How long do orchids live?

[NYCorchidman]

Well, orchids cover many many different types of plants.
Some are very long lived while some are very short lived.

I grow mostly paphiopedilums, so for example of paphs, some old hybrids that are still around is as old as 100 years or more, and they are still growing and flowering beautifully and shard among hobby growers and professionals alike.

[Fairorchids]

I recently sold my Paph Harrisonianum, G.S. Ball's variety. G. S. Ball was a British orchid grower, active from about 1900 through 1930 or so. The first mention of this variety in print is in the late 1940's.

So, this plant is continuing for at least 70 years, and perhaps much longer than that. We can assign similar or longer age span to F.C. Puddle and several other historical Paphs.

Even though the original stem in the sympodial types might have a finite lifespan (and I am not convinced of this), they continue through basal keikis. When the keikis eventually separate from the mother plant, as the bottom of their stems wither away, they remain an extension of the original plant.

In either case, the original biological material is long gone, but the plant continues to renew itself, just like an Anemone, which continues to grow forward as the older portion of the corm dies away.

[duet_mimas]

Originally Posted by Zabeta

This was my impression, too, after looking around. I'm not a scientist, though, and I haven't done *real* research, so I don't feel confident to speak about it. But I was under the impression that the dividing was subject to small errors of DNA, leading to degeneration over time.

You're talking about DNA replication, where DNA polymerase replicates a DNA strand. It can, place the wrong nucleotide on the original strand of DNA. But some polymerases have the ability to catch these errors and fix them.

Telomeres are a string of nonsense nucleotides that go at the end of the copy strands of DNA, when DNA polymerase gets to the end of DNA it can leave off a few bits of nucleotides. Telomeres are there as a buffer to protect the important bits of DNA from being deleted. But! There is an enzyme called telomerase which goes in behind polymerase and adds those extra bits of chopped off DNA.

Don't quote me on this but I think that telomerase is there to help with the growing up part and as we start to age telomerase looses its efficacy and the telomeres get deleted.

A scary fact is that some cancers use telomerase.

As far as orchids are concerned I am not sure how similar animal DNA replication is to plants. One of the major differences is that plants have cell walls... they also make cellulose which can help with being ridged (trees). If I were to apply animal DNA replication to orchids than I would say that orchids have excellent polymerase error checking and telomerase.

I can research this but its late.

Oh! and it should be known that based on the way orchids process light they have a more similar pathway to that of cacti. And I've heard of cacti living for hundreds of years in the desert.

[hinotori2772]

Orchids potentially have an unlimited lifespan since they're constantly renewing themselves. Simpodial orchids put out new growths and monopodial orchids constantly grow from their tip and put out new leaves and new roots. And if the tip stops growing for some reason then one (or more) of the latreral buds will open and create a new growing tip. So an orchid will never die as long as adequate (not necessarily ideal) conditions are provided and it's not destroyed by pests or infection (or both).

[IncurablePlantHead]

Many will die. That's for sure. Some will seem immortal, but then immortality is a bitter lie in the current workings of this finite universe. However, I do have a very old orchid that I got from a man who grew it nearly his whole life, which is now near it's end. Not so with the orchid tho. It is an Oncidium sphacelatum, wholly hanging beneath a very large strangler fig. It's vegetative dimension is generally spherical and is about 8 feet in diameter. It is not only very old but also of mammoth dimension. Just when you try to put limits on life, life reminds you of how limited your thinking really is.

[SilverShaded]

Lithophytes probably live longer than epiphytes on average. Some colonies on cliffs etc could easily be hundreds of years old and cover quite large areas.

Conversely, epiphytes typically only live as long as the tree. (or a year or two longer).

[Subrosa]

All of mine live until I kill them......

[rbarata]

All of mine live until I kill them......

[Fairorchids]

I read an article on Paph wardii, where the author speculated that Paphs only live for a few years in nature (based on his in situ observations).

In 'captivity' we repot them every 18-24 months, so they do not get set back by exhausted nutrients in the spot where they grow. Having seen & grown Paphs that date back 70-100 years, I feel comfortable saying that they can live forever - as long as we take proper care of them.

[SilverShaded]

I dont think in-situ nutrients is a problem, most of the nutrients arrive with the rain, falling leaves, ant poop, deer poop etc,

Take these guys in the tree as an example, no nutrients up there and there never was, except what drops on them. They will however die when the tree falls in the next year or two...