Dissapointment? Aerangis
 

I just received this orchid today from an online seller... after they messed up the shipping multiple times, it finally arrived. Online it was advertised as a mature, blooming size Aerangis ugandensis. I expected it to be a healthy specimen, since I paid $42 for the plant alone (a little high for me, as I tend to buy great plants in the $30 - much better quality than this one). I kind of expected more than 3 leaves. The roots are questionable, too: as you can see in the photos, a lot of the roots are dead, hollow and papery, but green due to what looks like some sort of spray-on moss? Is that even natural? I can only trace back about 5 good roots to the plant. Overall I'm just unimpressed, unfortunately. Would others consider this disappointing? Or is this considered a really good specimen for this species?

This plant is from a very reputable seller, who I think we would all expect immaculate plants from, but it's not the first time I've been disappointed by their products.

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I don't grow this one so it is only my opinion. Just doing a quick search this would be a disappointment to me for that price. The roots would upset me as much as the size of the plant. The moss on the mount and roots looks like algae.

Hopefully someone growing this will come on and have some helpful information for you. I would contact the seller and let them know you're not pleased with this plant.

For that price, I would be disappointed. :(

Many Angraecoids might not be easy to find but I have seen this one offered much cheaper in the past (I didn't buy it as I think I have enough Angraecoids).

That's definitely spray on, probably intentionally used to try to hide that it's not in good shape. Is there any new root growth or live growth tips?

Thanks, everyone. If anyone has more thoughts on this, I would love to hear them all before I craft my message to the seller.

Yeah, the roots were really a bummer for me, too. I plan on contacting the seller, I just wanted to make sure that my disappointment is valid.

I looked around online and found others under $20 with two times more leaves and really healthy looking roots. Some were younger plants but they looked a lot healthier. I’m actually beginning to question whether or not this is really blooming size.

Ok, I’m glad that I wasn’t the only one thinking it was spray on to try to hide the root damage. There’s only one active root tip, from a single good-looking root that wraps around to the back of the mount.

You can even see the thumbprint from where they held the mount when they spray-painted it.

Is this algae spray-paint thing a common practice...?

Ok after looking again, I agree it looks like spray on. Especially where you see clear/clean wood near what's left of the roots. I certainly would contact the seller.

I have an issue with sellers that don't show pictures of the actual plant but most of the plants I buy (miniatures) are sold this way. Depends on the vendor, I buy from Andy's a lot and he only shows the bloom so it's a guess as to what "my" plant will look like but I trust him. eBay vendors need to show me the exact plant unless they are a vendor I've purchased from before with excellent plants. I hope you get this resolved to your satisfaction, what a shame and you had shipping issues as well. Good luck.

Just because a seller is well known doesn't mean they won't try to cheat sometimes, especially with what they suspect to be newer growers

I never heard of it. I wonder if they will try and convince you it's a magic protective root coating at no extra charge.