Analysis and Reflections on the Current State of the Chinese Orchid Tissue Culture Seedling Market
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Reports of initial success in Chinese orchid tissue culture in our country first appeared in the 1980s. Since then, some non-batch Chinese orchid tissue culture seedlings have gradually come onto the market, while stable batch supply of tissue culture seedlings to the market only became a reality after entering the new century. Although it is now easy to buy Chinese orchid tissue culture seedlings, compared with the Chinese orchid market that has tens of thousands of "varieties," the number of varieties of tissue culture seedlings currently on the market is still very small. Compared with many other plants that have a short history of tissue culture research but have already been widely applied, such as bananas, eucalyptus, strawberries, and Phalaenopsis, this situation is clearly abnormal. Chinese orchid tissue culture has a research history of more than 40 years, and at least 20 years have passed since the first Chinese orchid tissue culture seedling appeared. By all reasoning, Chinese orchid tissue culture seedlings should have entered an era of massive production. This article will attempt to analyze this seemingly abnormal current state of the Chinese orchid tissue culture seedling market from multiple aspects.
I. Problems at the Technical Level
After decades of continuous exploration by many frontline researchers, a basic consensus seems to have been reached regarding the production technology of Chinese orchid tissue culture seedlings, namely that the production technology of Chinese orchid tissue culture seedlings is indeed very difficult. As for the problems at the technical level, the main reason is that the rapid propagation of Chinese orchid seedlings through tissue culture requires relatively special techniques. General tissue culture techniques do not produce good results. This technology requires innovation, and the current degree of innovation is still insufficient; a qualitative breakthrough has not yet been achieved.
In addition to the absolute requirement for innovation in Chinese orchid culture techniques, there is another very important reason for the problems at the technical level, namely that the relatively high estimation of the economic benefits that Chinese orchid tissue culture technology can generate has led to poor academic, experiential, and technical exchange among peers in Chinese orchid tissue culture. Mutual secrecy has formed many small castles of individual effort, collective wisdom has not been able to be brought into play, and the progress of Chinese orchid tissue culture research has been hindered. This situation is also reflected to some extent in academic publications; the number of research papers on Chinese orchid tissue culture that can currently be found is not small, but truly useful ones are as rare as hen's teeth. Most papers merely repeat what others have said, with almost no new content or insights.
The current situation in the tissue culture seedling market, where there are relatively more new leaf-variegated varieties at lower prices while relatively fewer old varieties at higher prices, as well as more orchid seedling bottle plants, reflects the reality that Chinese orchid aseptic sowing technology has matured but the application results of tissue culture technology for rapid seedling propagation remain unsatisfactory. This is because new leaf-variegated varieties can be obtained through aseptic sowing technology, can be selected inside the bottle, and then propagated through regular cutting culture. Although regular cutting culture falls under the category of tissue culture rapid propagation, since the material does not need to be sterilized at this time, the material will not be damaged by highly toxic or strongly oxidizing sterilizing solutions. More importantly, it can bypass the initiation of material, which is the most difficult hurdle to pass in tissue culture rapid propagation, greatly reducing the technical difficulty of the entire culture process.
The problems at the technical level may be difficult to solve well in the short term, because the state and local governments in various orchid-producing areas have already provided support for countless research projects in the past but basically none have achieved the expected results. As long as these competent authorities are not too forgetful, or unless "special big shots" or special relationships come into play, it seems unlikely that taxpayer money will be used to fund Chinese orchid tissue culture technology research in the future, because Chinese orchid tissue culture no longer belongs to the category of high technology. Even if a risky project were supported and succeeded, the credit would not be great. If the person in charge considers only their own performance rather than taking care of certain relationships, it is impossible for them to invest money in things that have been proven highly likely to "draw water with a bamboo basket" (come to nothing). Although there have already been too many instances of Chinese orchid tissue culture research ultimately coming to nothing, one day the Chinese orchid tissue culture challenge will be overcome, because there is no problem here that cannot be solved in theory. As for the Chinese orchid tissue culture challenge being overcome, my personal feeling is that we must pin our hopes on private institutions, because only private institutions can persist after experiencing multiple failures, can persist for 10 years, 20 years, unlike projects supported by government departments, whose project duration will not exceed one term of a leader. You should know that the research results that can be achieved by 10 novices each working 3 years for a total of 30 years will absolutely not be more than the results achieved by one person working continuously for 10 years.
Recently, Tongxin Guolan Technology Co., Ltd., the largest domestic manufacturer of Chinese orchid tissue culture seedlings, launched a new Cymbidium goeringii lotus-petal multi-petal variety "Sansheng" cultivated with "ten years of effort." The appearance of this variety can also confirm that the two speculations above - that Chinese orchid hybrid sowing technology is already very mature, and that the breakthrough in the Chinese orchid tissue culture challenge will be pinned on private institutions - are relatively reliable. Tongxin Company has maintained a high reputation due to its action of recalling tissue culture seedlings that were sold incorrectly or had mutated (Tongxin Die), as well as the good quality of the tissue culture seedlings it produces and their ease of cultivation. From this point of view, Tongxin Company's claim of "ten years of effort" is absolutely not a pretext for selling "Sansheng" at a high price of over a thousand yuan. From a technical perspective, cultivating one new Chinese orchid variety and carrying out batch tissue culture seedling production requires ten years of effort, or it could be said to already include an element of "good luck." Due to the maturation of Chinese orchid hybrid tissue culture technology and the accumulation of application results from these mature technologies - to put it plainly, with the current "Sansheng" and the previous "Datang Shengshi" - we have every reason to expect that equally excellent new varieties will continue to appear tomorrow or the day after, next year or the year after.
II. Problems with the Botanical Attributes of Chinese Orchids Themselves
This is related to the technical-level problems mentioned above, because according to the basic theory of plant tissue culture, namely the theory of cell totipotency, the tissues and cells of every plant can be cultured. The key is to provide suitable culture conditions, and these suitable culture conditions are provided by suitable culture techniques, so it can be considered a technical-level problem. However, because certain taxonomic genera and species, such as most plant species in the Solanaceae family, can be cultured using the most general culture techniques and achieve quite ideal results, the more fundamental reason why Chinese orchid tissue culture seedlings cannot be produced in large quantities is still the problem with the botanical attributes of Chinese orchids themselves.
The problems of Chinese orchids themselves have formed several bottlenecks that have choked off the production of Chinese orchid tissue culture seedlings. These bottlenecks are: 1) The organs and tissues of Chinese orchids have poor culture adaptability after leaving the mother plant; tissues are prone to necrosis, and initiation culture is difficult. 2) The growth and proliferation rate is extremely slow, thereby increasing the probability of contamination, production costs, and the risk of failure. 3) The recalcitrant characteristic of forming rhizomes and the low sprouting rate of rhizomes mean that even if more rhizomes can be proliferated, a considerable number of tissue culture seedlings ultimately cannot be obtained.
In addition, the differences among various types and varieties of Chinese orchids are extremely large, resulting in greatly different requirements for specific culture techniques. Therefore, in theory, there is no single culture technique suitable for all types and varieties. For example, the applicable range of a particular medium composition cannot be very broad, which makes it difficult to apply existing techniques to the production of tissue culture seedlings of new varieties, and difficult to increase the number of varieties of tissue culture seedlings.
III. Problems with the Characteristics of the Chinese Orchid Market
Although the industrialization of Chinese orchid production has been proposed for many years, until now the Chinese orchid market still has the nature of a variety market. The share of the mass consumer commodity market with moderate prices and relatively high ornamental value is still relatively small. A variety market is similar to a collectibles market and an investment market. A notable characteristic of collectibles is that price and quantity are inversely proportional. Although orchids can increase in quantity through cultivation, which is fundamentally different from general collectibles that cannot be replicated and whose quantity no longer increases, because under normal circumstances Chinese orchids proliferate very slowly, increasing only 1 to 3 times through one year of cultivation, the quantity can remain relatively stable, ensuring that the trading market for precious varieties is a seller's market and maintaining the stability of this market state.
