To slipper Vendors who sell overseas..

[John M]

.....it was not only the roots but the whole plants wrapped in plastic!

That is a huge problem. Sam has got to know this is bad. I wonder if he's got someone helping him pack who doesn't know and he hasn't taken the time to train them? Whenever I ship plants, I wrap them in newspaper or corrugated cardboard wrapping specifically so that moisture is NOT allowed to condensate on the foliage. Wet foliage in the dark = bad news. I always make sure that plants in a pot are not watered too closely to packing day. Dry plants will recover from the physiological effects, if any. Wet plants that begin to rot, then become diseased plants and that condition is something that must be cured......not easy to do sometimes.

I once recieved some Phrags from Orchids Limited. The roots were packed in a generous amount of fresh, barely moist sphagnum, contained in a plastic bag; but, the foliage was not covered with the plastic. They arrived in perfect condition. In fact, they looked so happy, that because I was very busy at the time, I simply stood the plants up in some empty pots, sphagnum and plastic bag packing undisturbed. As it happened, I didn't get back to them for about 10 days. When I did, the plants had grown tons of new, beautiful roots inside the bag. The slightly moist condition of the moss was perfect for root formation. However, I have NO DOUBT that if the whole plants had been covered with plastic, they'd have been rotten upon unpacking. You just can't wrap the foliage in plastic. When they're in a shipping box, the plants are getting no light at all. Therefore, they don't need to be kept moist. They should always be packed with dry foliage and a slightly dry root ball; or at least, one that is NOT wet....and the foliage must be wrapped in a material that breathes and wicks excess moisture away, like paper or corrugated cardboard wrapping. Catasetinae especially should be packed bone dry and wrapped in paper.

 

[Ray]

I view a little moisture at the roots as a way to provide a little bit of evaporative cooling, and to provide a bit of compensation for the moisture loss in the warm box.

In winter, I take the opposite approach and ship dry.

 

[Paphman910]

My order from Sam was not what I expected! Lowered expectation than what I had thought!

I complained because paid my hard earn money to get good flasks. Send photos of my flasks and he said he will send replacements next time he is in Canada.

He gave me a discount which is good but I do not like to buy bargain flasks because they are setback for at least a year+ and prone to rot and death!


Paphman910

 

[Kavanaru]

John, the Catasetinae were wrapped in very wet newspaper and then all together wrapped in plastic. Pathos were individually covered with shredded waxed paper, then in newspaper and then all
Together again in plastic... When I complained the first time he admitted he has no clue about Catasetinae, and for this reason I gave instructions NOT to wrapped in plastic... Second complain, he admitted he actually don't want to sell Catasetinae but does it to help Fred Clarke (yeah, right....) and as for the Paphios, "it was his employee" missing up the labels and apparently he had selected the best sanderianum he had for me (yeah, right...). Furthermore, according to him Catasetinae and Paphios do not travel well together... And therefore the problems... Then I ask myself if he knows that, why he keeps shipping then together? On the other hand, I must admit that the excuse of those plants not traveling well together is so ridiculous as saying that you cannot ship Masdevallias with Cattleyas because the first want it cool and the other intermediate...

 

[Kavanaru]

I view a little moisture at the roots as a way to provide a little bit of evaporative cooling, and to provide a bit of compensation for the moisture loss in the warm box.

In winter, I take the opposite approach and ship dry.

Ray, I fully agree with you on this. A bit of moisture, e.g. Barely moist sphagnum... But this guy uses completely wet newspaper!

 

[SelectOrchids]

I view a little moisture at the roots as a way to provide a little bit of evaporative cooling, and to provide a bit of compensation for the moisture loss in the warm box.

In winter, I take the opposite approach and ship dry.

I send a few cargo shipments a month, and so far, Sam plants travel as a batch by cargo... a little moisture means soaking wet on arrival, the plants have to be borderline dehydrated. Some cargo airlines will have a properly heated facility, many, the plants will go down to 5-7 celsius, up to 35, down to 6 celsius. Don't ask, I put min max thermometer in several shipments... With such temperature swings, the plants will be soaking wet on arrival, even when they are 'just dry'...

Add to that that plants not properly packed tend to 'heat up' themselves through some kind of fermentation, when they are exposed to cold suddenly, they make condensation water...

Usually Sam SENDS good plants, but he has to go through an importer/distributor, that maybe do not open the box immediately. In many cases too, it is impossible to forward a cargo shipment immediately, you have to store the plants in the nursery to check out the rots that always appear ( even in commercial phals or cattleya pot plant shipments) for a week. If the importer just unpacks, put in the box with the bill and byebye, it is a guaranteed disaster.

Orchids Limited used a freak in England to dispatch their shipments, as a result, they lost many customers in Europe, because orchids Limited plants when they arrived to the end customer were nothing short of terrible, three times. But the plants they SEND are excellent...

Many orchid nurseries are hobbyists as well when it comes to send plants overseas. You need to use fungicides to protect them from diseases during transportation.

On the other side, it is absolutely not the customer's concern, the sender/seller needs to know what to do so the plants arrive in good condition, period. I just explain, but that's not an excuse....

 

[cnycharles]

if you take a properly hydrated plant that is quite warm, and wrap it in plastic or newspaper and plastic, it will breathe out quite a bit of moisture and become prone to rot. I have seen plenty of plants from our greenhouses that were put on rolling carts, and get wrapped with shrink wrap and head to the truck; the plastic gets soaking wet from the respirated moisture from the leaves. not saying that the plants were wrapped properly or not....

 

[abax]

I find this thread surprising. I've bought plants from Sam for years and have always gotten very good plants. It seems this doesn't hold true for exports. It's very sad and
disappointing to hear.

 

[Mathias]

I have had the same experience as Kavanaru regarding Catasetiine and Orchid Inn. I had ordered a large quantity and they were affected by rot in the last shipment. He replaced them without fuss and I got the new plants a few days ago. They were in soaking wet newspaper as Kavanaru desribed and with fungal damages on the leaves. However, mine were not in any plastic so damages were not fatal.

However, I have always found the Paphiopedilums of great quality and packed in a very good way. If I compare how they are packed bare-root with for example Orchid Limited and In-Charm I believe Sams are better. His Cattleyas has also been great.