Ecuagenera Order?
 

Hi!
I usually try to purchase my orchids locally after several bad experiences with ordering from far away. However, Ecuagenera seems to have good deals. How healthy are the plants when they arrive?

Variable. The big plants usually do well. Small plants here have been hit-or-miss.

They always ship big healthy plants that are incredibly well priced but sometimes they are damaged by the extended transit. Totally worth it though, they are one of my favorite suppliers.

For me they are a "go to" vendor.

A) I love their huge selection and
B) you can't beat the prices for the size of the plant you'll get (typically).

If one doesn't make it I don't lose a minute of sleep over it.

I ordered a Catt. and half a dozen Phrags in Nov that got here in Jan. and they are doing great. The Catt. has already bloomed and half of the Phrags are in spike.

BTW, do any of you know discount codes? I heard Ecuagenera occasionally puts out promo codes.

I got an email from them a couple of days ago that they are having a Mother's Day sale.

Up to 25% off . There was a pricelist attachment which I will try and PM to you.

---------- Post added at 05:12 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:05 PM ----------

Mods------ How does one put a document in a PM as an attachment?

There doesn't seem to be an option. You can ask the recipient for their email address and do it that way (which is what I have done on occasion) - outside of OB. (I looked at the "insert image" option but it assumes the image is online, can be inserted only as a URL)

Thanks Roberta. That's what we ended up doing.

I am a big fan

They have a lot of unusual items I could not find anywhere else, but at least 6 yrs ago I bought a few plants that were smaller than I'd have expected. They were what they said they were, bug and fungus free, but as I said - smaller than I had thought they would be.

Funny. They always impress me with the size of the plants. I have gotten several massive ones over the years.

Can you guys enlighten me on how to order/what to expect in terms of time frame from ordering to actual shipping/shipping costs? I've been eyeing some phrags. Thanks in advance.

Their Mother's Day sale says May/June delivery.
Shipping doesn't feel any worse than domestic because I think they'll ship from Apopka, FL.

Shipping depends on their schedule from Ecuador - they ship to their Florida nursery a couple of times a month. So once it gets there the shipping time is like domestic, but if it needs to come from Ecuador first, there can be a lag of several weeks. (I suspect that the FL nursery has some things in stock, but the majority of plants live in Ecuador until ordered. There's no way that sort of quantity and variety could be accommodated in a "satellite" facility.)

Yesss!
I ordered my C. trianae.
My dad said he is going to have nightmares, notably about Dracula benedictii, Dracula vampira, Telipogon diabolicus, and that pleurothallid that looks like a plucked turkey with a bloodshot cyclops eye. :lol:

Yeah, it’s ups to you from Florida( Apopka) plus the shipping their from Ecuador and the time you order until shipping. +up to 15 days since it is bimonthly.

My last order was only two weeks to my door but I think I got riiiiight in on the shipment to the USA lol

Drool.... you have picked out some great stuff. I have a Drac benedictii (mine came from a San Francisco OS member sales booth) that is an absolute flower machine. D. vampira flower floats like a disembodied spirit. I'm eager to see how the Telipogon does for you - I have been afraid of them because they're such high elevation plants, concerned about getting them through the summer. So looking forward to yours!

Oh man, I wish I bought those also... So nightmarish!
Only purchased the trianae.
I can't grow those; they need too much humidity. :bua::bua::bua::bua:
When I get a cool greenhouse I am going to buy them all and make a house of horrors!

Something to look forward to... if you want to get some ideas as to what you can actually get away with, if you don't have it already look for "A Bay Area Guide to Orchids and Their Culture" by Mary Gerritsen. It addresses the specific micro-climates of the SF Bay area with massive amounts of information (and gorgeous photos). The SF orchid society website has been redone and doesn't show a "sales" area, but they definitely have it, you can send an email and no doubt get it if you're interested.

Here's the trianae I got from them in Jan. that bloomed in March. And now it's got 2 nice new growths starting!
Really nice flower. I was super happy with the plant.

I have the book. It is really nice. That is how I became interested in growing Laelinae outside!;)

OK maniac, you've made me do it!

Just ordered
Aerangis hyaloides
Angraecum eburneum subsp. superbum
Encyclia dichroma
Phragmipedium besseae var guarumales

Nice selection!
I doubt you could get the plants anywhere other than Ecuagenera, especially the phragmipedium. I just realized they sell flasks too... time for another shopping spree!!

