Collection database ? what?s yours like?

[Maria J]

Perusing on eBay, I see that there is software available to catalogue your collection with photos etc?
Although I?m not about to buy one, it did make me wonder about how everyone stores data about their plants?
Paper records only? Or on the computer? What do you record?

I started to fill an excel sheet with Genus, Species, date bought & where from, but I?d like to know what everyone else does, as I have more than likely forgotten something important!! (I would also prefer to get into a ?good habit? before accumulating too many plants!)

Thanks for any comments, views and ideas!!

[phil]

Hi Maria, I've used the 'Cactusbae Pro' software for the past couple of years and have found it to be very good and easy to use. In addition to producing individual cards for each plant the software automatically produces graphs and lists which can be customised to suit your own needs.

[Chris43]

Hi Maria,
I seem to remeber there was a thread on this a year r so ago. But people may well have changed their approaches, so good to ask again.

I just use an Excel file, which has the following fields - a sequence number to identify the plant - genus - species - subspecies - form - field number - date acquired / sown - source - catalogue reference number if relevant (i.e. seed) - location data (where the plant came from if field number with plant) - a big column for comments - and one day I shall insert an html link to my photo of the plant which is in a file.

Its all pretty manual, but lets me do some reports as well - I just have two at the moment - a list of the number of plants per genus; and a histogram of the number of plants acquired in what year.

Its small, and easy to back up, which I do every month at a minimum, onto CD-RW, cycling 3 discs to cover 3 generations of the data.

[Karen-L]

my database is pitiful, just a folder on my computer full of pictures going back to 2000. i never thought of using excel/access to put cacti in, maybe i will make the effort someday...

[anders]

Two things:

1. A spreadsheet with a unique number for each plant (a simple macro takes care of that); name; repotting dates; when it flowers; comments; where and when I got it; soil mix; habitat location. I don't need a full-fledged database as the number of plants is relatively small (about 250).

2. A website with photos, short descriptions and comments. Great for showing my friends what they look like.

[CactusChris]

I keep no records at all - which is why I can buy seed and then find i already have a number of seedlings from last year ;-))

http://www.bcss.org.uk/forum/read.php?f ... eply_34061

Best regards

Chris

[iann]

I have photos of most plants but little data associated with them.

My database has:
Name as acquired (which is usually the name on the label), never changes
Unique number (ie. my accession number), never changes
Genus
Species
Subspecies
Variety
Forma
Cultivar
Collection number
Habitat location
Source of plant (may be an accession number from my seed database)
Accession date
End date, the saddest field
Comments

I try to keep the genus, species, etc. names in line with the latest widely accepted taxonomy. I also keep meaning to put accession numbers on the end of all my labels

[Bill]

Being as I work with quite complex databases you would think I would have something wizzy, but you would be wrong, a simple Excel spreadsheet does it for me.

Headings are more or less the same as Ian's but I also have a column for name the plant was brought as.

[Phil_SK]

When I buy plants I handwrite them into my 'garden diary' which I started in 1990. If I lost my computer database I could probably restore it from these records and occasional printouts). My databases have varied over the years but currently is an Excel spreadsheet. The fields are:
Genus (currently accepted)
species (currently accepted)
genus (obtained as / labelled as)
species (")
field number
field data other than number or location referred to in field number
any other notes (eg doubts about identity, from habitat collected seed)
date obtained
where from
price
cactus (c) succulent (s) dead (x) - useful for putting the list in order using sort function.

[Maria J]

Thanks everyone for your comments! The Cactusbase software looks good, and might be something I'd consider in the future.
For now though, I'll stick with Excel and add a few columns!! (Think I'll leave the 'price' one out though, as I might frighten myself after a few years spending!! Lol!)