Buying online...Orchids.com?
 

Hello!

Well things seem to be going good so far with my newly repotted Orchids. Since delving into caring for Orchids versus having Orchids I've become more and more interested in being an Orchid enthusiast for real!

So I told myself NO MORE ORCHIDS until those that I have now pull through their compromised state. Then I bought the grocery store Phal. that turned out to have been dyed the beautiful dark purple/violet color that it is. And I've jumped on here, asked questions, presented my circumstances, and got some great advice and repotted my group. Oh btw, checked the roots of the store bought (I named it Desire because I was so drawn to its color...hm...) and they look pretty good. The medium was really dry so I soaked it good today (maybe should have sooner).

And now that I've been through all of this, and grown closer to my group, I'm kind of wanting to get a new type of Orchid. So I was browsing online and created some wishlists.

My question is: have you ever bought from Orchids.com? And what does it mean when they say: Note: husky plant? Does that mean it's big, like a husky guy? Or...? What about Hauserman's Orchids? The second has a greenhouse I could potentially visit in the future but of course they don't have the same kinds. So I thought I'll buy one from each! But then, hmmm, what if I get to the greenhouse and wish I'd have bought all from them? Of course my impatient side wants me to buy one of them from Orchids.com RIGHT NOW RIGHT NOW! The one I'm looking at is:

Oncda. Kilauea 'Hawaii' note: husky plant (Onc.sphacelatum ' Sunbeam' AM/AOS x Oncda. Charlesworthii ' Mishima' HCC/AOS) (Mature Size)


Anybody with experience with either of these retailers and/or this plant or something like it? Mind you, if you don't already know I'm an amateur! I'm in the US Midwest, FYI in terms of looking at retailers.

Thanks!
Lotis

I've had multiple experiences with both and I would highly recommend Hausermann's, and warn you to steer clear of Orchids.com.

Hausermann's really cares for their plants and about their customers, they respond to your emails, and if they make a mistake (which they rarely do), they will replace the plants at no cost to you and don't make you send the other ones back.

Orchids.com only cares about making a buck. 90% of the plants I've gotten from Orchids.com have been virused, somehow compromised, or simply NOT the plant that I ordered, the staff is rude and require you to pay return shipping if THEY make a mistake.

If you search within the forum I'm sure you'll find reviews of both merchants too but this was a quick summary of my opinion and experiences.

thank you!
 

I really appreciate your reply to this, thank you, especially since I was about to purchase a plant from Orchids.com. I'm going to do what I can to get to Hausermann's, thank you for that recommendation as well. On one hand it's super great that it's so soon (2 more days!) because that will feed my impatience to satisfaction, then again I have barely any time to prepare! It's good to know as well that they are good with customer care, leads me to believe that they are invested in their clientele.


Thanks!
Lotis

I just purchased a Phal. Schilleriana from Orchids.com and I received the plant in full bloom as advertised. Very happy with it. So, if Orchids.com says husky, you might receive a hug plant in the mail. :rofl: All kidding aside, you might want to call Orchids.com before placing your order, that way you get what you want :biggrin:

I have heard some horror stories about orchids.com. I have heard good things about Andy's orchids though. Good luck

Exotic Orchids of Maui has a nice selection of hybrid Catts at very good prices, and their customer service is excellent as well. The only downside is a $150 minimum order, which given their pricing can add up to a lot of plants!

I've bought plants from both Orchids.com (Norman's) and Hausermann's. I've received good orchids and good service from both. I have probably about 20 orchids, both cattleyas and phalaenopsis, from Orchids.com and many of them are excellent. Any phalaenopsis that comes from Taiwan wholesale nurseries is likely to have a virus. Viruses don't adversely affect phalaenopsis like they do cattleyas. Never-the-less many growers don't want viruses in their collections and I understand that. Most of Norman's phals are from Taiwan so you can take that into consideration.

I have heard both good and bad about Orchids.com. They might be a middleman by taking your order and procuring it from another vendor whom they can not control. Hausermans has been in business for years and has great customer service. And a large selection. Sunset Valley orchids is very good too. As are many other retailers. Shipping costs are high though so make sure you want what you order. Shows are the best place to get orchids. Or nurseries if there is one close enough. In fact Ray here from First Rays has good quality orchids at decent prices. Where are you in the MW" There may be a nursery near you that you don't know about. Also orchid clubs are great for trading or opportunity tables where you can get nice orchids.

