Differences seedgrown vs TC

[Luca B.]

Hi guys,after collecting some hybrid (lowii hybrids ofc,i love them ) i'm now under a curious "pure species fever",wich get bigger and bigger when i see your great pics here and on facebook groups,so yesterday i got me thinking "I read somewhere that TC plants may have some genetics errors wich may occur when they get bigger and flowering size,so is it better to invest a little more in SG plants or better to go with cheaper TC?" so the question i ask you..is that true? Is it better to buy seedgrown plants or "quality" in plants doesn't exist and it's only a matter of "rarity" ?

I hope you get what i mean,not sure i wrote it good

Luca

[bux]

Hi Luca,

I read somewhere that TC plants may have some genetics errors

This is a reccuring topic and a legend...there is no reason for a commercial laboratory to use mutagenic substances just to propagate Nepenthes.

Kind regards,

Fabrice

Edited November 23, 2013 by bux

[kisscool_38]

This is a reccuring topic and a legend...there is no reason for a commercial laboratory to use mutagenic substances just to propagate Nepenthes.

Not really. This is not totally false, only the word "genetics" is incorrect. TC hasn't influence on genetics (if no mutagenic substance is used), but it has great influence on epigenetics and this can have even greater morphologic and developmental consequences than genetic mutations.

Edited November 23, 2013 by kisscool_38

[Luca B.]

Hi guys,thanks a lot for your reply,firstly please forgive me for using inappropriate terms as "genetics",i'm a profane in this subject..

What i meant to say is what kisscool said,if it's really possible that a TC plant can develope morphologic issues whereas a SG plant doesn't,mine is just a general speech of which is the best option to buy,if TC or SG

Thanks again both

Luca

[Mato]

I think the biggest differences are the loss of vertically transmitted endophytes, which are often species specific and aid with environmental stress, and the circumventing of quality checks on reproduction that detect chromosome dosage. That being said, the conservation impacts of tissue culture far outweigh these minor flaws.

[manders]

I have a singala which is a bit suspect, it branches out at every opportunity. That said it makes a nice bshy plant instead of the usual nepenthes palm tree kind of growth. I also had a ventrata that had tc related issues...

None of my other tc raised plants show any obvious problems, some tc clones seem suspiciously difficult to grow, whereas others of the same species are really easy, same is true with seeds of course so no conclusions there.

I can see no reason to not buy tc clones.

[marcello catalano]

Luca, for a better answer you should actually know the whole story when it comes to TC and the whole story when it comes to SG. For a short answer, don't worry about your plant being TC or SG, just worry about the seller and how much you can trust him when it comes to selecting your plant. A SG plant can easily come from a terrible selection (in a batch of 50 SG nepenthes, often 2-3 are seriously big and healthy, 30 are average and nearly 20 are crap, and most nurseries for sure don't like the idea of throwing away those other 40 plants, they usually sell them to you) while a TC plant might be one of those 2-3 best plant propagated a 1000 times by TC. It depends on the nursery. For sure BE makes such selection, so I would go for that, but I'm not here excluding many other nurseries. There are many more chances of getting a poor/average SG specimen than having a TC plant that when adult - terrible - will make 10 flower spikes/growing points instead of one. On the other hand, if YOU plant your own seeds, that's great, you pick up those 2-3 best plants and give away the rest, and you're also sure that your plants are unique, that's why so many people look for nepenthes seeds.

[Luca B.]

Thanks a lot to all of you,you clarified all my doubts about TC clones,so really many thanks :)

Special thanks to Marcello,as always with your explanation you made everything clear and i understood what's better to do in my case (it sounds weird to talk in english with a compatriot )

Luca