So, I guess there's no such thing as perfect. After 24 plants, 2-3 stem rots, I finally got a CymMV from Ecuagenera. They sent me their return policy, which means I must initiate return within 3 days, and pay shipping back. Mind you, shipping was $40, and the Epidendium hugomedinae was $25. I told them I was disappointed in the response, and this definitely put a hamper on my enthusiasm. I'd probably still purchase from them due to the size-value, but now it's clear that each order is a risk, where if anything goes wrong, the vendor refuses to stand behind it.

The sales guy, Anahi Carchi, who responded to me, makes it clear that they don't care at all whether there are viruses in their operation. There is no comment on my photo of positive ELISA tests.

I originally wrote a post about Ecuagenera deleting negative reviews and not recognizing Agdia tests. I had an Epidendrum hugomedinae test positive for CymMV. A couple days after sending my photos, someone sent me an email to refund 80% of the cost of the plant in question. Before that, two people gave me the standard "we'll consider your suggestions" type of thing. So I'm updating my post to reflect that. This is the first virus I got from Ecuagenera after nearly two dozen plants, so it may still be worth purchasing from them, but their response was a bit iffy.

And here they are.
I was really nervous when I saw they had shipped the other day and we are due for a 4 day 90+ degree heatwave. When I opened that box today is was cooking on the inside but very humid. They look fine. Gave them all a good soak after unpacking and then potted them up.

Once again, I am not dissppointed by Ecuagenera.
BTW- the packing scheme on that little haloides was ingenious. Roots wrapped in paper with a bent paperclip taped on. The clip was inserted through the sidewall midway down the inside of the plastic cup then taped thus holding the plant suspended in the cup with a taped on cover. Brilliant!

I know some of you love to test orchids and that's great but honestly....... for what I'm paying for these plants , I just don't care. Now, if I'm purchasing a thousand dollar plant for breeding purposes, then I care. That obviously is not the case. I buy them to grow and enjoy. I bet if you tested seedling tomato plants in a roadside nursery you'd find plenty of virus and they still produce edible fruit. The world is full of them as we know all too well and most are relatively harmless.

Anyway:
1) haloides
2) eburneum (huge division)
3) dichroma (nice division)
4) besseae var. guarumales (huge division)

Ecuagenera first order: about average experience?
 

Hi just got my first order in from Ecuagenera, came exactly when they said it would. The box was practically flattened unfortunately. About the condition of the plants, is this about average? Anything you recommend to treat them, haven’t dealt with plants in this kind of shipping conditions before. Some seem to have some rot and/or dehydration.

Images in album:
http://www.orchidboard.com/community...lbums1699.html



http://www.orchidboard.com/community...ture13391.jpeg

I've never received a flattened box from them, although I have received several plants that came down with bulb rot not long after. Most plants end up okay, it depends on the genus. I bought a Cyrtochilum edwardii twice and both times I'm having an uphill battle with some kind of stem rot. The Oncidium, Stanhopea, Dendrobium, Maxillaria and Lycaste are flawless. Epidendrum and Encyclia are struggling. But this is just anecdotal.

Yikes!
You need to send them those pictures. Especially the ones with the plants that look like they've been dissected.

Get them unwrapped and soaking in water (or even better Kelp Max if you have some) for several hours.
Mostly, the ones that are just desiccated looking should come back fine.
I'd ask for replacements or refunds for the ones that got all smashed up.
I've had several shipments from Ecuagenera and never seen anything like that.

.

Thanks everyone for the advice. I soaked them in RO water with a little KLN and little physam 20
For rotted ones. I sent off the images to Ecuagenera to seek their guidance on the matter. I accounted for perhaps a bit of damage but this is more than I bargained for.

Update on damage/ desiccated/ Rotted plants
 

Hey everyone,
I can’t say enough good things about how Ecuagenera responded. They were attentive as sent photos of the initial condition of the plants and sadly the total decline of all of the species. I’m very sad that the shipping process panned out this way, but they did issue a full refund for my order. I’ll be coordinating a new order when temperatures are more forgiving on the route, and certainly need to pick plants that perhaps stand a better chance.

If anyone references this post in the future you can look at the condition of the plants I reviewed in my photo albums. They were all on some level cooked upon arrival. Some more steamed and others more baked. The ones that seemed like they’d be fine we’re quickly overtaken by the minor injuries.