The Orchid Garden

Compots and Mericlones

Question:

Could someone please describe what these terms mean?  A web site *showing* them would be appreciated. Thanks so much! Marcia Frank

Response:

The term "compot" is a contraction of the words COMmunity POT. When orchid seedlings are removed from sterile flasks, they are usually planted in groups of 20-50 plants in a single pot (thus community pot, or compot). After typically one year in this pot the plants are separated and planted individually in typically 2"pots. The term "mericlone" is used to signify that the plant in question was grown by micropropagation from meristematic tissue. That is, a small piece of plant tissue from an adult plant was treated in a special manner to induce cell division and differentiation. The purpose of this is to get offspring that are genetically identical to the parent. This technique is widely used to propagate orchid plants that have received awards. I hope this helps. Bill Schneider Countryside Orchids *** Monthly specials Lists available by email. Send us email to subscribe.***

Response:

Could someone please describe what these terms mean?  A web site *showing* them would be appreciated. Thanks so much! Marcia Frank

Marcia, Mericlone is a plant that has been reproduced invitro, or a clone. You should get the exact same plant (flower) as the parent, although rarely there are variations. A compot is ‘community pot’, or a group of very young seedlings. They are planted this way out of the flask, as they seem to do better at this stage. I’m sorry I don’t know of a web site showing compots, but of the many photos that are out there on the web, you can rest assured that a large percentage of them are mericlones. Hope I’ve been of some help, Sam — An Orchid A Day

Response:

Compots are community pots-frequently,on removing seedlings from a flask they will be planted as a small group, together, in a single pot, and allowed to grow to a suitable size to go into individual pots. Mericlones are plants obtained by meristeming. Suitable tissue can be removed from certain plants, and prepared under aseptic technic, planted in a flask, and the tissue will grow and reproduce an identical plant as the one from which the tissue was removed. All plants can not be meristemed at this time (paphiopedilums are one example); and although in theory the plants obtained by meristeming are identical, in practice this does not always work out-there often are mutations and the resulting plants may be different, with some worse and some even better. Meristeming has made it possible for superior clones to be available to the amateur grower at a much reduced price.

Response:

Thanks to everyone who took the time to respond.  You all gave excellent explanations and my dad (who asked for this info) will be pleased.  He is a fairly new member of AOS (as of  Father’s Day) and is enjoying learning much about Orchids.  Now if only he had internet access….. Marcia

Response:

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