You know how sometimes one posts a post to a newsgroup and then wishes one
had not posted it or wishes one had phrased it differently? Well that's how
I felt yesterday. I shouldn't have said this:

"TRAINMAN9" wrote in message
...
What I would like to know in part is, whether or not I may have been
ripped
off, since the plant was sold to me as "in-spike",
Did you pay more for the plant? If so and it is not in spike perhaps you
might
feel like you were ripped off. If you feel that you did not get what you
expected why not contact the seller and arrange to send the plant back.

In my defense I sent the post off at a time when I was not fully
decompressed from worked yet, and so I was grumpy, and that influenced how I
phrased this. The grumpiness though was not the fault of the paph or the
vendor it came from. No, I did not pay more because of the in-spike. Even
though I have seen that some vendors do sell plants in spike for more money
than blooming size, but this plant was not bought from one of them. And I
have absolutely no intention of returning the plant. It's one of mine now,
and I will watch it like a mother hen every day checking out that spike or
leaf to see whether I can tell which it is over time. :-)

If you wanted this particular species why would you have not purchased it
just
because it was not in spike but was of blooming size.

Buying a plant in spike or bud does not guarantee that it will bloom. The
buds
and spikes can be damaged in shipping regardless of how well they are
packaged.
I don't know of any orchid supplier selling mail order or shipping plants
that
would guarantee the blooms on a plant.

I am already comfortable enough with Phals to buy them blooming size or even
near-blooming size because I have had Phals spike and rebloom for me enough
times for me to believe that they will do so again. But I am still too new
to Paphs (bought my first Paph in January), and thus I am still uncertain
about my Paph growing skill. That first Paph that I purchased in January has
already rebloomed for me. But still. Rationally I know that if Phals like it
in my environment, Paphs should too. I also know that in-spike does not
guarantee blooming -- if nothing else my cochleanthes amazonica has taught
me that. Rationally I know therefore that I ought to be as comfortable about
buying a Paph in-spike as buying it blooming size. But who said that I am
fully rational???

The only rational thing in my defense is that I am an impatient person, and
I have already heard that paph malipoense spikes for a long time and that
that's an understatement. This does not change the fact that I am very glad
to have this plant in my collection now, and I am still very excited about
it, and looking forward to it blooming eventually. However, if this is a new
leaf and not a new spike after all, then I will not only have to wait for
the spike to develop but for it to actually start a new spike, so my
wait-time will be longer, and I will have to be more patient for an even
longer amount of time. Ok, so maybe that's not exactly "rational" but hey,
I'm a woman, we are not supposed to be fully rational, right?

Joanna