Judging show quality cactus

[keithp2012]

I talked to a friend overseas in Thailand who specializes in growing variegated G. Mihanovichii. He told me they have cacti competitions to judge best breeders, and those winners then sell their stock for very high prices because of the value. Some go for $800 US dollars!

He told me cactus must be free of scars or damage, be symmetrical and even amount of ribs, and variegation must be evenly distributed on each rib and not only on top but on the sides of the plant aswell. If plant has uneven variegation they call it o’ clock meaning position of color is like hands on a clock depending on where they are, and the more variegation the more value. It was very interesting to learn about since I grow my own from seed.

Is there anywhere in the US they have competitions like this? I’m in New York and there is no cactus demands to breed here so I’m like a fish out of water with my hobby

Perfect cactus

IMG_1843.jpeg (257.15 KiB) Viewed 2803 times

Nice quality but color distribution is imperfect

IMG_1845.jpeg (92.82 KiB) Viewed 2803 times

[Steve Johnson]

Is there anywhere in the US they have competitions like this? I’m in New York and there is no cactus demands to breed here so I’m like a fish out of water with my hobby

Don't know about the rest of the country, but cactus & succulent shows can be found in the Southwest. The biggest one I'm aware of is the Intercity show held every August in Arcadia CA:

https://www.intercityshow.com/

[DaveW]

Cactus Shows and judging differ around the world wherever you go. Local ones are often judged by a general gardener with some classes for cacti among the garden plants, but specialist cactus shows usually use more qualified judges. Some countries rate fancy expensive pots highly in judging, whereas others do not count them as long as the container is clean and neat. Considering it is a plant and not a ceramics show, the contents being more important than the container.

In Britain our judges have to go through a judging course before being eligible to judge our BCSS shows and judge according to our Handbook of Shows. Not simply using their own ideas in order to try and bring uniformity of judging, but of course we all judge to a certain extent favouring our own interests.

https://www.bcss.org.uk/wp-content/uplo ... bsiteV.pdf

I can't think of any type of UK show that judges variegates as Thailand does, maybe the Chinese and Japanese would favour these more?

Edit:-

I found this looking through Handbook of Shows for the UK in the link above:-

"Fasciated (cristate, monstrose) and chlorophyll-deficient plants Most shows have such a class for cacti and other succulents. Only the fasciated/variegated part of the plant will be judged."