Creating a database
 

Can anyone tell me if im missing anything on my spreadsheet database?

i have

genus
name
cultivar
last repot
Min. Temp.
Max. Temp.


anything i missed? im using open office.

Mr. Help, (I love saying this)

Hi there. :)

I have a chart for each genera.

Name
Date purchased
Vendor
Size (division, seedling, BS)
Color
Fragrance
Bloom History: date and how many blooms
Culture History (How did I get the plant: bare root, plastic pot, what media was used), subsequent repotting on my part
Current Culture (how is it potted clay, plastic, bareroot, media used size of pot, when potted)

you know you can call me bob, right?

thank you very much for our help. i will add your suggestions to my database. but i think ill keep all the genera on the same spread sheet, because i dont have many of each genera

Maria beat me to it- I was going to suggest when they started and ended blooming each time.

Perhaps also, what times of year it seemed to put out the most growth, or when it put out keikis or new leads.

I've been meaning to make something like this on Excel. If anybody is interested, I could send them a blank copy to use.

im interested, you can email it to me. im using open office, but it can use excel sheets and convert them. how soon do you think you will make it? or do you already have it? if you already have it, than ill take it, but if now, than i can just make my own

My laptop is being repaired right now, so hopefully I'll have it by the end of the week.

alright then, ill take a pass. im in the middle of making one right now. if you want, i can send it to you :)

what am i supposed to right under fragrance if i cant describe the smell?

I am currently using an Excel workbook that includes a summary page of all my orchids. Each orchid has it's own tab within the workbook that includes most of the information detailed in the posts above. If anyone is interested in using it as a template, let me know via PM (along with your email address) and I will email it to you.

I'd guess just saying if it has one or not...

oh, okay thanks :)

im also adding pic to mine

I add a column to mine for last date of Virus Testing and result.

CL

ooh! good idea, thanks!

How about Yes or No, that would work or Strong or weak, nice or terrible, at night, day, or all the time, lasting or fading. I name a smell if it's distinctive, I also count my blooms.

Creating a database.
 

I am using one (for now, at least) on Open Office called Orchids.odb. It is extremely detailed and, frankly, I don't know what some of the designations even mean. It also has its own mind about how you enter the data. Like, for instance, you cannot enter a date 8/10. It insists on a day also so that if you try to enter 8/10 it will put in a day 08/06/10, for instance, whether or not it is the sixth of the month or not.
You also cannot look up a particular plant without going through the entire list. I wish I knew enough about databases to modify this one to MY needs.
Looking at it, it seems it might be handy to a commercial grower.
I started a spreadsheet of my own but I come to a stop when I get to having enough space for when the plant has bloomed. There is room for once but not for multiple times. I know someone on the forum mentioned spreadsheets but keeps a separate listing for blooming. I want everything together.
Beverly A.

I would add more culture requirements, like humidity.
I am OCD (Orchid Compulsive Disorder), and have an individual sheet for each of my plants, sequentially numbered by date of acquisition, and cross-referenced by genus. I made the sheets on an excel spreadsheet, but I just print out the blanks and fill them in by hand. I also keep separate sheets of when I water and fertilize each group, and note the max/min temps and humidity. Maybe OCD actually stands for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder?

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl: OCD :rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::r ofl::rofl::rofl:

i want it all in one place

I use OrchidWiz Journal to log most of this stuff.
But before that I used an excel spread sheet.
Mostly, you put stuff that matters to you.
I had:
1. name-
2. flower-(date/season it last flowered OR when it should flower "Spring" or "Autumn")
3. rest-(when and 2mon or 4 mon or none etc)
4. light-how much? I use candles (3000-4000 etc)
5. GH-meaning where in the greenhouse Warm/Interm/Cool is best for this plant
6. Day temp- max day temp
7. Nite temp- max nite temp
8. Water- any specifics here like "keep dry during rest" or "do not let media dry completely"
9. Fertilize- again specifics like "do not fertilize over winter"
10. Media- what it's potted in
11. Repot- when it was last potted
12. VT- date of last virus test and result
13. Famous- this is just my little "fun" thing where I will list a few of the famous cultivars so I can keep an eye out for them ^.^
14. Lately, I have been also adding the cost of the plant in the hopes of making myself more sensible...unfortunately, there is NO holding ME back :rofl:
I have also seen flower color, fragrance, and awards but I personally don't do this...
For my plant labels, I use the name and the growing data listed in the table from items 1-9 and laminate...they are about the size of a credit card. I hole punch them AND the plastic pot and secure with a rubberband :biggrin:

is orchidwiz expensive?

