Which Milts do I buy?

[Ennui]

I like #1.
it is pointy,
but still full enough to have a nice overlap of the petals.
i agree with others:
I don't know milt. judging criteria,
just what shape appeals to my uneducated eye.

[Piper]

Kev,

I knew about needing mositure to get flowers to open fully. I think of watering before the ambient humidity, but on reflection that's probably important too. I just noticed how flat some milts are and how cupped mine were. Lots of variation.

Julie

[LJA]

Not basic genetic form, but whether or not the flower opens flat or concave. I think someone told me that if the humidity isn't high enough you have a greater chance of the flower opening concave.

Yep, very true.

Humidity has much to do with Milt flower shape. When looking at a Milt you want nice size sepals and petals. There should not be such a gap between them like in the 4th pic. That flower is absolutely horrible. I think for structure and if I had to Judge, #2 has the best Form.

Yes, I agree.
I don't grow or show these (I have all of one, hugging the cool pad), but shape, presentation, color, and size will all be taken into account when Judges look to award something. The flower will be compared to others of similar parentage, and to its own parents. If it's an "improvement" (subjective mostly, but also measured in terms of natural spread, how the flower holds its petals, color intensity, spike length, straightness of spike, number of flowers) it may get an award (or it may not, depending on whether that particular group of judges "likes" Miltonias--it shouldn't be that way--the "liking" part--but people are people, Judges no exception....

By the way, from the wording on those descriptions, looks to me like those are photos of one of the parents, and not necessarily the awarded ones.

[Gin]

I like #2 the best Don't care for #4 at all , the other 2 are nice, a toss up . Gin

[TundraKev]

OK, if what you guys are saying about awards is true and that #4 is also
"absolutely horrible", why did it then receive a FCC/RHS?

I'm not being a brat (well, kind of).

[Sue]

OK, if what you guys are saying about awards is true and that #4 is also
"absolutely horrible", why did it then receive a FCC/RHS?

It didn't – the pod parent got the FCC.

This is related to my hangup about judging – having a standard form for a flower type fails to recognize other kinds of beauty which do not conform to that standard.

For example: Phals. Phals are supposed to be large and flat, with no 'windowing' (i.e. no space between the petals near the column). Preference is for round rather than star shaped, and a big factor is how many blooms are open at one time.

Thus, the Phal standard does not recognize the beauty of star-shaped blooms, or branching successive blooms. So a clone with form from Phal. mannii would be much less likely to get an award than a different clone of the same grex which took color rather than form from the mannii parent. I like the mannii shape. If I breed for that shape, I might come up with some stunning blooms, but they aren't all that likely to get awards, unless I find some judges who are willing to consider it outside of the Phal standard . . . which I don't think they're allowed to do. It might get a JC, and AQ, or an AD, but an AM or FCC is unlikely.

So, to answer the question from the other thread as well, I think awards are a good reflection of flower quality in a way that I appreciate, but they also fail to recognize kinds of flower quality which I also appreciate.

How's that for a complex answer to a simple question?

[TundraKev]

Thanks, my screw-up.

I guess I still kind of wonder why "that flower (#4)" would be pictured at all if in the Milt community it was considered a not good flower by the recognized Milt standards? Someone must think it's good. I can't believe they inserted that picture by error.

[MichigooseOH]

I agree fragrance. I like #1 the best I think....I like the darker ones, the waterfall ones.....but I also like Hurricane Sylvia.

[LJA]

huh? Confused.

Sue? The pod parent on #4 is bismarckii, the pollen parent is vexillaria with the FCC.

But the picture, I'm willing to bet, is of the non-awarded pod parent.

[Sue]

Oops! My mistake. I always forget whether pollen or pod parent is listed first.

You think that's a picture of the parent? I'm doubtful. I can see putting up a pic like that as representative of a grex (figuring either (1) it doesn't fit the standard, but I like it, or (2) it doesn't fit the standard, but maybe somebody will like it . . . ), but I can't imagine a commercial breeder choosing that bloom as a stud plant.