The Horticulture Judging and Identification Contest is a training program focused on teaching youth to recognize and identify some of the most important horticultural crops, to learn criteria influencing quality and to be able to answer questions and solve problems relating to the science of horticulture.
The 2026 Horticulture Contest will be on Saturday, July 18th on the campus of NC State University, in the Marye Anne Fox Building from 10am - 3pm (lunch included). Registration will open soon!
Getting Started:
The contest is for any youth ages 5-18 and consists of three parts:
- A written knowledge test based on the NJHA Manual
- Identification of 180 plants and
- Judging plants for quality.
Knowledge
- 5-7 (Cloverbud) Division: Youth will take a 10 question, true-false, multiple choice
- 8-10 (Novice) Division: Youth will take a 40 question, true-false, multiple choice test
- 11-13 (Junior) Division: Youth will take a 60 question, true-false, multiple choice test
- 14-18 (Senior) Division: Youth will take a 80 question, true-false, multiple choice test, will cover information from the entire manual
Identification
The identification section will include samples will from each of the four commodity groups (Flowers and Indoor Plants, Vegetables, Landscape Ornamentals, and Fruits, Nuts and Berries). Each commodity groups will be on a separate table. Participants will have a complete list of all items which could potentially appear. Specimens may be alive or preserved plant parts such as, but not limited to: stems, twigs, leaves, flowers, seeds, fruits, roots, bulbs, tubers, or plant products. Samples for each age division will also be reflective of their age ability. Each sample is worth 2 points.
- 5-7 (Cloverbud) Division: Youth will identify 10 plants from each category. Here is the Cloverbud plant list.
- All divisions 8-10 (Novice); 11-13 (Junior); and 14-18 (Senior) will identify 100 samples, 25 from each commodity group.
- Click on each commodity group for the list of plants to be learned for identification
- Images of different plants from the National Junior Horticultural Association
Plant Identification Resources
Judging
Specimens of each group of plants within the commodity groups will be judged on the basis of condition, quality, uniformity, true-to-type, and size. The commodity groups to be identified/judged include fruits and nuts, vegetables and herbs, flowering and indoor plants and woody ornamentals. Plates in each class will be ranked from first to last. Oral reasons will not be required of contestants. Each class is worth 10 points.
- Cloverbuds (5-7) will judge just 4 classes, one from each of the commodity groups.
- All divisions 8-10 (Novice); 11-13 (Junior); and 14-18 (Senior) will judge 8 classes of four (4) plants, 2 classes from each of the four commodity groups.
Contest Divisions
For each age division; 5-7 (Cloverbud), 8-10 (Novice); 11-13 (Junior); and 14-18 (Senior), participants register in one of the following categories:
- Practice: Anyone is welcome to try the contest! The practice provides a non-competitive format to get a taste of what the contest is all about.
- Team (4-H, Open, Honors): Teams consist of 3-4 members with the lowest score being dropped.
- Individual (4-H, Open, Honors): Individuals compete against other individuals in their age division.
Youth judging in the fruits, nuts and berries category.
Judging a class of flowering annuals.
Plates of tomatoes for horticultural judging. Notice difference in ripeness and skin texture.
The plant identification portion of the contest is set up with 25 samples within each commodity group.
Contact:
