[pikevi]

Orchidflowerchild: How is cloning done on orchids? Is it by just creating more keikis or by inducing cells to grow (mericlones?) or duplicating chromosomes 'in vitro'? The last one would seem to be too expensive ( and naturally more mutation-prone).

And what is a stud-plant?

Thanks in advance.

exasperatus2002:I am not sure if what you expect to have in shift in time for bloom is specifically controlled by genes.

I think chemicals (either rising or falling concentrations) within the cells control that cycle. Light plays a very critical role in producing not only food but also in the production of enzymes.The enzymes facilitate syntheses of some hormones/proteins that will eventually induce flowering. At least that is my understanding.

I don't know much about plant chromosomes but ,as orchidflowerchild noted, most mis-matched chromosomes will not produce offsprings and even if they do the resulting offspring will be usually sterile ( with a very few exceptions) and so are not useful for breeding purposes. I think ligress( lion X tiger), mules and hinnies (horse X donkey) and the recent crosses
betwen Asian elephant ( Elephas maximus) and African elephant (Loxodonta africana) are all incapable of reproducing themselves.I may be wrong on the last one since the program is in its infancy, about 40 years or so, I believe.

Elephants are exremely slow breeders.Orchidflowerchild was talking about 4 years for orchids. Elephant take almost 13 years ( 22 months in the womb and 10 years to maturity, let alone 50% infant mortality rate).

I hope orchidflowerchild or kmarch can tell us if the time of blooming is controlled by the genes too.