Bloomify Tech on Etsy (they're also on Ebay and elsewhere)

[Fishkeeper]

I tripped over this seller while poking around, and thought, what the hell, their prices are good and the plants look promising. I ordered a Haraella retrocalla, Bulbo. electrinium var Calvum, and a 'dome terrarium' (some sort of flask) D. spatulata sundew.

Overall, I'm happy. Both orchids were... sorta mounted? They were in some moss that had been tied onto 3" squares of plank with fishing line. Neither had attached to the mount. It looks like they aren't using tree fern any more, even though the picture for the Haraella shows tree fern.
The plants were packed well, and came with basic, pretty generic care instructions. To be fair, these are pretty generic micro-minis, as far as I can tell.

I cut the fishing line and took them off the mounts, and have been keeping them both kinda set on/in the moss in a little temporary holding box. These photos were taken to inspect the roots and show them to a friend of mine, and were done by just picking the orchids up and letting the moss fall off.


That looks about blooming size to me, as these go. Seems healthy. Nice little plant, looks like the picture, though I ordered one without a flower spike because it was cheaper. These aren't exactly one of those orchids you have to wait an eternity to get a bloom from.


This guy's a little small, and I'm not 100% sure if this is two divisions kinda looped together or not. Other people in the reviews posted pictures of larger plants, so I think this may just have been a small one that got grabbed by whoever was packing, rather than the standard for these. Oh well, it'll grow, and they didn't actually say it was blooming size.


This one came with a flower spike! Didn't expect that. I'm almost tempted to open this flask early and see if I can get seeds. These can have much better color than this, but it would probably be hard to put it in brighter light, which produces better red coloration in sundews, without cooking it in the little flask. Curious to see how this develops in there, and how long it'll be before it should be taken out.

Overall, I'm happy. Not an exciting mounting job, but I'm sure it would work fine. Healthy plants to my eye. I'd order again if they had something I was looking for- which they might! I haven't checked, I don't have orchid cash right now.

[neophyte]

Glad you had a good ordering experience! I poked around a bit on their website and their prices do look quite reasonable...

[Leafmite]

I bought a few from Amazon last year. I highly recommend them!

[katsucats]

Oh, I ordered two plants from these guys from their website Orchid Gene. Phal. amboinensis 'Nicole' came as a small plant but healthy. Haraella retrocalla was pretty big for the price, but due to the way they packed it in wet moss wrapped tightly, it came cooked and the leaves fell apart. They did include a free venus flytrap as a gift, so I guess I got partially my money's worth. They acknowledged my complaint very quickly over email, but I've been checking my mailbox everyday and still haven't seen any replacements.

Edit: Never mind, just checked tracking number. Shipment was created on 5/28 but they just shipped it 6/5. Hopefully it makes it. If it does, then it's one of the better customer service I've received.

[katsucats]

Chris Kao from Bloomify gave me excellent and timely customer service, which is more than I can say about most. The Haraella odorata is like 2-3 times the size of the one I got from Andy's for less than half the price.

However -- and if you know me, you know where this is going --

I tested 3 plants I got from Andy's sale a couple months back and they all came back negative. I had one last test and did a batch test of the two plants I got from Bloomify, and it came back positive for CymMV. Since it was a batch test, I don't know whether it's the Haraella odorata or Phal. amboinensis 'Nicole' that's positive, or both, so I'm going to have to order another set of tests to find out.

It sucks because I really wanted to like these guys. Their customer service and price are top notch.

[Leafmite]

I have two mounted Haraella from them and they are thriving so I hope it isn't the Haraella. The owner is really great and I like what he has been doing here. I will continue to be a customer. The ones in a jar make really great gifts for all my family and friends who really want to grow an orchid or houseplant but have killed every other plant. I just sent yet another Orchid in a Jar off to someone. No worries that these gift orchids will infect any other orchids or plants.

[katsucats]

Well, I got my tests. Haraella is indeterminate. I didn't see a line, but maybe I used too little leaf matter. The Phal. amboinensis 'Nicole', however, is for sure CymMV positive.

[WaterWitchin]

What testing company do you use Katsucats? Just curious...

[katsucats]

Originally Posted by WaterWitchin

What testing company do you use Katsucats? Just curious...

I use Agdia.

[PlumCrazy]

Orchidgene.com/bloomify.store/Amazon/Etsy seller - my experiences: I made one purchase through Amazon and the other times directly from their website. Pictures listed as current are from April 2022.

10/2020 – purchased a Psygmorchis pusilla. It had tracking so I saw it getting held up in hot weather for days. Obviously not the seller’s fault. It arrived alive, but died shortly thereafter. It was very small. I contacted the seller, and a refund was issued promptly.

3/2021 - purchased a Psygmorchis pusilla and a Haraella Retrocalla. The Psygmorchis pusilla had four and a half little leaves and died after about 3 weeks. I did not request a refund. The Haraella Retrocalla is still alive, and has gotten to be a pretty good size, but has never bloomed. It has over a dozen leaves, and I have another with only 3 leaves that blooms (picture is from Feb, with this plant on the left). I had mentioned that to Andy at Andy’s Orchids, and he said that some of these just never bloom and he’s not sure why. Update: I started this write up a couple of days ago and got busy – it now has a spike!! Now happy with it😊

6/2021 – purchased three plants: Aerangis Kotschyana (Kotschy's Aerangis) – I’m pretty happy with this one. It arrived and quickly started thriving. It has about tripled in size, and has some nice, thick roots on it, but I think it a loooong way from blooming still. Sorry, hard to see it in the picture because a couple leaves from a vanda are covering it up. This is a current picture.

Phalaenopsis Tetraspis 'C1' – see photo. This thing has gained that one tiny new leaf in front, and the smallest excuse for a root I’ve ever seen. It hasn’t really gotten any bigger at all, and every day I look at it, wondering when it will die. This is a current picture. Yes, it’s been 10 months…

Cattleya Coccinea, Sophronitis – died within days. VERY tiny. (Pictured.) They didn’t have another one, so I chose the Angraecum Distictum (pictured). I specifically requested that they hold it for a week since I was going out of town, but they sent it immediately and luckily it arrived before I left. Unfortunately, it lasted under two weeks. I did not request a refund.

10/2021 – (yeah, I know….) I purchased a Sophronitis Wittigiana, Wittig's Sophronitis, Pink Flower Orchid. It arrived rotten with the leaves already split apart from the roots. I contacted them and they promptly sent me a new one (recent picture posted). Two tiny little plants. They are still alive though, and have a few itty bitty little new leaves. This is a current picture. And I have a lot of miniatures, and this is not big enough to be called a miniature….

My overall impression: They respond immediately and give refunds for dead plants no questions asked, but ridiculously tiny plants.

Question: I do not know much about the Phalaenopsis or Sophronitis wittigiana that I still have, but they look so tiny I am thinking they should still be in flasks?

Also, no need to comment on my issue of continuing to make additional purchases 😉 I’m done now!!