Can orchids be propagated by stem cuttings?

[estación seca]

Different plants use different strategies to regulate tissue growth and differentiation. Hormones and growth factors normally need to be added to mericlone culture media. Until we figure out which of these to add, when, and in what quantities, mericloning is unsuccessful.

[orchidsarefun]

Originally Posted by Fairorchids

It is my understanding, that you can do Paphs (& Phrags?), but the results are not consistent, ie the new plants do not necessarily match the mother plant.

I have also heard that the Taiwanese claim to have perfected the process, and supposedly released some green Maudiae types produced this way. I have not heard any updates on this in the last 12-15 months though.

Hmm...you may be right. I remember seeing about 200 of these at Hausermanns last year. I'll ask about them next time I'm there.

[Selmo]

Aren't orchids all monocots. This could make stem cuttings more difficult. Don't see a lot of grasses or corn grown form stem cuttings. Isn't the big problem, the slowness of growth to sellable size. Mass producers are trying to speed up this time window, so taking a stem cutting maybe faster than good old growing by seed.

[voyager]

Originally Posted by Selmo

Aren't orchids all monocots. This could make stem cuttings more difficult. Don't see a lot of grasses or corn grown form stem cuttings. Isn't the big problem, the slowness of growth to sellable size. Mass producers are trying to speed up this time window, so taking a stem cutting maybe faster than good old growing by seed.

A "stem cutting" from an orchid is not the same thing as a stem cutting from a dicot.
From a dicot you induce root growth from the base of the stem cutting to continue growth from the tip. Basically air layering is the same thing, inducing root growth at a point of injury.


From my experience, from an orchid you take a stem cutting, such as from a Dendrobium. It is just a section of the PB that has at least one live node on it.
The node cannot have produced a flower, inflorescence, or have produced a keiki that was removed, and it has to be still alive, not spent or killed by other causes.
The new growth from the cutting is basically the same thing as a new keiki. The "stem cutting", or section of the PB, is nothing more than a nutrient source for the growth of that keiki. The bigger the section of the "stem" the more backup the new growth has and the better it will progress and grow.
I'm not positive, but I think a cutting from a Vanilla orchid can produce roots from one live node and new growth from another on the same cutting. Check me on that to be sure.
The new keiki is the source of roots for most other growths from an orchid "stem cutting".

[estación seca]

Quite a few monocots can produce new roots from stems. Bermuda grass does this all the time as it creeps across the ground. Bamboo side stems can usually be rooted. Dividing an orchid rhizome, a horizontally-growing stem, often results in the back bulbs producing new growth and new roots.

[voyager]

Originally Posted by estación seca

Quite a few monocots can produce new roots from stems. Bermuda grass does this all the time as it creeps across the ground. Bamboo side stems can usually be rooted. Dividing an orchid rhizome, a horizontally-growing stem, often results in the back bulbs producing new growth and new roots.

True with the caveat, The new growths, or roots from the monocots are from nodes or buds, not from the stem itself as from a dicot stem. If there are no live nodes [buds], the monocot will simply die. I think you'll find that to be true for the grasses as well.
Any new growth from a back bulb division must have bulbs with live buds on them. Here, I'm thinking of how Oncidiums are propagated.