clone vs division - does it matter?

[EllenGST]

I hope someone can educate me a little on this.

I'm considering purchase of a lovely laelia. I can purchase a blooming size mericlone for $35, or a division of the original plant for $75-150. I'm still at the stage of not wanting to spend that much, so the mericlone is the only option.

Apparently this plant has some inferior clones (overuse of meristem tissue?) that are mass marketed, the one I'm looking at is supposed to be a high quality clone.

So, I'm not quite sure what the issue is with the inferior clones. And, as the plant I want is supposed to be a quality clone, I should end up being satisfied with it, right?

Thanking you all in advance!
Ellen Todd

[Chris in Hamilton]

Can you be more specific than laelia?

[EllenGST]

Sure - It is Laelia Santa Barbara Sunset 'Showtime'

[chemist]

i dont think you can say that one offered to you is high quality mericlone. is it offered by original owner who offers division? is it first generation of mericlone? Because when they do mass production they will do mericlone of mericlone and so on. At mericlonning all seedling supposed to be same as original but some mutation do occurs and that plant little bit different from original. and now imagine that plant was mericloned and one different from this batch was mericloned again so everytime you will have somewhat different.
Thats why divisions are much more valuable, it is the same plant exactly.
If you just like flower appearance and for you does not matter little tiny (or not that little) difference go for mericlone. If you are planning on being great collector and maybe do some hybridizing work your best option to go with division.

[PaphMadMan]

90% of the negative things claimed about bad clones or over-cloned orchids are gross exaggerations or simply fairy tales, but it is possible to produce some irregular plants through the process, especially when tissue is maintained in culture for too long or clones of clones of clones are used as source tissue for clones without taking proper care, as mentioned. When the purpose is to produce mass market orchids intended to be disposable it doesn't really matter. Anyone who expects to buy healthy true to name orchids for $15 at their grocery store is living in a universe of alternative facts. But there are also good orchid sources that try to provide high quality cloned orchids that are just as good as you would hope for them to be. It comes down to the quality and honesty of the supplier. If it seems too good to be true it probably is. If a truly reputable company is representing something as a quality product at a realistic price, it is probably a bargain compared to a much more expensive division for most purposes. So, how good is the source?

[cakedaddy]

Those prices look very familiar to me for a certain Laelia. The vendor offers divisions of the original awarded plant and clones. I bought a small division with a single lead around six years ago. It is now a six lead plant that will need to be divided this year because it is becoming too big to lift easily.
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[EllenGST]

Thnk you, all! That is very helpful. I do think the issue is that the particular vendor has a clone of the original awarded plant. They claim that others have lesser quality - probably clones of clones of clones, as someone mentioned.

As I am only recently getting back into growing orchids, I'm not ready to spend huge amounts on my collection at this point. This might change as my expertise grows - but I'm not there yet. I'm also careful of what I purchase - when I had orchids 20-25 years ago I knew some of well-known orchidists, and learned a lot about integrity of naming, pedigree etc - but that goes into territory that I'll save for a separate discussion.