I happens to have a FCC plant with me, and I wanted to get it awarded by the AOS at that time... Harold Koopowitz told me himself it was better not to do it, because if the judges were not knowledgeable they would give that plan an HCC, and I would be "in deep ****"
![Big Grin :D :D](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
(original quote
![Stick Out Tongue :p :p](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
). He proved to be right, I showed a callosum vini that was really beautiful ( even Hanajima who happened to be at that show and was still a huge nusery, and some more California growers said it was outstanding), that just got an HCC ( and the best species in show at the same time).
Great caudatum, with those leaves I would not be surprised if it turned out to be a tetraploid...
Some people do not bother anymore to get their plants judged, just take very goo pictures and that's all. I think on my side that it is better. For the micranthum KwangSee, I showed one at the RHS, and 3 at the DOG. One at the DOG got an SM, fine... but the 2 other ones and the RHS ones were rejected, and I learned after that the judges found they had huge flowers and perfect shape, BUT the pouch was not dark enough ( of course !). One famous professionnal grower from the USA submitted plants to an European judging team ( I would not say which one, only that they speak english...). None of them were awarded, though they were gorgeous. After the show, I was taking breakfast, where 1, then 2, then 3 judges asked for divisons. He sent them to hell
![Stick Out Tongue :p :p](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
oke: telling them that if they were not award quality, he would not bother them with divisions. Another time, pollen from an entire inflorescence disappeared ( a rothschildianum as I remember), only judges had access to the plants. There are plenty of stories like that that eventually made people disappointed with the judging systems anywhere in the world.
If one thinks very carefully, Terry Root got very, very few awards, for sure less than 30/year over the last 10 years, if not even less. He did not dare to bring the plants to be awarded, that's it. He knows their quality, he has pictures ( sometimes good, sometimes... :drool: but still know what it is), trusting customers and that's it. Of course, many of his plants are awarded, but not by him. The rothschildianum AQ/AOS was a big joke as well. Some FCC roths were awarded low award, and some "lower quality" ones were awarded FCC in his batch ( though all of them were gorgeous, no doubt !).