the last label maker I will ever need- Dymo rhino 1101

[Roberta]

That approach to photos is so handy when the number of pix gets into the multiple thousands - that's what I do. Another hint... if you want to make them even easier to retrieve, you can put links to the photos in your spreadsheet. (Use links, don't embed the photos because embedded photos are stored as bitmaps...not compressed jpegs... and the spreadsheet file would get enormous very fast. Links don't take up any significant space)

[Leafmite]

Those are really nice tags.

I will be using the picture route with the SVO seedlings. The rest are easy to identify so I have them in a text document.

[Fairorchids]

Well, my dad had one of those embossing label makers back in the 1960's (he hosted plants for some 3-400 customers, so we needed an ID system). Have not seen one of those in ages. Personally, I use:

For many plants with same info: Self-adhesive labels from P-Touch printer.

For few plants: Paint pens from art supply store. Labels might break eventually, but they never fade. And, this offers the added benefit of color coding:

Black for plant name
Red for clonal name
Blue for other info.

For example, if I have 3 plants of the same grex, and I make divisions, I designate them as A, B & C. Then, the divisions are labelled with A-1, A-2, etc. That not only allows me to identify identical plans, but also tells me whether there is another division or two floating around in the greenhouse.

[camille1585]

Originally Posted by Roberta

A hint... now that you're assigning a unique number to each plant, if you add that number to the photo ID (You can just put in front of the camera number if you don't want to fully rename the file, or in front of the name if you do rename the file), you also end up with a way to easily retrieve photos of a particular plant. If you use names for the photos, you can use the unique number followed by a letter (e.g. 205a, 205b, 205c for the first 3 photos of plant 205) so each photo file name is unique.

How do you deal with multiple photos of the same plant then? (ex: taken on different years?). I struggled for a long time to find a naming convention that make sense and would avoid duplicate names, for all of my photos. I have gone done the path of unique names (full date-foldername-photonumber, ex: 20201022-Orchids-001) and then use the Lightroom catalog to manage the photos and search for what I want.

I automatically rename the photos when uploading them to the computer, import in lightroom and then add tags to each photo (plant name, year). It's a lot quicker than manually renaming everything. The downside is the subscription to Lightroom, but I think that there are free photo management apps that work with similar cataloging systems if you don't need the LR development module.

[SouthPark]

One ID system I use was mentioned a while ago ----- just based on date/time code. It's one way of generating a unique code.

[WaterWitchin]

Metal tags... it just doesn't get any better.

I'm in awe of all this database, cataloging, organizing pictures for easy retrieval, etc. I know it's possible, and I even know how to do it. It's the actual DOING of it that I never seem to get around to. Had to do so much of it in the work world, it just seems too much like "work" to do it as part of an enjoyed hobby. Kudos to all of ya who actually get it done.

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by camille1585

How do you deal with multiple photos of the same plant then? (ex: taken on different years?).

It all comes down to that unique number for each plant. If you use a spreadsheet, you can put multiple photo links in one cell separated by commas, or just put them at the end of the row and add columns as needed. Of course, this cries out for a database so that one-to-many relationships can be managed better - using that number as a key, I have a table for instances of potting, and another for instances of blooming, and another for photo links. And the unique ID of each photo is the number plus a letter. (I have a few with complex flowers and many bloomings where I'm still trying to get that "perfect photo" where I'm close to running out of alphabet, but then could go to "aa", "ab", etc.

[SouthPark]

Originally Posted by WaterWitchin

Had to do so much of it in the work world, it just seems too much like "work" to do it as part of an enjoyed hobby. Kudos to all of ya who actually get it done.

Know what you mean hahaha. It is known that some humans purposely eat certain foods - eg. super spicy foods that cause punishment and pain to themselves, but it is a sort of 'pleasure' for them haha. And not many (or even no other) kinds of animals so far appear to do things that cause pain or discomfort onto themselves for 'pleasure' or enjoyment.

It is a bit interesting ------ I really enjoy seeing the white u.v. resistant tape eject out from the P-touch machine, and also the sound it makes when it automatically cuts the tape, and also the 'therapeutical' effect of manually peeling the sticker away from the backing ------ and then carefully putting the sticker onto a thick plastic tag, followed by poking the tag into the pot hehehe. Nice therapy!

[WaterWitchin]

Originally Posted by SouthPark

Know what you mean hahaha. It is known that some humans purposely eat certain foods - eg. super spicy foods that cause punishment and pain to themselves, but it is a sort of 'pleasure' for them haha. And not many (or even no other) kinds of animals so far appear to do things that cause pain or discomfort onto themselves for 'pleasure' or enjoyment.

It is a bit interesting ------ I really enjoy seeing the white u.v. resistant tape eject out from the P-touch machine, and also the sound it makes when it automatically cuts the tape, and also the 'therapeutical' effect of manually peeling the sticker away from the backing ------ and then carefully putting the sticker onto a thick plastic tag, followed by poking the tag into the pot hehehe. Nice therapy!

SouthPark.... ummmm, you just enjoy those therapy sessions. Wish I'd had you for an organizer back in the work days. Or heck, maybe you even enjoy filing? No doubt I need some therapeutic interaction, but that sounds more like SEERS torture to me. Weirdo.

[SouthPark]

Originally Posted by WaterWitchin

SouthPark.... ummmm, you just enjoy those therapy sessions. Wish I'd had you for an organizer back in the work days. Or heck, maybe you even enjoy filing? No doubt I need some therapeutic interaction, but that sounds more like SEERS torture to me. Weirdo.

Absolutely WW! As long as it is professional work and get things done properly under fair conditions ----- no problem! When I see on TV some people in some countries that can't work or find work even if they desperately or seriously want to work ----- I think back .... geez I'm lucky. But definitely WW ----- if hypothetically I had been assisting you as an organiser ------- then that would be a great work experience hehe. A real and special privilege even (for you that is). hehehe.... kidding! Seriously. Would be nice!