I purchased 4 bromeliad plantlets from an ebay seller. They appear to be neoregelias. They were sent in a padded mailing envelope and arrived looking pretty much like they had been ironed. I potted them up and attempted to fill the cups, but two of them were so flattened that all I could do was spritz the leaves with a little water. After a couple of days I emailed the seller to let her know the condition of the plants and this was her response:

"I know on line they say to fill the cups but do not fill the cups till they perk up because that will make it rot. I have shipped in padded envelopes with no problems It takes about 1 week to 1 11/2 week for the plants to perk up."

What do you think? Is this correct? I've purchased bromeliads from a number of sources on the web and no seller has ever given me instruction not to fill the cups.