I've made it to the head table a few times - great fun!

First and foremost, make sure the bromeliad is clean. You have to go beyond just flushing it out. Use soapy water (Ivory liquid soap) - but if there is scurf on the plant, you cannot brush it or scrub it. It may take several cleanings - don't wait until the night before to start this process. Give yourself several days to a week.

One trick for a non-scurfy plant is, once it has been cleaned and any and all scale, algae and debris removed, use club soda or diet Sprite for a final wash. Really. Do not use regular Sprite - sugar leaves a shine that the judges will think is leaf shine, which will disqualify your bromeliad. Any clear, non-Cola diet soda will do.

Now look at your plant to make sure it is good form. Pull off any dead lower leaves and trim the tips if they are brown (trim in the shape of the leaf - you will be surprised how good it will look).

Make sure your plant is in the right kind of pot (read the show schedule) and that it is centered. You can finish off the look by using small pebbles or small orchid bark to cover the medium. And make sure the pot is clean.

Save your final trim for the day of entry. You can use aloe on trimmed edges - very carefully so the shine from the aloe does not show up on top of the leaf.

Finally, when you enter your bromeliad, place the entry tag in the pot yourself - so you can make sure the best side of the bromeliad is showing in front. Don't leave that decision to anyone else.

Good luck!

Hi Mike - I'm pretty new at this and have had some minor success but I think most shows including ours over here in Aus. are judged on BSI recommended standards. I'm not sure, but I think you could probably get them from the BSI site.

I've shown a few times and I can't add much to the good advice Flabrom has already given.

I've also acted as "results runner" a few times and accompanied the judges and heard some of their comments which is a big help.

Something you don't think much about, but something I witnessed once when accompanying the judges on their rounds. The final decision had come down to two plants of equal quality where the judges' decision went to the winner because the other plant had a "daggy" illegible name tag and a "grubby" pot.

I would just add; pay attention to the "little things", presentation is everything, remember it's a show and you're trying to "sell" your plant to the judges, so present it at the highest possible level.

Hope this helps, all the best, Nev.

Mike, does your local society have a copy of the BSI Judge's Handbook? It's worth reading if you are thinking of getting into any serious showing. I've never done any showing but I've done some unofficial judging of a number of types of plants, so I have a fair idea what the judges tend to look at. Clean is important, and weed-free. Any damage or sign of disease is points off. Good form and coloration for the variety is major, and presentation counts too.

Clean: no bugs, no disease, no algae, no dirt, no spray residue, but also no artifical enhancement like leaf shine.

Form: if it's a rosette type, the closest you can get to a perfect rosette is best. If you have a damaged leaf, can you remove it without leaving a visible gap? If not, then you might not want to show it. A trimmed leaf is better than a damaged or too-long leaf, so long as it matches the rest of the foliage, but a perfect untrimmed leaf is obviously better. The judges will notice if it looks like too much has been removed, and it will not rate as high as one that has been grown to perfection without having to remove anything, but as long as the form is symmetrical and balanced it won't be huge points off.

If it's not a rosette type, form will be judged on whatever is typical of the variety. For example, you'd want a Ques. 'Tim Plowman' or Till streptophylla to show off their curly leaves to good advantage.

Coloration is kind of subjective and relies on the judges' familiarity with the cultivar, but I think most of us know good color and markings when we see them, i.e. not too bleached out or too overfertilized. Whatever the most notable or desirable feature of the plant is, you want to be able to see it clearly. If scurf is an important feature, you don't want it to appear rubbed off anywhere. Bottom line, though, a brightly colored cultivar shouldn't win out over a plainer one simply on that basis. Whatever it is, it should be the best grown specimen of that particular thing.

Presentation: if it's a single potted specimen, it must be perfectly centered in the pot. No weeds, and if the soil surface is unsightly a top dressing of bark or pebbles will help. You should not be looking at fertilizer pellets, salt build-up, etc., so make sure the outside of the pot is clean and unblemished too. Don't use a fancy-shmancy pot unless it's a decorative container category. Keep it simple, and in balanced proportion with the plant it's holding.

