[kmarch]

Originally Posted by janet_a

...who gets to set the criteria of what's awardable in an orchid?

Good question. Award criteria are set by the award agency which is different in different countrys or sometimes even within one country.

In Australia - the Australian Orchid Council (AOC)
In the US - The American Orchid Society (AOS)
In the UK - The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS)
In Japan - the Japan Orchid Council (JOC)
Internationally - The Cymbidium Society of America (CSA) - judges and awards only Cymbidiums.

Each of these award agencies has a panel the establishes and reviews judging criteria periodically or as deemed necessary. The criteria can differ widely between the different awarding agencies.

Originally Posted by janet_a

...is bigger always better?

I'm not crazy about the term "better" because folks seem to take that word quite personally. They get the impression that an awarded plant is "better" or "worth having" and by the same token then that judges are telling them the plant they have in their own collection which is not awarded is therefore "not as good" and/or 'not worth having." I personally do not believe those paradigms are useful or constructive so I try to avoid them. I would prefer to use the term "awardable." When judging, judges (including myself) do use terms like "better" but what we specifically mean is "more awardable" not better in the universal sense. So with that in mind, I'd rephrase the question to read:

...is bigger always more awardable?

No, bigger is not always more awardable. In the AOS system only 10 points out of 100 is allotted to flower size for flower quality awards. You could have a huge flower that receives 10 out of 10 for size but fails to receive enough points in other areas to reach an awardable score. Flower size is not considered when judging for a cultural award.

Originally Posted by janet_a

...it seems to me (and i speak only from looking at pictures of awarded plants) that judges are looking for more and larger flowers all the time. does that mean the plant itself is better?

Again, no. More and larger flowers are not necessarily or automatically more awardable. "Floriferousness" is the term we use to describe how well flowered a plant is. In flower quality judging, only 10 points out of 100 are allotted for floriferousness so just as with flower size, you could have an extreemly floriferous plant and yet still fail to reach an awardable score. I've seen dozens of very large plants covered in flowers that are passed by for flower quality awards.

With cultural awards it is different. 30 points out of 100 are allotted for floriferousness. One of the reasons for this is that it usually takes a healthy, well grown plant to produce lots and lots of flowers, so a well-flowered plant is a sign of good culture.

Sometimes you will see a plant that has an unusually high number of flowers per inflorescence. I was once on a team that judged a Leptotes bicolor. It seemed to have a lot more flowers than usual. We looked at a published botanical description of the plant which indicated (if I remember correctly) that the plant typically bore 3-5 flowers per inflorescence. This one had 5-7 flowers per inflorescence. s I recall we gave it a JC (Judges Commendation - given for a distinctive characteristic of importance) for an unusuially high flower count. Instances like these are quite rare though.

Originally Posted by janet_a

...are those plants stronger, hardier, longer-lived?

With regard to cultural awards where 50% of the score is given for the size and cndition of the plant, an awardable plant must be in excellent health. Certainly strong, hardy plants produce better both in terms of quantity and quality. Eventhough there are no points allotted for plant condition in judging flower quality, in the AOS system, the plant must still be in good health and must be free from disease and/or bugs to qualify for an award.

Originally Posted by janet_a

or is the criteria "more and bigger flowers, right now when the judge is looking at it"?

Judges in both the AOS system and AOC system are asked to judge the plant as it stands before them at the time of judging. I would imagine it is the same with other systems as well.