Buying orchids in autumn: is it better to buy them with flower buds or without?

When buying orchids in autumn, most Cymbidium goeringii (spring orchids) already have flower buds, while Cymbidium faberi (Huilan) rarely shows any buds. If you are buying Cymbidium goeringii, it is best to choose one with flower buds, as this gives a better guarantee that it will bloom that same year. Good Shot Farmer learned this from personal experience last year...

After autumn last year (2017), an orchid hobbyist wanted some orchid seedlings divided from my plants. The Cymbidium goeringii at the time were mature plants that had been grown for over a year, with more than a dozen seedlings per pot, but the hobbyist was dividing plants for the first time and did not dare take too many, asking for only about three to five seedlings. At the time, Good Shot Farmer was not confident either, fearing that dividing the plants during the bud stage would affect flowering and growth. Fortunately, the hobbyist understood and said it did not matter.

So I divided the plants for him as shown in the picture above, giving him the ones with flower buds, and keeping the ones without buds for myself to repot at home (the hobbyist's potting medium also came from my side, so the orchids probably would not be unused to the sandy soil). By the time of the Spring Festival, the hobbyist wrote to say: the orchids at home had bloomed and were very fragrant. As for the orchid seedlings I kept here, they would not produce flower buds again that year, haha.

Observing again after this spring, the orchids that had been divided during the bud stage grew no weaker the following year. So I suggest that the person asking should buy orchids in autumn with flower buds if possible, and orchids with buds can indeed be divided.