I must contribute to this thread to reinforce the negative comments about Orchids.com (Norman's) and the positive comments about Hausermans. From my experience, Orchids.com sucks! About 3 years ago I made a fairly large (@$350) multi-plant purchase from them for the first (and last time). I spent quite a bit extra to get each plant in "bud or bloom". When the plants arrived, one had a near-dead (end of bloom) flower on it that fell off the next day, a cat. had one "bud" on it about the size of a pea (which yellowed and fell off a week later), and another plant was well under the size advertised. I e-mailed them my dissatisfied-customer comments, along with photo documentation and was ignored twice. Then I called and spoke to a poorly-english speaking person who pretended (I am sure about it) to not understand why I am dissatisfied, kind of playing the Abbot-Castello "Who's on First" dialog game.

On the other hand, my order from Hauserman's was perfect, with at least one plant much better than advertised and a signed sheet saying my plants were chosen by one of the Hauserman family members. I also buy orchids directly from them when visiting family in Chicago and their operation is fantastic.

Two pieces of advice (besides "steer clear of Orchids.com"): 1) If ordering from a new dealer, don't make the mistake I did and order only a small - 2-3 plants batch to test them out; 2) If you can get to Hausermans personally and don't care that you may not get the orchid you want in bloom due to the timing of your visit, it's worth the wait and pick out the nicest plants by yourself or with their help. They always have many blooming specimens in the forward greenhouse, but you can go anywhere else you want and find the section of your particular species of interest and get one that calls out to you!

Is there any orchid in particular that you want? Perhaps if we knew the type we could reccomend some good vendors.

Here's a few you can look up: Carmela Orchids, Fox Valley Orchids, Carter and Holmes Orchids, Orchid Inn USA, Mid-Pacific Orchids, First Rays, Piping Rock Orchids, Windy Hill Gardens, Botanica Ltd., H and R Nurseries, R.F. Orchids, & schordje.com.

Ok more than a few. But I've had good seedlings with almost all of them or at least heard good things about them. And I've got to say I love slipper orchids. They can be pretty or pretty wierd and most are easy to grow.

Seattle orchid is AMAZING and super nice. I only order from Carter and Holmes if they have something I am dying to get. Bc their shipping prices ouch! Sunset Valley orchids have gorgeous catasetums/mormodes etc. As for hausermanns and orchids.com never used them. Good luck. Is there any specific plant you are looking for?

---------- Post added at 01:16 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:10 PM ----------

Oh! Theres is Kawamotto(sp) they have GORGEOUS PLANTS and will email with you back and forth. SHERMANTP is a ebay seller had one bad experience but they refunded me for the rotted plant. Um...
Unhappykat1 is another ebay seller who I got an amazing plant from and was extremely nice as well.

---------- Post added at 01:23 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:16 PM ----------

Oh and if you ever see an SUNSET VALLEY ORCHID PLANT....trust me be prepared for a battle most od the time and you will get your moneys worth. I had a thread about SVO orchids and you can see what I mean them babies were HUGE!

I have made only one purchase from Orchids.Com. Among other plants, I purchased a specimen size Phal. schilleriana var. purpurea 'Ma #2' in spike. It was an expensive plant. A year later, when I got around to testing it for viruses, I found that it was infected with Cymbidium Mosaic Virus. I tossed the plant into the garbage bin. I also discovered a Phal. violacea var. sumatrana that I had purchased for Orchids.com at the same time was infected with Odontoglossum Ring Spot virus.

You may also want to look at this thread before purchasing from Orchids.com:
http://www.orchidboard.com/community...orst-ever.html

Oh yes!!! How could I forget Seattle Orchid? On eBay they are incredibleorchids.

Here's other good ebayers: potterychef1, shermantp, theorchidzone, bandbandmandt, pupsi_dog, unhappykat1, cgmoody, sunsetvalleyorchids, paphmaven.

Pupsi_dog is an amazing one! I have a cycnode from th I totally forgot! Their pictures dont do the plant justice.

I love hausermans, have dealt with them for years and always enjoyed the transaction...their plants are clean, well potted, and size appropriate or better than listed....they are great! also, carmela's in Hawaii are a great group to deal with, they have good specials every little bit, and their plug babies are wonderful! I did have one bad experience with exotic orchids of maui...the plants were weak and stressed....none were the size advertised...so I never ordered from them again....never tried orchids.com, I always felt they were way overpriced....good luck and enjoy!

I buy from Carter & Holmes about once a year, & have been to their greenhouses. One thing I like about them is that they grow out their own crosses and mericlones, so they have tight reigns on quality control. I can't swear that all of their plants are solely developed from seed or mericlone in-house, but I know that most are. If they clone, I hear that they do virus screening before they clone anything.

I am sure C&H is not the only grower that does this. If you find a vendor whose selection you like, you might want to ask how they get from seed (or meristem) to a plant ready for sale. Quality, and service, are everything!

Just had a very good EBay experience with Clown Alley.

