Student Judge question: minis getting flower quality awards

[couchalot]

Hi, you were all so helpful with the Mokara talk, that I thought I would hit you all up again.

My new research topic is on the issue of why miniatures are so often relegated to getting a CHM or a CBR, even though many of them have flowers that are full flat and round.

Below are some of the things people have said to me, these are growers/hobbyists/judges/vendors etc.

"We give it a CBR if we would mow it over, and a CHM is something we would keep in our greenhouse."

"Shouldn't the standards of beauty be just that? Standards- meaning that a restrepia should not be compared to the size of a cattleya."

"Centers with equipment, dissecting microscopes, special camera lenses, etc, tend to be more likely to award these plants (minis.)"

"We are losing an entire market for the AOS, people become disenfranchised when their plants are only considered for two types of award."

"The AOS was designed to be about the cut flower market. That means big."

"I want the Wow factor to reach me from across the room, either as several large flowers, or many tiny flowers en masse. The former is flower quality material, the latter? CBR or CHM."

"Beauty not easily noted by the naked eye isn't beauty."

"At our sales table we see less of the devoted hobbyist, you know, the kind of person who wants the latest pleuro on the market- people who only bought one type."

"Miniatures represent an enormous market as people are downsizing, being able to grow minis successfully in terrariums, under lights means that they are becoming even more popular."

"They are really just weeds."

As you can see, I have written down all sorts of commentary. Now I would love to hear from all of you- as people who love these plants. I too, have gone over to the minis, having first fallen for restrepias, now I have several terrariums of all sorts of pleuros.

Personally I believe that the AOS is failing to evolve with the times. I am also concerned about the lack of consistency between judging centers across the US. As a dog/poultry/horse showing person, I know that lack of consistency is the quickest way to cause the public to lose interest, and that public, or fancy as we call it in the dog world, is who really controls the money. These are the people who join associations, come to orchid shows, enter plants in judgings, buy from vendors- you get the picture.

I would love some responses to the things I have been told, also would love your own ideas, along with a possibly solution- a data base of enough pictures of each type of mini- I know, crazy- but to really know if a flower is unique amongst its peers, one must have comparisons, and this does seem to be a real problem in the AOS.

Thank you in advance for your help. The talk is largely complete, but I want to hear your words first.

Happy Growing