Platystele stenostachy *MINI*

[nancy]

Greetings -
My Platystele stenostachya went to the show in Alexandria, LA this past weekend. It is (I will admit) magnificent, with hundreds and hundreds of flowers.
It was pulled for consideration for an AOS award, but was not awarded. Our society member who set up the display said they (judges) spent a lot of time with it...his theory is that they chose not to award it because then they would have to count all the flowers.
I figure their reasons are their own; my question is - would all the blooms really have to be counted? I have clerked for the judges at a few shows, and they do attempt to quantify everything; a few friends with awarded plants have read the description from the AOS awards literature, which *does* always list the numbers of blooms, buds, etc.
This seems excessive (even a little anal) for a plant of this size. Anyone know if there would have to be a count?
On the positive side, local wisdom says that awarded plants are doomed to crash within a year after receiving the award, so I guess I get to keep it.
Regards - Nancy

[Tindomul]

Congrats on getting all the attention. Someone else will have to answer the blooms question as I know more on chicken maternity than I do on orchid judging. In anycase, do you happen to have a picture of your Platystele? I would love to see it. Mine is just coming into full bloom with tons of little yellow flowers. But they don't all seem to be synchronized.

[Marleneann]

Nancy...do you have a picture of this orchid?
Thanks
Marleneann.

Originally Posted by nancy

Greetings -
My Platystele stenostachya went to the show in Alexandria, LA this past weekend. It is (I will admit) magnificent, with hundreds and hundreds of flowers.
It was pulled for consideration for an AOS award, but was not awarded. Our society member who set up the display said they (judges) spent a lot of time with it...his theory is that they chose not to award it because then they would have to count all the flowers.
I figure their reasons are their own; my question is - would all the blooms really have to be counted? I have clerked for the judges at a few shows, and they do attempt to quantify everything; a few friends with awarded plants have read the description from the AOS awards literature, which *does* always list the numbers of blooms, buds, etc.
This seems excessive (even a little anal) for a plant of this size. Anyone know if there would have to be a count?
On the positive side, local wisdom says that awarded plants are doomed to crash within a year after receiving the award, so I guess I get to keep it.
Regards - Nancy

[cneos]

There are 7 AOS awards for Platystele stenostachya, 1 CHM (recognized for a different color form) and the rest cultural - award goes to the grower. Early awards mention "flowers too numerous to count."

But someone (probably a student) did count the 735 flowers, 740 buds on 250 inflorescences for 'Mountainside' (CCM - 81 points in 2002 ) and the 18840 flowers, 9420 buds on 'Tikal' (CCM - 92 [now a CCE] in 1999).

When faced with such a 'daunting task' of counting so many flowers, student judges are trained to visually divide the plant into sections, count the flowers, buds and inflorescences in one section, then multiply to get a whole.

When descriptions for cultural awards are written correctly, they include such detail as the pot size, whether it's clay or plastic, the type of media, etc. Experienced judges that have either personally seen the previously awarded plants or that have a good understanding from the description KNOW what it takes for another cultural award.

The fact that the judges spent so much time with your plant suggests that your plant may have been close, but did not meet or exceed what's in the record.

I'd encourage you to keep doing what you're doing and bring it to the judging center on the next flowering. Hopefully, one of your plants will get awarded. It's always interesting and educational to hear discussion about plants that come to the judging sessions, whether they're awarded or not.

[Wendy]

A really nice and healthy plant! Well done! The flowers are so cute. I wish my camera would take those nice close ups...actually it probably would with somebody else taking the pictures.

[Ross]

If you'll allow me to interject (as a photographer): lack of focus is due to one of three things - (1) out of focus - meaning the camera has not focused on the subject. I don't see that here because, normaly something in the frame is in focus. (2) subject movement - I don't see that here, because normally there would be blurring that is directional (like a smearing) (3) camera movement - I think that is what we are seeing. It might not be horizontal (which could be confused with subject movement) but in-and-out like "heavy breathing" sort of movement. My guess is that it's number 3. The responses about a tripod will obviously correct this problem.

[cneos]

I am missing the link to the picture ... can someone tell me where to look for this Platystele stenostachya?
Thanks

[Tindomul]

Here are some pics as an update. I should have taken them 2 weeks ago when it had lots more flowers.
Looks like its grown too since the first pics. Maybe its just the angle?

[justatypn]

Tindo, it looks so pretty, such teeny tiny blooms, it's so cute. It's happy happy happy...

[andynycfreeride]

Originally Posted by Tindomul1of9

Here are some pics as an update. I should have taken them 2 weeks ago when it had lots more flowers.
Looks like its grown too since the first pics. Maybe its just the angle?

Where do you grow this plant?
Greenhouse, Vivarium?
Very nice plant by the way
Andy