Orchid "inventory"

[margo]

I was thinking of creating some kind of invenory list - started at least 3 times different ways and didn't like it. So I was wondering (for those of you that have one) what program you are using and what info you put in.

[cindiras]

Margo, I decided to go visual. I looked up photos of what the flower was to look like on each orchid I own, some shots I have taken of them in bloom and formed a booklet that I printed out for myself. I write down when each flowers so I will know when to expect blooms the following years, and if there is a scent. I write down parentage, when I bought the plant, from whom I bought the plant and what the cost was. This information went into a 3 ring binder by genus. The Cattleya section is the largest in the notebook, but Miltonias may just catch up to them some day!

[bench72]

i have two inventories of my orchids. THe first is using MS Access. In creating the 'database' I first wrote all the information categories that i can think of (e.g. name, flowering time, date of purchase, when repotted, place of purchase, price, photo, etc etc) and then culled it down to what i really wanted. Some, e.g when repotted, i thought I'd not have a specific field, but just throw it inside the "Notes" field. Important to have your orchid plant specific inventory number as well.

The second one i have is basically an MS Word based inventory. This only has the inventory number correlating to the Access database, name, date of purchase, place of purchase and the notes, which correlates to the Access, and then the photos.. which I do each time the plant flowers.

One of the things I wish I did add to the first database is information about whether it needs to be kept in H (hot), I (Interm), or C (Cool) growing conditions, and also the watering regime.. but short of restarting again I figured, oh well, they all have to live in the one place anyways, so both won't matter

Have fun creating the inventory...

[margo]

Thanks to Cindi and Tim for the great info! I better start working on it!

[Cjcorner]

I started a ring binder with sections for various alliances when I started buying orchids. I never realised back then that my "brag book" would turn into the life saver with little hints I forget too easily. When I first started, I put alot of time into adding the "finer points" in the margin with freeze and heat warnings at the top in bold. I'm too lazy now...I just review the old stuff. lol Well unless a special one comes along...then I print out pics and info for it....but that's rare now.

[Brutal_Dreamer]

You could also do a listing here in the Member's Grow list section of the board. Only the member who posts her/ his list can reply to the thread, so you can update it however you would like.

I have been working on cataloging my orchids for over a year now. I created a website that is basically a listing of how many, what kind, what size and color, and a photo (if bloomed). I have only been able to do one side of my GH and so much has changed in their over the year, that I will have to go back through that and make additions and deletions. LOL.

Good luck to you.

Cheers,
BD

[margo]

You could also do a listing here in the Member's Grow list section of the board. Only the member who posts her/ his list can reply to the thread, so you can update it however you would like.

I have been working on cataloging my orchids for over a year now. I created a website that is basically a listing of how many, what kind, what size and color, and a photo (if bloomed). I have only been able to do one side of my GH and so much has changed in their over the year, that I will have to go back through that and make additions and deletions. LOL.

Good luck to you.

Cheers,
BD

LOL That is what I am trying to avoid... I am already up to almost 60 not counting any of the babies so...... I want to get it under control now because when they are too many I don't think I'll do it at all.

[Ron-NY]

I use MS Excel

[margo]

I use MS Excel

Ron, what info you put in yours?

[Phyrex]

I'm using excel also. I have 5 workbooks; Controls, Diary, Information, Parentage, Pictures.

The Controls workbook allows me to open and close the other 4 through macros. It also has the wishlist, budget, and expenditure.

In the information page I have a tab for each plant with information (purchase date, purchase location, pot type size, medium, leaf size, last repotted, flowering and watering info).

The parentage page breaks down the parentage of some of the plants that I want to know. I tried all but it's just too much work at this point in time.

The pictures workbook opens the first picture in a specific folder for each plant. I have renamed one picture of each plant to be 0000.jpg so this file will always be there and from there I can just use the arrows to browse through the pictures of a specific plant. I always rename my pictures with the date so that they stay in order. This allows me to hold the down arrow and I can see a quick evolution of that specific plant because it scrolls through the pictures quickly.

The diary workbook is where I log my watering and fertilizing information and little notes when a spike starts or when a plant starts or stops blooming.

Each workbook opens on the title page that lists all plants and I just have to click on the hyperlink to get to the specific tab for that plant.

PM me an email address if you want me to send a copy of the files and you can give it a try. The only draw back is that it has to stay in one specific location otherwise the links to the pictures breaks (it can easily be fixed though). I have the files on a dedicated USB thumb drive that has only orchids and aquarium stuff on it.