Just Add Ice horror
 

Found this at the grocery store and gasped outloud:

:yikes:

It's too bad they'll never know who that was - they should be fired. Hopefully they already have been.

Grind that one up and put it in a salad. They'll make more.

It's always sad to see a soon-to-be-dead orchid.

I don't know. Are we sure it couldn't survive with some TLC? I've got a phal in my collection that had a stake partially through a leaf -- not right through the center like this one, but there was a hole right at the edge of the leaf. When I acquired the plant, I moved the stake, and the damaged part just scarred over. There is still a hole there, but this was over a year ago and the plant is doing great.

I have another one that had a spike attempt to grow right through the leaf above it. It made a hole in the leaf that is still there, but again the plant is doing fine quite some time later.

I agree that it's a shame, though, that those mass-produced orchids are treated so carelessly.

If you are worried about the stake through the leaf, IMO it probably happened at the nursery of origin, rather than the store. Ugly, but probably has not seriously damaged the plant, just disfigured one leaf.

OMG! That is so... um... dead on! My point exactly; it just shouldn't have happened.

Jkofferdahl said it perfectly. That phal and all the others from there are doomed-that is, unless rescued by those who know better.

Those who know better don't buy plants without a tag... ;)

oh, I don't know about that.....I always feed the strays!

my grocery store sells those disasters, the 'just add ice' ones, and I have FINALLY convinced the flower girl there not to do that.....actually, the way they are packaged, they don't need water at all for over a month.....

and, when they lose their blooms she puts them on sale....like $5....but I wont even do that!

once, she had 20 of them, they looked horrible...so I offered $2 apiece, just to take them all and done....do she did, and I healed and bloomed them all, and gave them away!

they really make nice gifts, and, sometimes, you start a new orchidaholic! doing my part for the good of all orchids!

actually, I kept about 4 of them (I secretly abhor phals) and one has 3 spikes of lovely pink stripey flowers....and one is a nice yellow.....

They grow new roots if you know what you are doing. After all these years I have perfected Phal growing. I am no longer afraid of them. All Praise Lecca!

Really? You abhor phals? Why?

It's really not any worse than inadvertently shutting a leaf in the window and slicing it off. 🤤

yes, they take up too much room that could be better used for paphs and cattleyas!!! lol

if I ever get 1/2 acre or so under glass, I will grow a few.....:biggrin:

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Yeah they do tend to take up a lot of room the bigger they get. But don't forget the little miniatures! I have a nice blend of both. And when I start to play the lottery and of course start to win then I too will be able to grow other orchids other than phals because I will have a huge place with lots of windows and lots of light! But I don't believe you really abhor them!;)

NoID orchids are not all that bad. Before the days when you could buy orchids online, I bought a Dendrobium from a florist (flowers had been used and the nearly dead plant was offered for sale). It turned out to be one of the best orchids I ever had. When it was out on the porch for the summer, in bloom, people would ring our doorbell and ask us what type of plant it was. No one noticed any of my other orchids when they bloomed. It was the orchid I took to my first Orchid Society meeting...it had six gracefully-arching spikes, twenty-two full, round flowers. I think the kids, not the dog, got this one.

That! Is a great story! I love it!

Or mistakenly cutting off a green spike with buds instead of the dead, brown one right next to it. The walls are still echoing with the sound of my screams after that screwup.

No, nurse! I said slip off his spectacles!