Always ask about potting!

[Val]

I have recently bought a Phal. inscriptiosinensis (among others) on eBay. It was advertised as potted in a 9 cm pot and I assumed that the plant had strong roots and required a 9 cm pot. Right?
Wrong.
I took the plant out of the pot and found out that there weren't so many roots, and three of them were dead. I plan to repot it in a 5 cm pot, but even this one is too big.

Lesson: always ask the vendor if the plant you intend to buy is correctly potted! Otherwise, you might be lead to believe that the plant is stronger than it actually is, judging by the size of the pot.

[tucker85]

Good lesson. Many vendors give the pot size to indicate the relative size of the plant.

[WhiteRabbit]

ah- unfortunately, so true

[Arenalbotanicalgarden]

Most vendors up there grow in the smallest cheapest pots they can make work and use as little water as possible.
Orchids are epiphytes, NOT goldfish !
The phal producers are the worst of the lot !

[Val]

I doubt that the plant has been grown in this 9 cm pot for long. More likely it was recently repotted/overpotted.

If I kept it in the 9 cm pot and watered it normally, I believe I would have lost most of the roots in less than two months.

This overpotting for selling is dangerous for two reasons: 1- it's misleading with regards to plant size, and 2- it can lead to overwatering and loosing the roots.

The other 3 plants I bought from the same vendor are relatively well potted (size-wise), but I'm going to keep an eye on them anyway.

[Arenalbotanicalgarden]

My whole adult life I've tried and tried to tell people before buying $2000 worth of orchids go to the countries where they grow and pay some locals well to take you to the woods and show you some.They'll usually be cultivating a few at home. Once you have it in your head ( and digicam) you'll have far less problems with cultivation.