I don't agree with this because Orchids.com is the seller and, ultimately, the responsible party for the quality of the product. That doesn't mean that you don't contact the seller (Orchids.com) to let them know about the quality issue. Drop shipping is a fairly frequent method for sales with many products. But, like most people here, I'd like to know the seller is the one actually shipping. From all the comments I've read I will probably not be using them as I am a relative newbie to orchids.

@LexusNexus check the vendor page as well its a great page to see who all of us have had great or horrid experiance with.

I love orchids by hausermann. I received some of the best plants I've ever gotten from them. The roots were beautiful. I also received lovely plants from big leaf orchids.

Thanks, kindrag...

Thanks everybody for all the recommendations! I'm in the Chicagoland area so going to Hausermann's would be the way to go for me. Sadly I wasn't able to attend their show (really bummed :-( ) but first chance I get I'm going to visit their greenhouse.

There's not any particular plant at this point that I'm looking for to be honest. Really I just want to add a new species/hybrid to my collection, something other than Phal. or Paph. as that's what I currently have. Well I take half that back, I wouldn't be opposed to another Paph. From what I've been looking into I'm interested for sure in Miltionopsis, Cat., Cymbidium, and/or Dendrobium. I'm also not opposed to minis, at present I have a mini Phal.

Thanks again for all your recommendations, I'm sure myself and other newbies will really appreciate this. No one wants to buy products that could be questionable especially when it comes to fairly expensive plants that are the start to a hobby. As a new Orchidist getting some crappy plants could possibly turn you off to building a collection.

Cheers! (Whenever I do get some new chids I'll post some pics. :-) )

I bought two times from Odom's. A first and a last.

The first person I ordered with seemed relatively patient with questions and my request for great roots over blooms or spikes. I received a plant with a piteous root system and a dubious future. I searched far and wide and couldn't find this one anywhere else so....I doubled down. I reordered the same plant.

I did this after a sales person hung up on me when I asked if they could offer any discount on the second orchid, given the condition of the first. ("No ma'am, we can't. Ma'am, it's Valentine's day, our busiest time. I'm hanging up now." )

Don't judge me. Picasso had his blue phase. I am having an orange one. Anyone can see that Potinara Young Min Orange "Golden Satisfaction" is essential for a well rounded collection of orange orchids.

The second plant has a slightly less piteous root system than the first. It may even live.

I am the one with an orchid virus.

And if one of you happens to have a thriving Pot. Young Min Orange that you're tired of and would have sold in a hot minute, I will pretend I didn't hear that.

Probably.

I want to second the idea of going to local nurseries whenever possible. Nothing like picking out your plant in person, and not having to pay shipping or putting the plant through the shipping process. Same advantage with shows. Also I have gotten a lot of good plants for great prices or for free through my local orchid society. As I learn and mature my wants, I find I am returning the favor and adding my less loved plants to the raffle table (to make room for new plants, of course). Once you get to the point where you have to have an X, then mail order is inevitable. I try to time shipping for not-too-hot, not-too-cold months.

Laurel

Yes, local shops and shows are the way to go if you live within a reasonable distance (and for me that's a couple of hours, YMMV). But there are times when you're looking for something specific and then you have to order....

My advice would be to check out the vendor feedback section of this forum--lots of info there. Also, if you are a member of your local orchid society the members can probably give you feedback as well.

If you are looking for species, Andy's Orchids is the way to go.

Good luck and let us know what you buy!

Catherine

Husky? Don't know. Big is all I can think of. Like "burley," kind of like a Lumberjack, if an orchid were a person.

No one has mentioned Oak Hill yet. They are in Wisconsin so probably not within driving distance for you but certainly a good mail order option. They used to have very nice plants. I have not ordered from them since the business was sold several years ago so can't vouch for the current owners.

Oak Hill Gardens

I ordered from them last summer. Plants came in great condition and I was very happy with the service I received.

The new owners of Oak Hill Gardens are just fabulous, judging on the orchids I received late last summer. I was quite nervous about ordering from them but very, very pleasantly surprised. I am already making a list to order from them again.
Online vendors that have made me very happy so far:
Andy's
Oak Hill Gardens Orchids
Hausermann's
Al's Orchid Greenhouse

I have also met some great vendors at shows but haven't yet ordered from them. So....

I always check out the reviews on Dave's Gardens before ordering from a new vendor. I find the comments very helpful. I often also ask around at my orchid society. :)

I can see this hobby is going to be similar to one of my other passions, model railroading. A nice locomotive loaded with sound is a few hundred dollars, or more. :duh:

Honestly u find what works and what does not work for you. Then u become really picky at what you acquire. I strictly look for things in the catasetum/mormode/cycnode/gramm range since I got on here. They work well in my environment especially our bipolar weather lol.

Sorry to bump up an old thread!

