orchid addict

[Phantasm]

Hello everyone!

I just received an invite to join your board from Marty and figured I would give it a good look. So far, I'm impressed!
I'm an old veteran of the orchid wars, 30 years or so, and have both won and lost a few battles!
I've been an AOS judge for 10 years or so, and have been active in local orchid societies over the years. My loves are my wife, my golden retriever, my parrots, sports and of course orchids of all kinds.
My collection is diverse with an emphasis on slipper orchids, miltoniopsis and cooler growing species. If it likes water, it does well!

[Marty]

Welcome to Orchid Board ! I'm glad you decided to join us. It's always good to have resident experts with loads of experience. Who knows, maybe you'll learn something too ! There are some very knowledgeable and very experienced individuals here, you'll fit right in!

Marty

[Tindomul]

Hi welcome.

Im not familiar with orchid contests, so what do you look for in a winner? Is there more than one category. And finally, how does one enter?

Thanks.

[Oscarman]

Hi Phantasm,

Welcome to the OB!
Very interested to see you are a AOS judge - can you direct me towards information regarding the process of becoming one?

[Phantasm]

Originally Posted by Tindomul1of9

Hi welcome.

Im not familiar with orchid contests, so what do you look for in a winner? Is there more than one category. And finally, how does one enter?

Thanks.

Thanks for the welcome...
This question is a bit large to answer in a few sentences. The easy answer is for you to read the AOS judging handbook, but basically judges are trained over many years to determine quality based on history, experience and breeding trends. There is a scoring sheet that gives guidlines for various factors such as size, color, arrangement, substance, etc.
For shows, plants are classified into specific categories depending on genera, species, hybrids, etc. Usually exhibitors are divided according to experience so beginners will compete with beginners and so on. Ribbon judging is done to determine winners in each classification and this is seperate from AOS award judging.

To enter, find out when the set up period is for the show, prepare your plant and take it to the exhibition site. Ask for help in registering and they will be more than happy to assist.

[Tindomul]

Thanks. All very interesting. Maybe someday when Im growing my own orchids from seed.

[Phantasm]

Originally Posted by Oscarman

Hi Plantasm,

Welcome to the OB!
Very interested to see you are a AOS judge - can you direct me towards information regarding the process of becoming one?

The process of becoming a judge is explained in the AOS judging handbook. The best way to get involved is to attend monthly judgings at the region center, get to know the people and see if you have the qualifications. Perhaps you know Ken Girard who lives in Calgary. email: girard@ucalgary.ca . He's an AOS judge and could communicate locally. Also check out the AOS web site and look at the portion of the site regarding judging. It has a lot of information and would be helpful for you.

[Phantasm]

Originally Posted by Tindomul1of9

Hi welcome.

Im not familiar with orchid contests, so what do you look for in a winner? Is there more than one category. And finally, how does one enter?

Thanks.

Judging a show consists of ribbon judging and AOS judging. The ribbon judging is basically comparing flowers against similar flowers in the same classification. For example, white phalaenopsis would compete against white phalaenopsis. Exhibitors are divided according to experience level so beginners are compared to other beginners, etc.
There can be 50+ classes to judge in a typical show.

AOS judging is for AOS awards specifically, and the plants are screened and nominated by the judges prior to the plant being judges by a team. There are specific rules and score sheets that are used to determine whether the plant is worthy of an award. The plants are compared to others of the same cross or species by looking at the historical record and through experience.

hopefully this helps!

[Phantasm]

Check out the AOS website for information about judging. There is a lot of good stuff there including contact information for judges. Ken Girard is a judge in Calgary that should be able to help, and his email address is under the Pacific NW judging region. Also the judging handbook has more information. If you need to discuss this I'm willing to discuss this via phone.

[Marty]

My apologies... Our resident AOS Judge Phantasm hasn't been seeing his own posts. Due to my screw up, his posts were placed into a moderation queue. My bad !

His persistence and dedication in answering the questions however, has been noticed by ALL !!!

Although, he repeated himself tiny bit, he also oozed a bit more info each time

Everything is fixed now, you should see your posts right away now