Award winning cactus

[martenfisher]

I see pictures once in a while of cactus at meetings with ribbons awarded. I tried to find some again to post but could not find them. What makes a cactus plant an award winning?

[peterb]

Here's an article reprinted from a local newsletter, on the CSSA website:

http://www.cssainc.org/index.php?Itemid ... &task=view

I also found this judging booklet:

http://www.cactus-mall.com/cssa/booklet.pdf

I have been growing for years but I haven't ever shown plants I might give it a shot this year at the CACSS show and sale.

peterb

[Peterthecactusguy]

Peter B you should try it. I went to the show/sale last summer it was pretty neat. I had a class at DBG then.

[Tony]

A Lot of Judges say that they choose the winners simply by deciding which plant from each category they would rather take home with them.
I am not a judge but have shown a few plants so here is my two cents for what its worth.
Plants should be as perfect and clean as possible with preferably no scars or blemishes. The larger the plant is the more leinant they seem to be with scars and corking and stuff like that.
Plants should have an appealing top dressing that matches the plant and the container and it must have a clean pot. I prefer natural colors like greys and browns.
I think Day-glow colored gravel and crushed glass that you find at the pet store for aquairiums are out, but thats just me.
If you go out into your yard and pick up a plant that has been growing under a tree and is caked in mud, leaves and spider webs, and bring it to the show like that, its going to look ridiculous sitting there next to mine.
Custom containers will help catch a Judges eye and the majority of plants are shown in them here, but not always. I have seen an amazing epithelantha micromeris cluster win best in show that was planted in a plain green plastic pot.
And last but not least, no bugs! If a plant is found to have mealys, ants or scale, it gets booted right out of the room.

[martenfisher]

I have some cactus I have been working with to get looking cool in the pots. Too bad we don't have a club here. I think the closest is Tampa and with crappy cars I have it would be hard to be a regular.

[Buck Hemenway]

Tony is a very good shower of plants. His entries are always top quality.

Award winning entries are subject to the competition available. If your plant is the best in the room, it will get a blue ribbon or a trophy. At another show, it might not get a sniff. There's no doubt that the process of showing plants makes the hobby more meaningful for many. It really makes you look at your plants with a more dicriminating eye.

The closest club is Sarasota Marten, sorry about that.

[daiv]

In some places, the plants must be shown in black plastic pots. The idea is that they are judging the plant and not the staging. Who is to know if a plant is in a plastic pot and then stuck in a bowl with topdressing covering the real plant? I don't think that is against the rules, however.

I personally prefer this sort of thing as I don't spend any money on the fancy pottery and grow everything I have in plastic pots. This is not to say that I don't appreciate the beauty of these pots and arrangements - look at Craig and Denise for example- since they are also rock hounds, they have some of the neatest top dressings you'll ever see.

[peterb]

It is the emphasis on staging and not just the plant that has made it a bit daunting for me to show plants. I don't spend much time or money on dressing up my plants and grow them in some really ugly pots, haha. But maybe this year I'll go the extra mile and enter some.

peterb

[martenfisher]

I don't get fancy pots myself but my favorite specimens almost always go in red clay pots. They set on my porch as decoration instead of hanging with the rest of the collection. I am hoping to get my Quiabentia verticillata realy big in a clay pot.

[daiv]

red clay pots

Those are certainly more appealing than the plastic pots, but even those would be too "plain jane" at the shows I've seen.

[martenfisher]

A black marker happy face on the side would fix that.

[Buck Hemenway]

The rules are always written out regarding the "staging" value to be considered by the judges. It ranges from no value up to 25% of the value of the judge's consideration at the national CSSA Show & Sale. Including the 25% consideration, I've seen plenty of plants in platic pots on the "Best of Show" table. Clean presentaion is the key.