How do you all keep track ??

[daylilydude]

I would like to know how you all keep track of the tomotoes you have grown? I know i've seen some of Craig's on the computer but what i was wondering is how some of the rest of you do it. Because we all know the first thing to go is the mind (LOL!!) Do you use a little notebook or those index cards ? I just wanted to know how you keep all this information so when i start really saving my own seeds or someone ask me about a certain one i can just look it up and give them the info i have on it ! Thanks for any help on this.

[Tomstrees]

Rich -
Excel spread sheet (with notes, and locations)
Detailed hand written maps !!! lol ~
I'm serious ~

Tom

ps.
I also use a hand held notebook for seed starting for each year - germination rates, grwoth patterns, etc. - very primative for some around here that may use graphs !!! BUT, somehting I'm looking into ~ lol ~

[Tania]

ditto here - spreadsheet and maps

I am pretty good at updating the spreadsheet, and keep info about the yields, etc and descriptions.

At the end of the season I move all the updated descriptions to labels, print them out, and put into the seed packs

[cottonpicker]

I have kept a handwritten Garden (3-ring) Notebook since 1989. In it, for each year, I record the dates I start seeds, transplant, weather (if unusual for that season) and varietal names for all veggies planted. I also have a map to identify the plant location of tomato varieties each year and marginal notes to highlight good or bad results for a given variety. Simple format, it but works for me.
LD

[carolyn137]

When I first started growing lots and lots of tomatoes I was not computerized yet except at work so I used data notebooks.

Each of the rows was about 250 ft long and as I finished a row I'd enter the variety names in my notebook leaving ample room for data collection for each new variety.

I lost/misplaced some of those notebooks that I started in the late 1980's when I retired and moved to my new location in 1999, but many of them I'd also listed in the SSE Yearbooks so had the data I needed if my mind failed me, which it certainly can and does from time to time.

At this point, meaning two years ago when I fell, I see no need to transfer data to a spreadsheet b'c I can whip out the more recent data notebooks and check whatever I want to check without losing something on the computer, which has happened to me.

For each new variety I was growing I'd record leaf form, plant habit, first blossoms, first fruit set, first ripe ones, fruit size, color and shape, any significant fruit blemishes as in BER, black stitching, whether prone to catfacing, etc., as well as susceptibility to those diseases found in my area.

Carolyn

[dcarch]

Originally Posted by kctomato

I write everything down on paper so I dont lose it.

I do the same, except I write it down three time to increase the chance of finding it three times.

dcarch

[timekeeper]

OK I'll stick my neck out.

Certainly once you get beyond some number of varieties a record keeping system of some sort is almost a must. Although we think we will "remember" the all details of a particular variety, chances are in a year or two we will forget something!

I use a database software program (in my case Alpha Five); but a perfectly serviceable one may already be on your computer as part of a software “suite” that came with it. Although a database takes some effort to "think through" and set up, as well as to initially enter and then maintain data, they can do wonders.

You design the fields (items) of interest for each “record:” for example, variety name, plant habit (determinate/indeterminate), species, source of seeds, year(s) grown, color, purity of seeds (isolated, bagged, or not), disease resistance, etc. Generally most programs will also allow for a memo field where extended text/commentary can be entered.

Once information is entered, it can be searched, retrieved, and sorted to answer many kinds of queries: for example, which varieties did I get from source X; find my pinks, blacks, reds, greens. etc.; list my determinates; which varieties were grown more than X years ago and should have their seeds renewed?

Most programs will also let you print results/reports, and some will let you print labels with information you think pertinent, which you can stick directly on seed packets to store or share.

One important caveat though, you can only retrieve from a database what you put in it!

And, yes, I know this may be overkill for many folks—and there is a learning curve--but I know that for me its far better than the monster pile of index cards that were never sorted in the order I wanted, that ran out of space for comments, or "slipped" off the desk at the worst possible time. I can search/sort my 1350 garden record database in one or two seconds, and print and edit it at will. I have been using it in various versions for more than 20 years and know I'd be lost without it.

As with any important data on your computer, keeping current backups is a really good idea!

[psa]

For a long time I tracked everything in notebooks, from source to seed to plant to offspring to demise. This became unwieldy as my collections grew (I mostly grew non-tomato plants which survived year to year, >2000 varieties of plants) and some years ago I started recording in computer spreadsheets. Just this year I revamped my record keeping and restarted my numbering system, partly because my previous system wasn't well-suited to the hybridizing/dehybridizing I started a few years ago, as I quickly found out when I tried to search for such data.

All seed and plants coming to me are recorded and assigned tracking numbers. This is tied back to the set of seeds or plants that came in at once, which in turn is tied to information about its source. When I save seed it is tracked the same way, with myself as the source.

There is a separate table for tracking generations of saved seed. This is where I place information on the performance of the plants from which the seed was taken, how the plants were grown, contributory environmental factors, how the seed was saved, quality of the fruit, how the fruit was received by other people, etc.

When I plant I produce a cell list and map(these are redundant), both hard and computer copies. The hard copies are kept in the propagation areas and the computer copy is a backup. Each cell entry has its own number on these and this number is transferred to the tags on individual plants and placed in the seed generation table. Seasonal plants are tracked in a seed-centric manner, whereas the other plants have their own tables similar to the seed tracking tables mentioned above.

When plants are placed together in a greenhouse, garden, or other, another map is generated as a location list and associated map (redundant), and copies are printed for the records that are kept for that growing area. It is common for the working, printed copies of these and the seed sowing maps to become damaged and worn since I like to have them handy with the plants themselves, so it's nice to have the computer backup copies.

All plants retain their named and numbered tags whereever they go, and all seed is maintained in named and numbered envelopes and bags. If someone has a problem with a tomato plant, e.g. not being the right variety, I can get that number from their tag and trace its origin from where, when, and how I got the seed to where, when, and how it was germinated, to where, when, and how it was planted.

I can also easily see if I've ever grown some of a particular seed before and how it performed, not only for a variety, but for a specific collection of seeds, and all of its generations.

I should mention that I work with computers for a living, so using these programs is second nature for me. I use Gnumeric, a spreadsheet program very similar to MS Excel, and it allows me to autofill information very quickly when processing large plantings or new seed. My tables often end up in databases where I can put various interfaces on them. Soon I hope to start coordinating my photos into the system.

I've been watching the potato discussions with some interest because I foresee needing to track generational information in a more sophisticated backend than I currently have, and I'm not sure what best practices are for this kind of data. My wife is a (people) genealogist and the state of software for that field is abysmal. I've threatened more than once to just write her a better program (but now I've gone off-topic on what is already an overly-long post).

[nascarmike]

Best way I found is use a digital camera.

[dcarch]

Originally Posted by nascarmike49

Best way I found is use a digital camera.

Now, where did I put my digital camera?

dcarch :wink: