You do not want to get them to set pods.....why? Lots of light reading in past posts.

Orchids are not like pansies, many, many seeds that are spread by the wind.

Here is one past post of many.

Past post

Not sure I understand what you mean. The focus isn't really to grow the resulting pods or anything (which I'm aware is a difficult task), I just want to know if there's any difference with the parent plant itself when pollinated vs not pollinated. For example, do they become more vigorous if they get pollinated? Would they live longer or better if they become pollinated instead just leaving unused flowers?

My guess would be that seed pod production would take energy away from other parts of the plant. I

What about orchids grown from seed vs. cloned orchids?

Being a gardener most of my life, I would say it doesn't seem to matter. Look at fruiting trees and shrubs. It certainly takes energy from the plant and if not properly nurtured, you could lose the plants to disease. I think producing seed is stressful. Some plants will do this even though they are dying.

Annual plants set seed then die.

It is the ultimate purpose of the plant to reproduce and send its seed. I do think it stresses the plant but the plant doesn't care!

Jane

Amen to what Jane said... Some orchids will nurture a seed pod up to 7 months and it definitely takes a toll on its flower production and general growth rate. I have made this comparison tween 2 same plants (cattleya skinneri divisions) and set pods on one and not the other, the plant without seed pods did grow more leads than the pollinated plant, as the pollinated plant put its energy into swelling seed pods. I have also seen dying orchids put out one last flower for a chance at setting seeds and continue on.