf for 3 days.

I contacted the seller, he was prepared to replace them if they did not live, asked me to let him know in a couple of days. He was very nice. After about 5 days the one weak one died or at least lost all leaves, roots are still green today! The others hung on and today they are growing, I've got 7 new leaves! It's been a couple of months now.

The seller had good reviews, I buy on eBay a lot just usually from sellers I've bought from before. This was a plant I really wanted. I guess if you baby them back to health, it's worth all the headache but I'm not looking for bare root again, no thanks.

Hope your Masdevallia pull through for you! Lessons learned right?

[Tindomul]

Right! I'm crossing my fingers and hoping they make it.

[gngrhill]

On the plus side of bare root, at least you know what you have to deal with right away. I got my 2 walkerianas that way and I was glad to see the horrible roots right from the get-go, and didn't have to wait to start treatment.

[Pattywack]

I have to agree with the fact that you see the problems with bare root from the get go, however I prefer a no problem purchase. In my limited experience with bare root I honestly thought these plants were going to die, quickly. I took a chance once, I'm not looking to nurse them back to health I want to see them flourish.

Shipping is tough enough on them and maybe this particular vendor needs to adjust his packing. I see bare root listings all the time, even from Andy's.

[Tindomul]

I have had many plants shipped to me bare root before and never had delivered in this condition. The act of shipping is not the problem. The vendor's plants just aren't doing all that well. But that's a subject for another part of this forum.

[No-Pro-mwa]

Good luck with them. Sounds like there are allot of you that have gotten bad plants from this seller.