I've only bought orchids from stores like home depot and trader joes. Of course those stores don't take great care of their orchids and is often in soaking wet medium with rotting roots. Im considering buying better quality orchids online and came across this thread. I am wondering if the stores mentioned in this thread use better potting medium so you don't need to repot until maybe a year or so later?

Dreamynights:
I know nothing about Orchids.com, but have had great luck with several dealers on Ebay, learned to go for the "Buy it now" - if the plant is auctioned, I often pay more than I want, just because it is SO DANG HARD to not lose!!!
As far as Hausermann's, I have been a HUGE fan of theirs for decades....if you have a chance, you should visit their greenhouse - they grow about 400,000 orchids each year of some phenomenal species and names. They have always been very accommodating whether on the phone or in person. The last orchid I got from them was a HUGE "Marjorie Hausermann" Cattleya for $35.00 - It arrived with 9 bloom buds all of which opened beautifully. For a mail order orchid - you couldn't beat it.
That's my input - good luck finding a good supplier - I have found several online, but you need to really research them some.

I recently bought two Cattleyas from Orchids.com (Norman's Orchids) and there will NOT be a second purchase. Here's how my transaction went...

I ordered two large "in bud" Cattleyas and I was emailed two days after the purchase to have them tell me that one of my selections wasn't available "in bud" as they had all bloomed out weeks ago (why, you may wonder, was it still listed on the web site as available "in bud"?). So I asked them if another variety was available as a substitute and they said yes, they could sell me the other one as a substitute. What they did NOT tell me (my fault for not investigating on my own behalf) was that the substitute they offered me was TWICE the price! So they gladly shipped my plants and I found I had paid far more than I had budgeted. The other plant was chosen as a bit of an afterthought, mainly because the shipping cost was quite high and in such cases I don't like to buy just one plant and pay $30 or more to ship it.

Both plants arrived in promptly, and both were badly in need of repotting. The Plant that was my "add-on" was in a 5 inch clear plastic liner pot stuffed with badly decomposed Sphagnum and obviously had a lot of root loss. It had two leads before they selected it for shipping but had one lead very carelessly hacked off, and all of the roots on the other lead (which had two growths hanging over the pot edge) had been chopped to mere nubs. The surviving lead did indeed have buds in the sheath, but they have failed to develop and something tells me they ain't gonna. I'm praying the poor thing starts some new roots so I can rescue it from its sad pot of decayed Sphagnum.

I contacted these people to express my displeasure for 1) sending me the $$$ plant as a substitute without clearly stating the fact that it was twice the price of the one I had originally ordered and 2) for sending me the second plant in such a sad state with roots hacked off and one lead removed. (no, nobody promised me there'd be two growing leads, but the removal of one lead suggested someone didn't care what the plant looked like when I got it, or perhaps a diseased lead growth had been removed to disguise how stressed the plant was?)

The response I got was very lackadaisical at best. They wanted a photo of the hacked-up plant before they would discuss a replacement (I didn't bother, since it seemed like it was likely to be an exercise in futility) and told me it was my responsibility to determine the price of the substitute plant - which in principle I agree with - but the attitude written into their response was uncaring and made me feel like all of these complaints were unfounded and not something they wanted to deal with.

Its one thing to ship an order that doesn't meet a customer's expectations, but something else entirely to send a message after the fact that shows they just don't care once they've got your money. I'm glad I didn't spend more than I did.

Now, Hausermann's on the other hand, has been exemplary to deal with and I will go back to them again and again. Nice people, responsive when asked questions, enthusiastic to have me shop with them, and they send large, impressive plants that exceeded my expectations every time. (For under $20 I got a massive plant of LC. Irene Finney with six leads and a leafspan of two and a half feet!)

I remember Hausermann's from when I was a teenager buying my first Orchids in the 1970s, and they are clearly still in business because they do things right. Five stars for Hausermann's. No stars for orchids.com

Well, as long as someone else said it, I'm also quite happy with my Hauserman buys!

I have always been happy with Hausermann's, however I just received an order from them today of two plants. One had hardly any viable roots. I did email them just to see what they say.

Would love to hear their response. My plants have all always exceeded my expectations (though I have felt some definitely needed repotting when I received them).

I've been very pleased with the plants and service from Hauserman's, Carter & Holmes, First Rays, H&R Nurseries and Big Leaf Orchids. Highly recommend any of them.

Since nobody else has mentioned Andy's in this thread, consider it said. Another very good eBay vendor not mentioned is orchidblaine at Orchids For The People. And although you will likely pay a premium, mostly species on eBay, aka Marni Turkel provides excellent examples of unusual and desirable orchids.

Hausermann's has always sent me great orchids. Exotic Orchids of Maui, Al's Orchid Greenhouse and Andy's are great places, too. :)