If the mericlone process was perfect, the resulting plants would be identical to a division from the plant and we wouldn’t have an issue. However, biology always searches for variability. How can a single fertilized human egg divide in two and produce twins that are very much the same, but still detectably different in some ways? It is the way organisms do some genetic shuffling and activation/inactivation during cell division in order to produce differences.
If we could do it over again from the beginning of orchid cloning, we would have put a D or C after the cultivar name (and award) to indicate division or clone. Now that this is impossible, we should approach buying a named cultivar like buying art. Is the provenance certain or uncertain? Has it bloomed and shown itself to be almost identical to what we know about the original? When there is uncertainty, maybe we shouldn’t pay premium price for a gamble. Having a certified “piece” (division) of a great plant (tested virus free) should command a high price.
A magnificent summing up and clearly voiced proposal of guidelines/advice how to (somehow) deal with a to some extent unsolveable situation!
I have in the litterature encountered lots of advice on good growing (some better than others) and sometimes also on how to select a plant for beginners, but not really seen this complex topic expounded on.
Terry, I think it would be a sad thing to see your succint advice burried in a thread with a caption, that I guess might appear unappealing to many.
Maybe, at some point in time someone would take the trouble to summ it all up in a thread with a title more 'sexy" title, f.ex. 'Cattleyas - divisions and mericlones: a guideline for buyers'. Could also contain clarification of the different terms and advice on relevant questions to ask the seller.
I think such a summing up could be conceived in a way, that would appeal to people with a newer, but growing interest in Catts, and at the same time also to more experienced Catt-growers. Of course not to professionals and experts, but from the interest, this thread and some other recent threads, where the topic has been raised in the discussion of individual plants, it appears, there is an interest.
A thread 'in these pages' would of course only be for STC-users, but maybe some of the larger orchid societies on both sides of the Atlantic might have an interest in uploading such advice/guidelines on their web page or publish it as an article in their magazines?
PS. A dissemenation of such knowledge might help raising the awareness of buyers, and thus most likely be a help for the serious and honest Cattley-sellers vs. the shadier ones in the business.