I am with you Rob, bottom line is, how are the judges going to know what you
have used? They would have to do some kind of DNA testing no?
--
Cheers Wendy
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"Rob Halgren" wrote in message ...
Pat Brennan wrote:
I talked to Alan about it at the New York show. He said that since GA is
derived from natural sources AOS judging does not have any problems with its
use.
Uh oh... Somebody pressed the 'natural sources' button that makes me
so grumpy... Please ignore the following tirade if you aren't in the mood.
A lot of things are derived from natural sources. I don't think
there is any specific ruling that makes a naturally derived product
suitable for AOS judging purposes... In fact, there isn't a rule about
synthetic products. Natural or synthetic doesn't matter anyway,
colchicine (used to muck with chromosome numbers) comes from crocuses.
Pyrethrins come from chrysanthemums... Orthene comes from some chemical
company somewhere. I wouldn't consume even the tiniest fraction of any
of them.
But for what it is worth, natural sources has nothing to do with it.
If it was made on the space station, shipped directly to monsanto, and
applied thereupon to an orchid, I don't think the AOS judging system
cares... One way or another. I haven't ever seen a rule that states
that a plant treated with any chemical/fertilizer/pesticide/magic potion
is ineligible for judging, as long as it hasn't had an immediate effect
on the appearance of the plant (shining the leaves with vegetable oil is
verboten, soaking white phals in blue food color is a no-no,
fertilizing the plant with chemical fertilizers so that it gives nice
flowers is encouraged). If somebody can find that for me in the
handbook, I'd love to see it. I've been wrong before.
In the judging room, I would suspect that if you were to bring up
the use of synthetic (or natural) growth regulators you would get a
general consensus that it is not good. But, that isn't the same as a
rule. And the practical side is that there is no way we could enforce
it even if it was a rule, unless the plant came in with a little sign
that said "Treated with Gibberellic acid".
Rob
--
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2) There is always room for two more orchids
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