Greetings and Questions about roots

[Fin]

Hi folks,

I'm a long time orchid fan but new to the forum, and I'd like to get an opinion on something. I just ordered a bunch of orchids from a well reputed buyer. A couple dozen seedlings and about 9 spiking plants.
When I received them, about 90 percent of the roots, and all but one of the spikes were dead. The plants themselves were strong and should be able to grow new roots, but I trimmed about a bucketful of dead, descicated or squishy roots before potting them up.
The dealer told me that this is the normal state of orchids, and that I was wrong in trimming off the dead and rotted roots. He said I was supposed to leave them in to support the plant.
Everything that I have ever read says to trim them off to reduce spread of infection.

Am I wrong?


Fin