Seattle Orchid virus issues?

[katsucats]

Originally Posted by MJG

I'm glad you had one vendor who offered to to refund your shipping. The one who put it back on his website deserves to be called out. There are some good ones and somes really bad ones apparently.

They never took it off the website. It showed "1" in stock the whole time even though they told me it was from their private collection. I won't out them before I figure out whether they would really resell it to my other email address .

I would love to know who those other 3 vendors are that refunded and offered to replace with test. That sounds like a class act. The ones that refunded part of the total cost of my order acted like they were doing me a favor.

From my experience having talked to several "reputable" vendors in person and over email, none of the ones I asked would have stood by a virus guarantee. I just mentally figure in the cost of a couple tests every time I buy a plant.

[JScott]

Originally Posted by katsucats

They never took it off the website. It showed "1" in stock the whole time even though they told me it was from their private collection. I won't out them before I figure out whether they would really resell it to my other email address .

I would love to know who those other 3 vendors are that refunded and offered to replace with test. That sounds like a class act. The ones that refunded part of the total cost of my order acted like they were doing me a favor.

From my experience having talked to several "reputable" vendors in person and over email, none of the ones I asked would have stood by a virus guarantee. I just mentally figure in the cost of a couple tests every time I buy a plant.

I have heard of Odom's, Marlow, Chadwick & Son, and Krull Smith refunding for virused plants. I'm sure there are others, but those are the ones I have heard personal experiences about.

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by JScott

I have heard of Odom's, Marlow, Chadwick & Son, and Krull Smith refunding for virused plants. I'm sure there are others, but those are the ones I have heard personal experiences about.

I know of a situation where Andy's Orchids did the same. It's really rare to have a problem with any of his plants but there was one that a friend got... Andy traced to an employee not sterilizing tools (plants in a particular small area) and replaced the plant with test to prove that the replacement was clean.

[katsucats]

Originally Posted by JScott

I have heard of Odom's, Marlow, Chadwick & Son, and Krull Smith refunding for virused plants. I'm sure there are others, but those are the ones I have heard personal experiences about.

Add Main Street to the list. I'm super happy about the resolution I got from them this morning. I knew I shop at Andy's and Marlow's for a reason.

[MJG]

Add Hausermann, J&L Orchids, and Ecuagenera to the list of the good guys. Ecuagenera was the one who offered to send me a replacement plant that they tested first.

[MJG]

Oof, insomnia again. I'm starting to keep vampire's hours.

Originally Posted by katsucats

It's great that this all got sorted out. Out of the 4-5 vendors that I've gotten viruses from, all of them wanted me to send it back. One of them insisted he wasn't going to resell it, that it was just going to go back into his private collection. But it's still there on his website. All "reputable" nurseries too. It seems like just a shady industry standard. I was thankful to the one that offered to refund the return shipping. Most of them don't refund any shipping, to or from (or the price of the tests).

katsucats, it occurred to me that you might be buying pricier plants than I am. Maybe that's why more of your vendors are demanding that you sent the plants back. Mine have been fairly inexpensive and probably not much of a loss for my vendors to just refund.

Just a thought triggered by your mention of the "private collection" orchid. It still wouldn't make what you been experiencing fair.

[katsucats]

Originally Posted by MJG

katsucats, it occurred to me that you might be buying pricier plants than I am.

Not particularly. The plant was listed in their normal section. Not sure why he said it was his private collection, maybe for a $10 upsell

The vast majority of the plants I buy are under 40. Plants that I've sent back range from 15-45. I think you're probably just more careful about where you buy from. For example, after reading this board a bit, I know there are several vendors I'll be crossing off my list.

[katsucats]

Originally Posted by JScott

I have heard of Odom's, Marlow, Chadwick & Son, and Krull Smith refunding for virused plants. I'm sure there are others, but those are the ones I have heard personal experiences about.

Hmm, I didn't think the day would come, but I got a virused plant from Marlow's. I sent them an email Wednesday night and got back an email today, saying essentially that they usually only offer replacements, but will make a special exception this time because it's out of stock, and that they "order from some many vendors from across the world and just don’t have the capacity to test ever (sic) plant". While the email was very courteous, it didn't really inspire confidence. I still haven't gotten my refund, but we shall see come Monday. On the positive side, they didn't ask me to send it back.

This is the second time I bought a Den. anosmum and the second time it's virused. Man, am I just destined not to own this species, or what?

[MJG]

Originally Posted by katsucats

Hmm, I didn't think the day would come, but I got a virused plant from Marlow's. I sent them an email Wednesday night and got back an email today, saying essentially that they usually only offer replacements, but will make a special exception this time because it's out of stock, and that they "order from some many vendors from across the world and just don’t have the capacity to test ever (sic) plant". While the email was very courteous, it didn't really inspire confidence. I still haven't gotten my refund, but we shall see come Monday. On the positive side, they didn't ask me to send it back.

katsucats, I am sorry to hear this. As to "inspiring confidence "
the response you had from Marlow is very similar to what Hausermann told me about viruses in their stock.

This is verbatim from Hausermann's email to me on the one occasion I got virused orchids from them:

We are sorry to hear about the virus test on our plants. We do test all of our plants before mericloning and practice sanitation habits as best we can.

We will be glad to credit you on these two plants, however we cannot in the future certify completely virus free plants. We propagate many of our own plants but we also bring in plants from many other sources (to create more variety) where we cannot control their virus testing,sanitation etc. It simply is not practical to test all plants from other sources. I would like to point out though that these positive tests are a rare occurrence.

Marlow and Hausermann are both "good guys". The common thread seems to be that when a grower sources orchids from other vendors, there are going to be viruses. I'd expect to see viruses much less often from the good growers, as I expect they're vigilant, but it's sooooo frustrating when it happens.

Maybe someone here on the board is able to help you find a source for a virus free Den. anosmum? I hope so.

[Roberta]

katsucats -
As a source, consider Andy's Orchids. He can't test everything either, but his record for clean plants is very good. When you order, you might mention the problems you have had, maybe you can get him to test the plant before sending. The worst that could happen is that he says "no", but if you don't ask you certainly won't get.

If it isn't on his website, ask... odds are very good that he has it. The website contains probably less than 20% of the species that he actually has.