How to prepare and maintain plants before joining the contest?

How to prepare and maintain plants before joining the contest?

Usually we prepare and maintain plants at least 3-4 months before contest begin. Here below are things we have to focus based on my experiences.

1. Flower preparation, (20% points)

- Flowers have to be bloom all as much as they can. The trick I did is to reduce watering for a week and then use the flower liquid fertilizer watering instead. One more thing, flowers should be fresh and not yellow or almost fall down. Flowers should fully bloom in bunch forms on the top of each branch or also bloom circularly balance all of trunk (This depend on hybrid bloom characters). The advantaged plant for this item is RCN, you know well.

2. Caudex, Trunk and Branch (30%)

This part is pretty higher score especially with symmetrically balance.
- The main middle stem is to be short and bigger than other sided branches. The main stem is also surrounded with the side branches like Crown and Pagoda (Depending on natural plant form or hybrid). For example, PMK is monument or tower style and consist of many bunches of flowers on the top. PNW is muscular form with distributed flowers around branch. RCN, ha ha ha, flowers bloom every branch even around stems come from buds.
For Thai Socotranum will treated differently eg; Golden Crown: Big base root and caudex, short trunk, 2 branch layers from main stems and also many branches paralleled with the earth; Petch Ban Na: Higher trunk with big main stem decorated with side branches.
- Branches must not be cut or trained to make them differently from natural form but it’s fine if the wound is dry for long or almost the same as their mother skin.
- Branch joints are also important, more joints more score. Mostly from RCN or Black Arabicum especially RCN plant sown from seeds harvested from mother plant will be clearly seen.

3. Leaves (10%)

- The color of leaves should be healthy, fresh green, no yellow and no burnt from disease or insecticide. The leaves can also represent the hybrid origination. More TRUE hybrid close to mother plant you will be get more score. Some mixed hybrid is good as well especially PNW mixed with RCN or RCN+PMK. Mostly I like to use PNW or mixed PNW to put in the contest because she is very easy to maintain the Dwarf and Contest form: Muscular branch and big flat caudex.

4. Root Section (10%)

- Caudex skin should be bright or shining , no wound, scratch or sun burnt. Putting more chemical fertilizer can make the caudex skin not fresh, please be careful using it.
- The condition of caudex and root must be healthy and succulent, not wrinkle or soft .
- Root should be spread out like spider, flat base style and strong. This different between Thai Socotranum and Arabicum because Thai Socotranum we like to show the root and caudex so mostly contest players like to lift it up as much as they can from the media and make it looks like “Mountain” style unlike Arabicums.

5. Misc part (5%)

- Pot (pot should be matched with plant style), for instance, chubby and short plant should be used shallow and wide pot.
- Plant should be positioned in the center of pot
- Media should be clean and no grass covered with media.

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Cheers,
Choochart S
www.siamadenium.com