Rare Chinese orchid varieties are high-priced. Under ordinary circumstances, growing several pots of precious Chinese orchids well yields more returns than busying oneself with other things all day. Although investing in precious Chinese orchid varieties also carries risks, because it simultaneously offers high returns, it has become the most important commercial content in the orchid world over the past two decades. In a variety market, the profit-making methods of Chinese orchid variety market participants are: investing in and acquiring rare and precious varieties, driving up prices through speculation, or increasing quantity through cultivation and then selling for profit.
The application of tissue culture technology can in theory significantly increase the quantity of certain varieties. Although increasing quantity does not reduce the quality of the variety, it is very likely to cause a significant decrease in the price of that variety due to the sharp increase in quantity. Because increasing quantity to a certain degree does not increase the overall market value of a particular variety, owners of rare varieties are not enthusiastic about, or even extremely opposed to, subjecting the rare varieties they own to tissue culture propagation.
Because the Chinese orchid market has the nature of a variety market, this can explain why there are no tissue culture seedlings of rare varieties. However, for the question of why many varieties that are not particularly precious, that have already spread and are owned by relatively many people - such as most traditional varieties - also have no tissue culture seedlings, it is difficult to explain using the nature of the Chinese orchid market as a variety market. In the final analysis, the most fundamental problem may still be a technical one.
IV. Problems with Traditional Chinese Orchid Culture
It is generally believed that traditional culture needs protection, and the most basic way of protection is to maintain the foundation that nurtures that culture and the previous social conditions that allowed that culture to survive. Because the impact, even destructive power, of new technologies on traditional culture is obvious to all, the possible impact of tissue culture technology, as a propagation method different from traditional methods, on traditional Chinese orchid culture has never been underestimated. Tissue culture technology has even become a source of anxiety for some core figures in the orchid world, who fear that one day there will be too many Chinese orchids and they will become too cheap, no longer cultural and no longer fun. Due to the criticism of tissue culture technology by some people involved with orchids, there is obvious resistance to the application of tissue culture technology to Chinese orchids. Although there is a research history of several decades, it has not been able to produce effects as significant as tissue culture technology for other plants, and tissue culture of most Chinese orchid varieties has not been successful.
Although it can be affirmed that the influence of tissue culture technology on traditional Chinese orchid culture is absolute, there may be different views on whether tissue culture technology has a destructive effect on traditional Chinese orchid culture, or exactly how great that destructive effect is. In fact, traditional culture with strong vitality does not need deliberate protection, and cultures with strong vitality all share a common characteristic, namely that they are not frozen in an unchanging state, but can use various external conditions to enrich their own content and develop in step with the times. If we acknowledge that we not only have the responsibility to pass on traditional Chinese orchid culture but also need to carry it forward and promote it, we need to make an accurate assessment of the impact of tissue culture technology on traditional Chinese orchid culture, so as to promote or restrict the application of tissue culture technology in Chinese orchid seedling production, so that Chinese orchid culture can not only be passed on but also not lose the conditions that can be used to promote its development.
Yesterday's today (the same day) is today's yesterday. The culture formed yesterday is today's traditional culture, and the culture formed today will also become tomorrow's traditional culture. The application of tissue culture technology in Chinese orchid production, from a negative perspective, may affect the original structure and stability of the orchid world, but from a positive perspective, it will enrich the content of Chinese orchid culture and form a Chinese orchid culture with greater vitality that includes elements of the technological era.