I have needed to organize my notes for a long time. I could really use the help, so I am sending you guys pms tonight!

i have needed to make notes for some time! lol

Ooooh me too me too. I've been meaning to create a database but I'm terrible with Excel so I've been dreading creating one.

Can anyone send me a copy of their template? Please? I'd be eternally grateful.

ask grasshopper, hers is exceptional!

Yes it is fairly expensive. I can't remember the price now but it was too expensive for me at the time.

Having said that I've heard from everyone who has got it that it IS worth it.

What would it be like if we started an online orchid database project? We would all catalog our own collection online and be able to cross reference it with others and see how other people grow the same orchids under diffrent conditions.


-J

that would be great!

Bob, there have been a few old threads on this subject and one of them mentioned putting the date the plant spiked, just in case it doesn't flower for some reason, and number of spikes.

You may also want to separate colour into flower colour and lip colour to help differentiate between orchids with the same colour petals (if you have them of course). There is also how long the plant bloomed, to go under bloom history.

I'm currently creating an orchid database in Access for my lot.

the one from grasshopper has space for the spikes, and im using pics, since i take pics of EVERY new root or growth

lol

do you do yours have the orchids arranged alphabetically? because then do you have to rearrange the list because you get a new one.

Mine are in alphabetical order. I'm planning to get orchidwhiz but not for the spreadsheet.

what happens then, when you have something that is in between x and y? just re write each one after x.5?

A spreadseet should have an option to 'insert line', so it should not be a problem to add new ones in to the list.

I enter mine by an ID number which I give every orchid, but I then heavily use the 'Auto Filter' options in Excel. I don't know what features other spreadsheets have, but 'Auto Filter' in Excel makes this sort of thing really easy. I can quickly sort by location, by name, by last repot date etc. I can then also very quickly range the records to just one location, or just one genus or...

I've been working on designing a database using GoogleDocs -- I think this would be a great solution if someone wanted to start a project like that. A nice input form could be designed (sort of like this, only better: https://spreadsheets.google.com/view...Q0MwaUE6MA&ifq ), which would auto-populate a spreadsheet that could then be shared.

I have been thinking about creating a database for a few months now... I have a mac, and almost every option out there is for pc. I stumbled across a website, "OrchidGuru - Orchid recordkeeping in your browser." There's a lot I like about it, but I don't think you can export or back up your entries.

And if anybody else here has an iPhone... Let me just say, "There is NOT an app for that!!" Although I just found an app called Home Plants. I'm using that for notes and observations I make in the morning, then fill in the information while I'm on the bus during my commute. Again, no export capability...

Christi in Portland

My excel spreadsheet got too complex to use. I had way too many individual fields, and I never got all of them filled in - it filled me with guilt every time I saw an empty field.
I now have a really simple sheet with a "comment" field for the little observations that don't warrant their own field.
With any spreadsheet you should be able to sort your data by any column, so you don't have to worry about alphabetizing the list or inserting lines. If you want your dendrobiums, just sort by your genus column and you'll get your dends all together and alphabetized.
I also assign an ID number that I stamp onto a stainless steel washer that I attach with wire to the basket. That way it never rusts or gets pulled out and dropped.
Works for me, but we all seem to need something just a little different (in orchids and in life).

Before getting Orchidwiz I did have a spreadsheet. But I didn't want it to turn into a pain in the a** to fill out by having a zillion columns for each plant, so kept it down to Name, aquisition date, temps, light, humidity, last repot, blooming season, fragrance Y/N and comments.

But I was not very satisfied with it, because if I wanted to keep track of when a plant spiked or how long the blooms lasted I'd have to create multiple lines for one orchid, and I was soon getting overwhelmed. Face it, me and excel have never really gotten along! So I was pretty happy when Orchidwiz added a journal feature to the program. Saves me a lot of time, and I like that I can upload my own photos to it. All the same I have fallen behind in entering info, so have a huge amount of work ahead of me....

I think you are right about the limitations of a spreadsheet Camille, I've got on well with mine but I'm starting to look elsewhere for the same reason. I want multiple records on certain fields for each one orchid.

I've been trying tools like Access recently but have not yet come up with something I'm completely happy with and I'm still using the spread sheet at the momment.

I found a spreadsheet a good simple starting point, but you do have to keep the info you store more simple than other tools might be able to provide.

i think ill start with a spreadsheet, im not ready to spend $300 on orchidwiz. do you know how many orchids i can buy with that $300??????