Comments regarding Orchids of Los Osos

I just purchased two orchids (a Sharry Baby and a Nelly Isler) from this company at the Southern California Spring Garden Show at the end of April, 2015.

Both plants looked pretty healthy and free of pests, and were set to bloom in the next few weeks, so I excitedly brought them home. The vendor told me not to repot them until they were finished blooming. If figured that, since I hadn't noticed pests or problems yes, I would wait to repot for the time being. However, I realized a few days ago (beginning of May), that something was wrong because the leaves on both plants were starting to shrivel. They are getting the proper amounts of light and sunshine and are in the correct climate for optimal growing, so I knew something must be going on inside the pot and decided to go ahead and repot them.

Both plants were so incredibly root bound. After spending at least 30 minutes on each one trying to loosen and clean the roots, I still could not get the roots fully loosened or clean enough to repot with confidence that the plants would recover! (They were so compacted, I could not even work free all of the old media!) New pseudobulbs did not even have roots (probably because they didn't have any room to grow any! and just fell off. The blooms on these orchids are so lovely, but the plants have been so neglected by the grower. I am truly disappointed and I really hope that my plants fully recover, but I do not know how they will do yet.

I paid over $60 for these two plants and I have consistently purchased Trader Joe's oncidiums that were in better health than these. I will not be purchasing from this grower again.