V. Problems Related to Tissue Culture Seedlings Themselves
It is generally believed that when tissue culture technology is mature, the production cost of Chinese orchid tissue culture seedlings will not be too high, and seedlings can be copied (cloned) in tens of thousands like using a photocopier. However, the actual current situation is that except for a few varieties, the tissue culture efficiency of many varieties may not be very high, and production costs cannot yet be brought down. Therefore, tissue culture seedling manufacturers cannot sell at break-even because the price is still higher than the public's expectations. On the other hand, because tissue culture seedlings after 2-3 years of professional cultivation are no different from orchid plants from traditional propagation methods, but the price is 10 times or even more than 100 times higher than tissue culture seedlings, some tissue culture manufacturers, considering both obtaining greater profits and avoiding criticism from certain anti-tissue-culture people, prefer to grow the tissue culture seedlings they produce to a larger size before selling them, thereby creating the false impression that there are very few types of Chinese orchid tissue culture seedlings on the market.
Tissue culture seedlings that have just come out of the bottle need to be planted using relatively special methods, otherwise they are difficult to survive. The planting process after coming out of the bottle is commonly called "hardening" in the Chinese orchid world, while in other plants it is more often called "acclimatization" or "domestication." The definition of "acclimatization" is to provide suitable conditions and necessary time to prompt tissue culture seedlings originally grown under high humidity and sterile conditions to adapt to the new cultivation environment. For most plants, one or two weeks of acclimatization time is already sufficient, but for Chinese orchids, the "acclimatization" time seems to be the longer the better. Using "hardening" to describe the planting of Chinese orchids after coming out of the bottle is indeed more appropriate than using "acclimatization," because the hardening process not only enables the tissue culture seedlings to adapt to the new cultivation environment, but also enables the tissue culture seedlings to grow taller, larger, and sturdier, making them more easily adaptable to general cultivation and management conditions.
Some people believe that tissue culture seedlings with a short hardening period should not be sold as commercial products, and that selling these products harms consumers, on the grounds that Chinese orchid tissue culture seedlings with a short hardening period are difficult to plant and survive. This has some truth but is not necessarily correct, because for orchid enthusiasts with relatively high cultivation skills, the absence of tissue culture seedlings with shorter hardening periods available for purchase actually means one fewer choice, or even the loss of the best choice. As the hardening time lengthens, the selling price of tissue culture seedlings continuously increases. If one cannot buy relatively cheaper tissue culture seedlings with shorter hardening periods, these expert growers can only spend more money to buy the same number of tissue culture seedlings, and therefore also lose the enjoyment of watching weak and small tissue culture seedlings grow day by day, which is different from the orchid-growing experience of cultivating traditional division-propagated seedlings. There is another argument for the view that tissue culture seedlings with a short hardening period should not be sold as commercial products, namely that foreigners never sell tissue culture bottle seedlings of Western orchids, such as Phalaenopsis and Cymbidium, as retail commodities, and attribute this hypothesis (this can only be a hypothesis, because in fact no one can prove that foreigners do not sell Western orchid tissue culture bottle seedlings) to the very standardized foreign Western orchid market, which has institutionally prohibited the market sale of Western orchid tissue culture seedlings. This argument obviously has a big problem, namely that it confuses the commercial nature of Chinese orchids and Western orchids. Chinese orchids are not only bought for viewing but also bought for growing and cultivating. During the growing and cultivating process, watching the buds and leaves offers very rich content for appreciation, while Western orchids, apart from their brightly colored flowers that can be bought for viewing, have little value that can be appreciated during the growing and cultivating process. Since basically no one buys flowerless Western orchids to take home, there would be no retail market for Western orchid tissue culture seedlings. There must be demand for there to be a market, and this has absolutely nothing to do with standardization and institutions.
Summary: What exists is reasonable. The production and sale of Chinese orchid tissue culture seedlings involve problems in many aspects. Therefore, the seemingly abnormal situation of the small number of varieties in the Chinese orchid tissue culture seedling market can be explained by the above and even more aspects. However, if the above situation in the Chinese orchid tissue culture seedling market is merely an illusion, then its deeper reasons are still very much worth our continued exploration.
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