Yes, I probably am. I do hope they change, there is no reason to cut corners with the potting process the way they have and ultimately detrimental to the business.

I haven't tried kelpmax, I'lll look around for a smaller size, only found $40 for liter.

I was just planning on going in strong with 5% bleach solution and scissors, a little dry out and repot and superthrive. It's the way I had learned way back when, but open to new if it makes a huge difference.

1liter is the smallest package.

You’ll pay too much if you go through Amazon.

where should I purchasing it? I had the same issue with amazon and hydroton... and thank you for your information on LECA, i'm giving it a try for the next while.

orchids.com aka Norman's
 

UGH. I also wish i had found this forum before ordering from orchids.com. I ordered 5 orchids and received 4... no spikes, no flowers so I cannot address anything regarding the correctness of the ones I received. I am missing the phal schilleriana and when I called to tell them, the lady was nice enough but dismissive. Her solution... reply to the email she sends and she will forward to the "order packer". Excuse me? This just proves that they are outsourcing their orders to other vendors. I have done as she asked and have received no reply. I am not patient with shitty customer service such as this and will be disputing my cc charge until they offer something.

I have had this exact problem with Seattle Orchids. Yes, I have received some very nice things from them, however most of what I bought from them was trash, and they had no interested in making it right by any means. They were actually hostile about it.

Sure they have some good stuff and if I was ever in Seattle, I would definitely take the time to visit them so I could have an opportunity to inspect individual plants before I bought to make sure they were healthy and it good condition. I don't order from them anymore because I don't feel like I can trust them to send me a quality plant that I haven't inspected myself. They are just not trustworthy.

I think it would be more useful if you opened a new thread for this since it's a different vendor.

I don't believe the Phal. schilleriana are outsourced, they do grow many varieties of this species as their specialty. I have the San Ramon Island variety. Once I repotted from the old compacted sphagnum it began doing very well.

Orchids.com/Normans
 

:(( I echo the notion they are not great.

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A few years ago I purchased 3 phals as gifts for my mother. one was fine. the other two were obviously mislabeled (found upon blooming). back then I only started virus testing and found that 2 of the 3 were virused. When I called I was told they would refund the two wrong plants, but they never did. Eventually I got sick of calling them and filed a dispute with my CC company; despite me furnishing documentation of receiving incorrect (and virused) product they took their side! We then had a nasty google review/comment thing going for a while. (They certainly seemed to have plenty of time for that, which was comical).

Bunch of crooks. Nasty to boot. So many places to get good plants. Don't support these clowns.

CC companies, Paypal, ebay, etc., have never sided with me when it came to plants. All the vendor has to demonstrate is that a plant was shipped. Whether it's the correct plant, whether it's virused or anything, is not within the expertise of the auditors.