FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

I received an order today from petflytrap.com and one of the plants is pretty rough. I have emailed pics to the company but, in the meantime, I would greatly appreciate advice of what to do to help this plant. I paid $100 for it, this was sold to me as a Brunei Orange bicalcarata. Should I repot it? I am new to Nepenthes, I have read conflicting information but some sources said not to repot a plant shortly after shipping due to increased risk of shock. All of the plants arrived quite wet (not just damp.)

As you can see in the pic, several leaves had dead portions, including the tips, and one leaf appears to have been eaten by something. No pitchers were present on this plant or another plant in the order. All of the damage is old, surrounded by black and dried edges. How bad is this? Is it likely to live, considering that it also just went through shipping in addition to the condition that it was in prior to shipping?

Thanks!

A closer shot of the damage.

Before you bought it, you saw photos of the plant ?

Apparently, the photo on the website was NOT this plant (even though they listed this as the last one available.)

Many companies have stock photos they use unless it specifically says it's a photo of the plant you will receive consider it a stock photo.

Unfortunately unless they decided to refund you, you're probably stuck with it. If it's green and growing and has a green growth point I'd just let it do it's thing, it will grow new leaves and old leaves will eventually die.

I have purchased from them before and also had a plant that was damaged.. they were very good about refunding the cost. They did ask me to send it back. You must decide if you are happy with a plant in this condition before you worry about transplanting it. I wouldn't pay $100 and accept that plant. You don't know if it has insects you would have to quarantine it so it doesn't affect anything of your other plants. I guess I am saying if it were me. I wouldn't want it...

I agree with Hollyhock. If it were a $20 plant I would cross my fingers and hope for the best. At $100 if the offered me a refund but had to send it back I would send it back so fast there head would spin.

Thanks for the feedback! I would certainly return the plant, in a heartbeat, for a full refund. I kept all of the packing materials that the plants came with. I paid with Paypal so I can file a dispute if the seller doesn't make good on the deal but if I am left with a sick plant, I would want to try to save it. I will wait to repot it, pending the seller's instructions (that was a good point by hollyhock.)

I'd end up returning it with them paying the shipping

The response that I got from the seller.
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"Good morning,
Thank you for contacting us right away with your concerns. I will address them all, but I'll just say this right away.
You are never under any obligation to keep a plant you don't want. You may return them, so long as you do so promptly and package them safely as they were sent to you.
We guarantee to send you healthy plants. We did do that. Pitchers are never a guarantee, as some plants pitcher best at certain times of year, and pitchers are very easily damaged during shipping.
I do understand your disappointment with the bical, and I will explain why I considered it sellable. The lowland plants very often come in damaged from overseas. The bicals were especially rough last time, and I've held them back for several months waiting for new heathy growth. These plants are in such high demand that I offer them as soon as that nice growth occurs. If I were to wait until I could show only nice leaves, we'd be waiting many more months. The plant would be much bigger and more expensive. Rare plant, import cost, rehab cost, etc all add up to a more expensive plant.
For the bical, I would send you a return label if you don't want to keep it. Because the other two were perfect, you can return those for only the cost of the plants. I hope this all makes sense, and we want you to be satisfied. Please let me know if you have further concerns and how you want to proceed."
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I have to say, I am disappointed to see the seller misrepresenting the plants, even with photographs. None of the plants were perfect, I was just primarily concerned with the sick one. The seller is pretending that I should have known that the bical would come in poor health, nothing of the sort was listed on the website and the issue wasn't just a lack of pitchers. Is this typical of online sellers? If a plant is in such poor condition, is it typical to hide that from a buyer and still charge the price of a healthy plant?

In part they are telling the truth about plants shipping from overseas. I have purchased Bicalcarata and they were rough looking when they arrived. But, given the price they should have been more up front with you about the condition of that particular plant prior to sending it to you. I am glad that they are willing to refund the money. I have purchased from them several times and I have gotten good customer service.

Bical is among first neps that has been with me for many years. And I take bical cuttings regularly.

Judging from leaf texture and number of leaves on the plant in your photo, this is an established plant. I am quite sure that it will thrive given the right conditions. It is definitely not one that had been hardened off for long, but does not look bad either. Dead leaf patches on bical are common when humidity changes. Anyway, my view on bical may be biased since it is native plant that grows easily here. It is your decision.

tzestan wrote:Anyway, my view on bical may be biased since it is native plant that grows easily here. It is your decision.

A native plant where you live? Do you live in Borneo?

hollyhock wrote:In part they are telling the truth about plants shipping from overseas. I have purchased Bicalcarata and they were rough looking when they arrived. But, given the price they should have been more up front with you about the condition of that particular plant prior to sending it to you. I am glad that they are willing to refund the money. I have purchased from them several times and I have gotten good customer service.

Than they should not sell the plant in the first place.

Thank you Roarke, that was my feeling on the issue. What bothered me more than them shipping me a sick plant, to begin with, was the denial of responsibility for their choice to do so. I didn't appreciate the blame being passed to the person who sold the plant to them. Being sold a plant in poor condition doesn't excuse someone from responsibility if they then go on to sell the problem plant to someone else (without disclosing the condition of the plant and without taking that condition into consideration on pricing.) The denial that the plant is not healthy didn't sit well with me either. I wouldn't have made an order at all if the plant had not been misrepresented as a healthy plant.