Orchid Inventory

K: that's a purpose few like to consider, which is unfortunate, because sooner or later, it will happen to all of us ...

We get several calls a year, from folks seeking to sell such collections after the actual grower has passed on. If they had that type of inventory listing to send out, they'd generate a lot more interest.

The other issue, of course, is prompt action, which it sounds like it's also happening in your case. Without the grower or someone taking at least minimal care, the value can decrease rapidly. Kudos to Marilyn. Kenni

Kathy, there's another use as well as the unpleasant long term consideration. It helps no end in tracking repotting & other treatment needs. I also try to record *where* each plant is in my collection now. That's after searching & swearing, trying to find a particular plant (or many) that my database says should be repotted.

And, while I don't keep it all as up to date as I should, I do ensure that each purchase, loss, repot, and position on shelf is recorded.

For repotting, I find it far easier to sort the database by repot date than to work my way through the entire collection looking for the date of last repot on each tag.

Dave Gillingham

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You people need to get jobs! :) Having a library background, I used to be a thorough record-keeper and very much enjoyed the process. Now I'm lucky to find time for a rushed unenjoyable job of watering often enough to keep the plants alive. Where do you folks find the time for this sort of thing?

i never planned on keeping track of the weeds--until a friend of mine gave me a nice little blank book for xmas one year. i thought, "what am i going to do with *this*?" and then said "ah ha..."

i note acqusition of the plant (name, nursery, brief description), when it dies, or when i give it away, when it gets a registered name, and if i win anything on it. (once, so far. :) repotting dates are on plant tags in the pots.

however, i only have about 3 dozen plants, so it's all very casual. :)

but good points about the conservation issue....

--j_a

I wound up re-entering a lot of names just so I could search the database easier. For example plants were listed as Blc, brassolaeliocattleya and every spelling in between. A computer genius I'm not but I learned consistency isn't a hobgoblin of small minds where databases are concerned,

K Barrett

It took me a long time to learn not to get more plants than I could take care of in a reasonable span of time. I probably have too many for my life right now but of course I can't get rid of *any* of them! So learn from my mistake. Keep your collection controlled, *G*!

K Barrett

So, what does everyone use for this purpose? I had an Excel spreadsheet. With it, I could add hyperlinks, sort, etc. But I'm hearing you guys talk about data bases.

Which do you use?

Diana

Setting up the database (I use a spreadsheet) takes time. Once set up, the time in updating is trivial compared with the time to repot - & saves heaps of time subsequently. I'll post a small part of mine on abpo as one example. When you look at it, the blank entries for shelf information are those that will be repotted this spring, & so have not yet been entered. I only started including shelf info at last year's repot.

Dave Gillingham

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On Mon, 31 Mar 2008 16:36:10 -0700, Diana Kulaga wrote (in article <wzeIj.14452$ snipped-for-privacy@bignews3.bellsouth.net>):

Hey, Diana - I know I'm in a small minority as a Mac user, but I've found it possible to create very serviceable databases, first in Appleworks and more recently in a cheap, independent program called iData3. I'm sure there are equivalent programs for PC. Out of fear of Mick's wrath, I'll post a screen grab of one orchid record on abpo. Tom Walnut Creek, CA Nikon D200

I don't use anything to track potted plants, but I have a custom-built database for the lab. It got to the point where paper wasn't good enough, so now the Access database keeps it all straight.

For the uninitiated: Excel and other spreadsheets are "flat" databases, although it is possible to tie things together if needs be- with a bit of programming. Access and other relational databases have a lot more power, if needed. For example, Excel could give you a nice breakdown of the average pot size (if someone wanted that information for some weird reason) of all your cattleyas. A relational database would be more useful if one needed to produce a list of all plants belonging to cattleya species starting with the letter "m" that were last repotted more than 16 months ago.

In my case, I could have a list generated on command of all flasks still on the shelves after X number of days- along with the shelf location, and container identification. At the end of the day, I could (and do) get an average age of containers on the shelves, and a standard deviation of that age. Helps keep things fresh, you see.

A little tip: Open Office has a free (as in beer) office suite that mimics that of Microsoft's, including its own database program and spreadsheet. Lots of power there. And it's all free.

The address in the header is bogus. Send no email there.

-AJHicks Chandler, AZ

Thanks for the idea of Open Office, Aaron. How ya been, boy? Seedbank keeping you busy? Saw the new book. Congrats! Hope its selling well.

K Barrett