Count the beans,

[IdahoOrchid]

I won't even guess at the alba count for several reasons. First of all, you won't be awarding that prize for about five years, LOL!

Actually, the only reason I offered that as a tie breaker is that the seller of this compot told me that charlesworthii is the only orchid he knows of that indicates its alba status as a seedling. Once completed I will post pictures to show this difference. As I stated earlier I have already seen one seedling that MAY exibit this difference.

Getting close, two hours to go to 6pm MST.

I have just been informed that we are going to my son's for dinner tonight. The results may be posted later this evening. Sorry for any elevated blood pressure or other physical stress caused by any dely in this very important announcement.

[Piper]

Then I'll guess six alba.

Enjoy dinner!

McJulie

[IdahoOrchid]

Yes, dinner was quite enjoyable, thank you.

Now, I was going to possibly wait to post the results (and I may still) and do it in a very ME sort of way. First off, I want to be sure I have everyones guesses correct:

Diane is 28,4 (and probably on a plane somewhere)
BD is 22,5
Smartie is 21,0 (no guess for alba)
Murgdan is 23,4
Gin is 29,25% (25% of MY total or YOUR total, sneaky there)
Sadie 23,5
ATester 30,7
Julie 34,6

Julie is the farthest away(9)

Atester is next farthest(5)

There is a tie for second runner up: Smartie and Gin at four.

A tie for first runner up as well: Diane and BD at three.

Beieve it or not there is also a tie for top honors for being two off:

Sadie and Murgdan

Now for the tie breaker. I was a little disappointed there were not more albas than there were, but heck, I least I got a couple of them. One of them was the tiniest plant in the compot and only has tiny nubs for roots. I was quite surprised for having been out of flask for a year, but maybe they got knocked off during the process. This one is in intensive care right now. There were also two others that I would classify as for sure being albas so my official number is THREE ALBAS. There is also one other small plant that the jury is still out on.

So the overall winner is MURGDAN!!!

A picture is included for your oo's and ah's.

[Piper]

Congrats, everybody else! LOL! I have the distinction of finishing DFL. That was a term we used in sailboat racing: dead *&%#@& last! Hehe...at least it's distinctive!

Thanks, Steven, and good look with the little 'uns!

McDFL

[smartie2000]

Congrats Murgdan and everyone else! Great looking seedlings

[Brutal_Dreamer]

Those look great Steven!!! Congrats to the winner!

Cheers,
BD

[sadie]

Those are some good looking plants -- and a fun contest as well. Although I must acknowledge that my "down to the wire" finish was due more to guessing and luck than any real skill with genetic probability.

Congrats to Murgdan! (I was that close . . . oh well.)

[murgdan]

Hehehe...my luck was simply due to the paint program. As I counted each plant I whited it out with paint...then added a couple because I assumed I had missed a few.

I also figured a low number of albas because if they are recessive they should be genetically weaker. You may start out theoretically with 1/4 alba---but being a weaker set of genes these do not all usually survive. Maybe that's why one alba is a nub in intensive care and one is still too small to be definite about...
Of course this is figuring in a very simple manner and making a lot of assumptions as I know nothing about the genetics of plants per say, and only took one genetics course last year that was obviously focused more on people.

Thanks for a fun 'count the beans' game!

[IdahoOrchid]

It was fun putting it on. I wish I would have had more time to do the announcement. I was going to take a picture of each pot and post them individually. (Renee said I was wicked and evil)

Now go check your PM's Murgdan!!! : poke :