Santa Barbara Orchid Estate?

[Call_Me_Bob]

Originally Posted by King_of_orchid_growing:)

I don't get it...

L. anceps is a cake walk. This is usually not a very problematic orchid for growers of all levels.

Spring/summer is growing season. They can put out leads like crazy. Same goes for root growth.

Whether you'll see it bloom right away upon purchase is a different story.

neither did I! they were snippy to begin with. but she said "well, whoever is planning this project thing obviously doesnt know what they are doing" i was sooo mad. i just said thank you and hung up!!

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Originally Posted by help

neither did I! they were snippy to begin with. but she said "well, whoever is planning this project thing obviously doesnt know what they are doing" i was sooo mad. i just said thank you and hung up!!

Ohhh...

Okay. Now I get it.

It's like I said...

L. anceps is very easy for most people. The person who spoke to you had the opinion of:

"L. anceps as a project plant? Really? Most people don't have problems with it, especially if they got a healthy plant to begin with. There are other orchids that are much more difficult to grow or have mysterious origins that are far more worthy of being project plants."

Basically...

If you picked L. anceps as a project plant, it won't take long for you to figure out how to grow it. There are others that'll keep you guessing unless you do extensive amounts of research, experimenting, and puzzle solving.

My opinion of L. anceps being a project plant is less harsh...

I think of it as an easy to grow and showy orchid that is highly desirable, and people picked it to be a project plant to have a good excuse to buy one when they normally wouldn't.

[Call_Me_Bob]

no, the person meant that the time of year was not right for shipping laelia anceps in her opinion, and that ANYONE should know that

thats what i got out if it

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Originally Posted by help

no, the person meant that the time of year was not right for shipping laelia anceps in her opinion, and that ANYONE should know that

thats what i got out if it

Growing season, too many things can break? Easier to ship during winter break when less disturbance occurs?

Maybe both this and the previous reason...

Oh, and when they're in bloom, they get as large as 4' to 5' tall. Maybe that factors into it as well. Shipping is expensive.

[Call_Me_Bob]

yeah, she said they all had leads. in bloom, that would be hard to ship

i think its a combo of those reasons we stated earlier, and that the representative was having a bad day

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Originally Posted by help

yeah, she said they all had leads. in bloom, that would be hard to ship

i think its a combo of those reasons we stated earlier, and that the representative was having a bad day

Why not ask when would be a good time to ship? Wouldn't you like to know that as a beginner?

Just say something like...

I've never grown L. anceps before. And I'm new to orchid growing. I'd like to purchase L. anceps from you. Since you're saying it's not a good time to ship now. Could you please tell me when a good time to ship would be?

[peeweelovesbooks]

Originally Posted by Angurek

I'm wondering what everyone's experiences have been with this vendor. I've been hesitant to buy from them because their webpage says they quarantine orders destined to Florida for a month. In instances such as those, does one pay for the plants before or after the quarantine period? I'm kinda impatient when it comes to incoming orders. I don't think I'd be able to wait a whole month. The suspense would give me a heart attack.

They have many plants that have been on my wish list for a long time.

I've ordered from them before (the Lc. and Laelia anceps species divisions) and I've always found them to be quite helpful.

I ask for virus testing for the L. anceps divisions that I've bought, and they don't charge me extra for it. They usually bill you 2 weeks after they send you the plant, but I requested that they bill me upon shipment, as I hate having this random charge floating in the air. They usually ship 2 to 3 day fed ex, and they are very vigilant about tracking weather patterns in the shipping route.

One shipment was delayed because they felt it was too cold, and now they told me they are watching the temperatures because they don't want the plants to pass through areas when it's too hot.

Their plants are of excellent quality.

King--I agree, Laelia anceps is easy for me to grow--I have no idea WHY it seems to have developed this mystique about being difficult. I literally just remove them from the pots, clean them up a bit (there's not much of that to do) and plop them in hydroton--and off they go.

Last summer I bought a division of an anceps and today I removed it from a 5x5 aircone pot because the roots were busting out of it. I just literally pressed the sides of the pot together, pulled, and off came a square of hydroton enclosed in roots.

They are easy!!!

[Call_Me_Bob]

I wish mine was easy. It has an ok amount if roots wheni repotted it. U repotted it ou of moss and put it in bark. Some if the roots on the top are gettingmushy. But inside. They look fine. There is a nice big lead growing. Bu I'm worried about the roots

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Originally Posted by help

I wish mine was easy. It has an ok amount if roots wheni repotted it. U repotted it ou of moss and put it in bark. Some if the roots on the top are gettingmushy. But inside. They look fine. There is a nice big lead growing. Bu I'm worried about the roots

Don't over complicate this one.

I'm aware of the project thread you've participated in. Follow that advice and wait. It really isn't hard, trust me.

I've even thrown in an in-situ pic where the person with the Flickr account actually mentions the specific location of where the L. anceps is from. You can Google all sorts of climate info and stuff from just that alone.

Orchids generally don't grow as fast as daisies.

If waiting is a problem, actually try growing a harder orchid to keep yourself busy (I'm serious, I'm not saying this to be mean).

[Call_Me_Bob]

i saw that thanks