Flower: how much this counts is kind of relative. Foliage plants don't need to be in bloom, but obviously you're not going to show a plain green Guzmania without a flower. If it is in bloom, you don't want the inflorescence to be either too old or too young, and symmetry is important here too. If it's an upright-growing stalk it will score higher if it's straight up rather than leaning to one side. I'm not sure what the official line is on artificial supports. My feeling is that they detract, but if they absolutely must be used, then so be it.

On something like a Billbergia, the plants are usually shown unblooming, but if you happen to have a well-grown specimen in perfect bloom for the show, it will likely make a big impression because the judges know how fleeting that flower is. At the San Diego World Conference, Joyce Brehm brought a blooming B. alfonsi-johannis to show. Unlike her other plants, she hadn't been grooming it ahead of time in anticipation of the show, and it wouldn't have merited showing otherwise since it is not a showy foliage specimen, but the odds of getting one in such perfect bloom were so low, and the blooms were so spectacular that it won Best of Show (see link).

That brings us to rarity: if you have a rarely seen or extremely difficult to grow species, and yours is in good condition, bring it! It will likely impress the judges.

Labelling: Clean, legible tags have already been mentioned, but also important is correct labelling. Depending on the circumstances and the judges' degree of knowledge, an incorrectly named plant may be docked points or even disqualified. If the name is under taxonomic dispute, I'm sure they'll take that into consideration, but if it's clearly wrong it reflects poorly on the grower.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:441050}}

Well, I guess they don't want me to use that link, but you can look it up on FCBS!

Talking about the 17th WBC, does anybody know why the 18th was never added to the FCBS site? The previous shows were so well photographed and added to the site for us unfortunate ones that could not attend. It is a real pitty that the latest one is still missing!

Japie

HI Lisa - That plant of Bil. alfonsi-johannis sure is something good for the eyes, and to be able to time it to be in flower and with the flowers in good condition for the show is a pretty good effort.

Two years ago I had high hopes for a plant of Bil. Hallelujah in flower which I was anticipating showing, but alas it wasn't to be; the night before the show after we had set everything up and were preparing to leave for the night, I noticed the flowers just starting to go off and I had to show it without the flowers. Ahhhh, So near and yet so far.

Lisa, thanks for sharing all the good advice on showing.

Mike, it's good fun to show your plants for others to see and a good way of promoting your club to the public and making new brom friends. Good luck with you endeavours.

All the best, Nev.

Oh, now the link's working! When I clicked it earlier I got an "access denied" message.

Me too Lisa. Maybe the fcbs gods were listening!

Thanks for all the tips. I don't think we've ever covered preparing plants for show here. My family was big on entering things at the county fair back in Buffalo. I always thought it was fun to track down my parent's entries to see if they won.

If a full grown plant has a pup is it better to remove it or leave it attached? I suppose if you think it contributes to the overall look it should stay?

Oh yeah, I think EVERYONE is listening these days, Mike! One thing that has become fairly apparent to me over the past year or so is that whatever you say on this forum about anyone will very likely get back to them. Some of you might want to keep that in mind..... ;-)

I think you have the right idea about pups. It's mostly a common sense thing. There are usually separate categories for multiples or clumps, but as far as a single plant with a pup, I think it would depend on the type of plant. If it's a strong rosette type, like a "standard" Neo or a foliage Vriesea, a pup is going to ruin the symmetry and should be removed. If it's a Billbergia, on the other hand, or even something like Ae. orlandiana with a stolon creeping over the lip of the pot, I don't think that would be seen as a detriment as long as the arrangement was aesthetically pleasing. I don't even think it would detract from a stoloniferous Neo like a Fireball or compacta type to have a half-grown pup at the end of a long stolon, since that is so typical of its habit and it's not interfering with the form of the mother. If it's too big, though, it's going to give it an unbalanced look.

I don't really remember what the handbook has to say about this, though. Maybe someone who has entered shows will know better than I do.

Japie, the 18th WBC is not on the Council site because the webmaster (who photographed the previous conferences) did not attend the conference Down Under.

I have enjoyed reading this thread.
If ever i get close to a show i might give it a go, im thinking a couple of my broms might pass for being exactly what the judges might like...(with a bit of cleaning up of course)
would be so cool if i got a place somewhere for something...LOL
BUT then again.....i dont think i would like the fingernail bitting part....heheeeee...the lead up to everything would just put my nerves over the edge