Got my seedlings ...

[Secundino]

... all dead.

Will see if I'm in the mood later on to post a picture of that bad smelling agar mush. :sob:

This is fifteen roths.

This slimeball is 15 druryi, I still don't dare to 'open' it ...
Oh, I had just built a grow box, ventilation, substrate, ... :sob: so sad, so unnecessarily.

 

[Bjorn]

This is really bad- what happened?

 

[Secundino]

If you send boxes with agar and just add chips - ¿have you ever wettened a polystyrene chip? - with the rolling and shaking of a packet, you get a neat and very compact mush ball in every plastic box ... regardless of the chips you use outside to cushion them ... That's why I asked to send them wrapped in moss.

Agar and mould and chips-mush. Not nice. I 'planted' a few leaves, just for sake, they will collapse within hours.

 

[eteson]

So sad.
Yes you should ask to send the seedlings deflasked or, even better, in a sterile bag without agar.

 

[JAB]

No bueno
From where?

 

[theorchidzone]

I am hoping the seller can replace.
In our experience it is impossible to guarantee safe arrival 100% no matter what the shipping protocol. That said we would replace.
And we have customers who have entirely different preferences. Out of flask/washed, out of flask in agar, in flask, in flask with peanuts etc.....

 

[NYEric]

If possible have them deflask and grow into compots before shipping.

 

[Bjorn]

I have received a lot of flasks from various sources and seen them arriving in quite a range of conditions, from entirely intact to totaly mashed, a speciaty is the time I got flasks with fans snapped off at the root. See Picture below, the remains after deflasking.
image hosting 5mb
And yest they are from Hengduan, I was very satisfied with their replacement and those were shown a short while ago blooming on this forum. BUT, and here is my point; I have never seen plants arriving in such a mushed condition as yours, Secun. The only time I have seen plants attaining that state was after deflasking and I believe the reason was that I used too warm water removing the agar. So, any chance your flasks were subjected to excessive temperatures?

 

[Secundino]

Thanks all.
Bjorn, the temps are in the range of 10 - 23ºC in the mainland right now, and 27ºC here. I don't think the parcels are stored outside in the sun nowhere. I've had tiny seedlings in plastic bags from Ederer many times, and they arrived as fresh as if just deflasked, and sometimes they travelled for ten days!
These plants though were much bigger, from the reminding leaves and/or roots I found, should therefore been able to travel. But in every of the three boxes there was a 'roll' of wet debris, just the shape you get when you roll meat balls in flour or breadcrumbs ... and that is what happened with them: the chips got wet, went to mush and compacted to the agar and left three quarters of free space in the plastic box allowing the contents to move freely ...

Well, I had a dream of growing roths over here, but it came out just a nightmare.

I think I stick to meat balls for today's cooking, - :wink: - that is an happier image than recalling yesterdays shock.

 

[Hien]

If you send boxes with agar and just add chips - ¿have you ever wettened a polystyrene chip? - with the rolling and shaking of a packet, you get a neat and very compact mush ball in every plastic box ... regardless of the chips you use outside to cushion them ... That's why I asked to send them wrapped in moss.

Agar and mould and chips-mush. Not nice. I 'planted' a few leaves, just for sake, they will collapse within hours.

POLYSTERENE chips or boards do not break down for a long long time (some say 500 years to an astounding claim of million year), this is the stuff they use in construction industry and packing.
I would venture that if the chips turn to mush , it must be the environmental friendly chips made from starch so that you can add water to them to turn them to nothing but mush before disposal . However anything that are shipped with this type of cushioning has to be well protected within a plastic bag so that no foam touching the product (if any moisture contact the starch peanuts, they with become a sticky mess and stick to the merchandise)

 

[Hien]

Thanks all.
Bjorn, the temps are in the range of 10 - 23ºC in the mainland right now, and 27ºC here. I don't think the parcels are stored outside in the sun nowhere. I've had tiny seedlings in plastic bags from Ederer many times, and they arrived as fresh as if just deflasked, and sometimes they travelled for ten days!
These plants though were much bigger, from the reminding leaves and/or roots I found, should therefore been able to travel. But in every of the three boxes there was a 'roll' of wet debris, just the shape you get when you roll meat balls in flour or breadcrumbs ... and that is what happened with them: the chips got wet, went to mush and compacted to the agar and left three quarters of free space in the plastic box allowing the contents to move freely ...

Well, I had a dream of growing roths over here, but it came out just a nightmare.

I think I stick to meat balls for today's cooking, - :wink: - that is an happier image than recalling yesterdays shock.

I won't ask who is the seller , but I am wondering from which country you imported these flasks (or even plants) from ? sellers from different countries learning how to ship from their own countrymen so they tend to ship the same way or making the same mistake , it also whether the seller is in the business a long time (they have better experience) .
this is what i think
1) plants should never be shipped wet , if it is shipped in pot , the potting material has to be dry ( the box tumbles & is turned so many different direction while travel that the water from the root zone could spread infection in the close off environment so fast)
2) maybe live plants should be shipped with slightly damp sphagnum moss at the root zone
3) the box on the other hand has to be thick box & with extra plastic bag inside if shipped from another country (continent) , why so?
from what I have seen so far , all the plants within flimsy box and no plastic inner bag desiccated to unrevivable crispy brown ( may be from high altitude dry cold air)
4) the best flasks survival so far are the ones that are deflasked , treated , then putting back in another plastic container (similar to what we find in candy/salad package at supermarkets) the plantlets are also surrounded with artificial fiber, they look like very thin/light cotton)

 

[Secundino]

It is not my aim to accuse any vendor or country for bad or inappropriate shipping protocols, so you will understand that I'm not giving any name.

My aim is to show, what we rarely see in photographs, that not all is great flowers and perfection. Sometimes things go wrong.

Specially when postal delivery takes long, for example my case, as I'm living on Canary Islands, any sending that comes from mainland Spain takes from three to seven days; and any sending from Europe may take from five to fourteen days. During summer holidays, hot spells or winter cold, one should never order; that still leaves a few 'good' weeks.
So, the best way to help the little seedlings, is like Eliseo already pointed out, have them deflasked, cleaned from agar (agar attracts mould) and enclosed in plastic bags with some protection for the roots so they do not crush; this way I got lots of seedlings and they did well.

The problem is sometimes, that vendors from certain countries, were postal deliveries claim to be very quick (like Deutsche Post), don't believe that a packet may well travel longer . I tried many times to convince a german vendor to please, please deflask their seedlings, but they would not hear. The only option for me was not to order, obviously. This was not the case with this packet.

So, for all that might be in a similar situation, because they live far away from any capital city, or in a country with snail-post, to be cautious when ordering.
Even with caution, as you can see, things may turn out wrong.

 

[abax]

What a disappointment! Will the vendor either replace your order or return your money???

 

[Secundino]

A necessary update:

I got a new sending, this time the plants came deflasked, wrapped in shagnum and newspaper inside a plastic box; postal services was quick this time and the plants arrive in very good shape.

I'm very thankful and glad; though it is a pity for the first packet, as lots of good plants were lost. And money, too.

As soon as I have photographs of the evolution of these challenging little seedlings, I'll post!

Thanks to the vendor again!