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It can be done. It is just a lot of effort and expense and most orchid plants don't have the monetary value to justify the process.
Here is one pdf on it...

https://www.researchgate.net/profil..._selection/links/544724380cf2d62c305057ea.pdf

Thanks for the paper.
So, clearly it is possible.

Well, orchids in general, yes, but phalaenopsis is a huge market now. It has been for a few years now generating millions of dollars. It was right up there near Poinsettia, which is the number one selling pot plants in the U.S.

The problem is that virused plants still make flowers and in the case of white and other solid colored flowers, the symptom is barely visible, like uneven cut marks along the petal edges and stuff that most consumers don't even know or care. After all, almost all of these pot phalaenopsis are bought for flowers and to be thrown away.

Now, I don't understand then why they keep saying things like "Certain old classic cultivars of Cattleyas only exist as virused specimen"?
Many orchid hobby growers have "good" life enough to be easily able to afford this kind of lab procedure.
 
(Off topic of thread but related to the comments)
A friend did some experiments (long time ago) on cleaning viruses from various plants (roses, mums) using a process of rapid growth and tip cuttings. The method was to grow the infected plants at extremely high temperatures and then take tip cuttings and repeat the process rapidly. The idea was that the heat slowed the virus spread in the plant tissue and at the same time the heat caused the plant tissue to grow very fast and out run the virus. Then the propagator could cut off a small tip cutting that the virus had not infected yet. The method did have successful results on fast growing plants.

Virus is a huge problem in the horticulture industry, well, food crops more so since they feed us.
I see virused lilies and amaryllis sold all over the place.

Without change in attitude, understanding, practice, the virus issue will never go away, and I don't think this change will ever happen as some people always "break the rules". It's just a reality.

By the way, I wonder how high of a temperature we're talking. I assume only certain plants may work with such procedure.
 
Now, I don't understand then why they keep saying things like "Certain old classic cultivars of Cattleyas only exist as virused specimen"?
Many orchid hobby growers have "good" life enough to be easily able to afford this kind of lab procedure.

Could be $5000 cost to hire such lab work, or even more. From a commercial viewpoint there is no way to justify the expense to clean up an old cattleya variety. The idea that a hobby grower would foot the bill and share the results??? obviously not gonna happen.
 
Without change in attitude, understanding, practice, the virus issue will never go away, and I don't think this change will ever happen as some people always "break the rules". It's just a reality.

And that is why STDs exist.

By the way, I wonder how high of a temperature we're talking. I assume only certain plants may work with such procedure.

I think the temperature was to be the maximum the pant could survive at and still maintain rapid growth. As I recall it was temps in high excess of 100F.
 

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