[Orchidflowerchild]

Originally Posted by 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).

Mericloning. Apical meristem is removed from lead growth and cultured in agitated nutrient media until it is a ball of undifferentiated cells, it is divided, agitated, and so on until you have as many meristem lumps as you want.

And what is a stud-plant?

Usually, an awarded or at least very special plant used for breeding. Most commercial breeders buy up divisions of awarded plants, rather than clones, as there is nil chance for clonal mutation. These plants are known as stud plants and are part of the permanent collection of breeding stock of a breeder.

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.

One of the most fascinating things about orchids is just how well they will breed with other species and produce perfectly viable hybrids. THere are sextageneric hybrids, out there!

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.

Generally, yes, but it is more complicated. There are issues of culture and seasonality that can slow or accelerate the process. Ploidy can also play a role. Triploids (3n) and tetraploids (4n) generally grow slower than do their diploid (2n) counterparts.

-Cj