Mericlone Orchids the pros and cons

[bedt]

Good Morning All;
I would like to know what are the pros and cons of having mericlones in your collection? I know the basic pro is that you end up with an identical plant to the donor plant. Are there any other pros? What are the bad points?
Thanks!

[Halloamey]

Another pro is that if the mother plant is virus tested , then a negative tested plant will always produce virus negative clones.

A con that I know of is that certain mericloning procedures can induce genetic changes in the callus and the resulting clones.

[zainal abidin]

Pro : they are not usually very expensive because they are produced in large numbers.
Con : if infected you are in trouble.

[nicki]

I don't have any input. But I'm glad you asked this. I have seen the term when checking out online vendors but would have never thought of pros & cons.

[cindiras]

pro: growing condition preferences are known.

[sadie]

I would agree with the comments above. The only other thing I can think of is that you will obviously get an exact clone --that can be a good thing becuase you know what you'll get, but it also means you won't get that always hoped for spectacular variation either.

[Halloamey]

I would agree with the comments above. The only other thing I can think of is that you will obviously get an exact clone --that can be a good thing becuase you know what you'll get, but it also means you won't get that always hoped for spectacular variation either.

Sadie, you can be sure for 99% that the clone is identical. But certain mutations can also take place which can either make the plant desirable (duplications of certain genes or the whole genome) or certain undesirable changes (deletions in certain genes required for flower production, pigment production etc)
Believe me all sorts of sci-fi things are possible with plants !! hehe

[orchidlady]

I don't have a lot of clones and the ones I have seem to be fine, but I have heard 2nd hand about situations where there were reluctant or non-bloomers and deformed flowers as a possibility. This could be due to virus infection also.

Susan

[bedt]

Thanks everyone for the responses. I do have a number of mericlones in my collection, mainly due to the notion "I want that one". Will let you know how they progress, in the mean time - they are growing beautifully, will keep my fingers crossed.