judging question: increase and bloom
- To: Multiple recipients of list <i*@rt66.com>
- Subject: judging question: increase and bloom
- From: T* T* L* <t*@rt66.com>
- Date: Sat, 1 Mar 1997 16:30:29 -0700 (MST)
Reviewing my Judge's Handbook last night, I saw something that has always
been a bother to me and I thought I would ask all our resident AIS judges
about it.
In the section of garden judging of TB irises, the criteria under
"durability" seem to contradict those under "floriferousness". The former
say that a TB ought to produce 3-5 increases per year so that the clump
grows at an acceptable rate. That's fine by me. Under "floriferousness"
though, the recommendation is that 25%-75% of the fans in a clump should
bloom each season. The context makes it clear that this is a percentage of
the total fans, including the increases that would provide next year's bloom.
But an iris that produces 4 increases per rhizome per year (apparently the
ideal for durability) will have at most 20% of the fans blooming.
What gives?
My own take on the subject is that I expect *all* one-year-old rhizomes to
bloom on an established clump, but none of the younger increases. If only a
fraction of last year's fans make bloom stalks, I would deduct points for
floriferousness. If some of "next year's" fans bloom this year, I might add
a few points in that category, but deduct from durability unless there are
an acceptable number of *nonblooming* increases also produced.
Comments?
Also, has anyone noticed that the point scale for MTBs has absolutely
nothing about the ability of the plant to survive in the garden? I guess
dead is OK, so long as the stalk fits the measurement criteria. ;]
Happy irising, Tom
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Tom Tadfor Little telp@Rt66.com
Iris-L list owner * USDA zone 5/6 * AIS region 23
Santa Fe, New Mexico (USA)
Telperion Productions http://www.rt66.com/~telp/
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