Mericlones
 

I didn't really know what a mericlone was until I looked it up in the glossary today. Is it bad or frowned upon if a plant is a mericlone? Are there mericlones and seedlings of a plant or are there just usually one or the other? I read that mericlones are derived from tissue culture, once started, is it grown differently from seedlings in a flask? I guess I am just unsure on what the differences are other then one plant comes from a seed and one a tissue culture. TIA!

Hi Becca:
The main diference is that the mericlone is a replica of the mother plant, with seedlings you can have variations in aperance of the resulting plant. And they grow exactly in the same way.
Hope this will help
Muchos saludos desde Mexico

I agree with what is said above. here's a few other tidbits I find interesting.

Seedlings are made by pollinating one flower with pollen from another. this can be done by taking it from the same plant ("selfing"), another plant from the same exact parents ("sib cross"), or by a completely unrelated cross ("outcross"). Outcrosses can be within the same species or other species, in which case the resultant plant is a hybrid. In any of the above cases, genes from the mother and father plants intermingle, and some are expressed more than others in the offspring, creating variability in the results.

Mericlones are made by isolating stem cells from a plant and then replicating them in the lab. The new plants are then genetically identical to the parent plant. As such, any awards bestowed on the parent plant actually carry over to the daughter plants.

Either way, the baby plants are grown in flasks until they're big enough to be potted on their own--the difference is in what happens before it gets to the flask.

As for which is more desirable, I like both a lot. With mericlones, you know exactly what you're getting, and the majority of the plants that are cloned are of exceedingly high quality or else their owners wouldn't have gone to the trouble and expense of cloning them. If you want to buy an FCC-awarded plant for under $100, this is about the only way you will ever do so.

But with seedlings, it's a certain gamble. You might have something that will be far better than the parents, and could get you an award. And you might have a brand new hybrid that is a real improvement over past plants or a new direction in breeding. But you might have something that's lackluster at best. So if you like surprises or new things, that's the way to go. I don't look at either as necessarily superior, just different.

Thank you ScottMcC - I have always wondered about cloning and mericlones, crosses and hybrids. Your little synopsis is simply put and well understood. :):Tup:

Nice explanation Scott. Thank you.

Also note that not all orchids are able (or yet known) to be meristem cloned. Phals are, and thats why you see them in grocery stores. As are Cats, Zygos, Cymbidiums, Oncidiums, and Miltonia. Paphs and Angraecoids are not. Though much research is being done in the other Genera.

Soon, China will release its vast hoards of cloned Phals (and others) onto the grocery and home improvement markets, and they will be a dime a dozen. OK, 10 bucks.

Thanks Scott, excellent explanation...tks

Very good explanation Scott, congrats!

Thank you! I was just going to ask this question and bingo! Question answered.

Are mericlones or meristems the age of the plant they are taken from? Have they been around long enough to see if they suffer any adverse effects from the way they are propagated - shorter life span? (Remember Dolly the sheep was genetically 6 yrs old at birth) :idea:
Just a curious random thought :dumb::hmm