I'm anal...I think y'all know that by now....

Anyway.
Do you arrange your collections in a certain way, both in your growing areas, and in your documents?

I arrange my plants in my growing area, as much as possible, with their relatives - ie: phils w/ roebs, and w/anything else closely related, and hybrids theirin. So, for example, my roths are near my roth hybrids, my sands with my sand hybrids. I have Angelina Kruger near my sands and my haynaldianum.

Do you (if you do this!) and even if you don't - do you arrange your databases according to alphabet, or species followed by hybrids? Right now, I organize my database alphabetically, but I have been thinking about changing this to a more "family" friendly set up.

Any thoughts?

Heather,

My thoughts are that you are anal! :poke: Just joking!

I arrange my paphs in the greenhouse based on the amount of light they should receive. Otherwise, the humidity and temperature is pretty much the same throughout the greenhouse.

I'm the same exact way. :roll:

I'm the same exact way. :roll:

Which?

Oh, I should have mentioned I arrange by light first, then species then hybrid based on parent species. Sorry, left that part out.

mine are just thrown all on a becnch :D

I'm the same exact way. :roll:

Which?

Oh, I should have mentioned I arrange by light first, then species then hybrid based on parent species. Sorry, left that part out.

For example, I like the roths to be with their own species and hybrids. :lol:

Even though my greenhouse is small (8X14) I can find plenty of small areas that have different light, temp, and humidity areas, and I arrange accordingly.

But no hard and fast rules, and I could end up using a big Colmnara to make a shady spot for some Paph venustum in a spot that would otherwise burn them.

Now that I think about it. I probably have no rules at all, and my greenhouse is a totally unorganized jungle.

Lots of duct tape, and wires in all directions too :embarass: :embarass:

For example, I like the roths to be with their own species and hybrids. :lol:

Okay, yeah, that's what I do also. What about in your dbase though, Peter - do you group them that way as well, by species, then hybrids, or do you do it alphabetically?

Mine are all arranged by pot size and light. Some of my light shelves get higher than the others, so thebigger plants go underneath easier. I hope to soon arrange also by water/ temp changes.

I'm not anal, I'm more like the nutty professor type

I'm anal...I think y'all know that by now....

Anyway.
Do you arrange your collections in a certain way, both in your growing areas, and in your documents?

I arrange my plants in my growing area, as much as possible, with their relatives - ie: phils w/ roebs, and w/anything else closely related, and hybrids theirin. So, for example, my roths are near my roth hybrids, my sands with my sand hybrids. I have Angelina Kruger near my sands and my haynaldianum.

Do you (if you do this!) and even if you don't - do you arrange your databases according to alphabet, or species followed by hybrids? Right now, I organize my database alphabetically, but I have been thinking about changing this to a more "family" friendly set up.

Any thoughts?

Holy Smack! Heather, you sure you don't want to move to Michigan? You can have space in my greenhouse in exchange for organizing...

My organization method for papers is: Throw them all in a box. If I get that far, usually they end up on various counters, dressers, drawers, trashcans, etc... This drives my wife nuts. Unfortunately, my organizations method for plants is substantially the same. I do tend to group things by genus. My phals are all on one bench. My cattleyas are spread out over several benches, and have a few miscellaneous things mixed in. Paphs and phrags are usually in large groups, but they do overlap in some spots and some of the phrags are tucked in with the catts. Seedlings are anyplace where there is space and some shade. Under benches, lowest tier of benches...

I do have a database of all my plants in an infinitely flexible, searchable format. It is cDB (cerebellum DataBase). Unfortunately it isn't entirely reliable, and the interface with other software is cumbersome, at best.

I will admit that I have a tray of Hwksa. Koolau Sunset in each of at least three very different locations in the greenhouse. I keep meaning to put them all in the same spot, it just doesn't happen. I have similar problems with other mericlones. You'd think I could at least keep all of one clone together... At least all of these are grouped together in trays.

Hey, no smacking! :)

My SO is after me to get the heck out of excel and into um....drawing a blank...oh yeah, Filemaker Pro. I'm nervous about whether I'll be able to import/export my existing monster database. Anyone have any experience w/ moving excel files to Filemaker? Let me know if you do...put my mind at ease.

At any rate, if I end up switching over, it would be a good time to re-org the db. I am just not sure how practical it is.

Hey, no smacking! :)

My SO is after me to get the heck out of excel and into um....drawing a blank...oh yeah, Filemaker Pro. I'm nervous about whether I'll be able to import/export my existing monster database. Anyone have any experience w/ moving excel files to Filemaker? Let me know if you do...put my mind at ease.

At any rate, if I end up switching over, it would be a good time to re-org the db. I am just not sure how practical it is.

Why don't you just use MS Access? It plays very well with Excel (it should). I don't usually like to give the Microsoft Empire any more credit than necessary, but Access is a good database for most relatively inexperienced database users. You can do some pretty fancy things with it.

Don't know about Filemaker Pro. If I need a real database that I can play with, I use MySQL (it is free, too). If I need a real database that I can make live to the world, I use Oracle (not even close to free). When I use either is a subtle choice, but it is usually easier to find database administrators who know how to use Oracle.

Hey, just because I don't keep my orchids in a database doesn't mean I don't use them. *grin* The life of a bioinformatician is deeply linked to databases...

Well, a)I detest microsoft and b)I've heard Access is a pain to set up. I suppose c) could be SO is rather pigheaded about this sort of thing. :roll:

Well, a)I detest microsoft and b)I've heard Access is a pain to set up. I suppose c) could be SO is rather pigheaded about this sort of thing. :roll:

I like Microsoft :lol: and Access is very easy to use and that is what I use.

I like Microsoft :lol:

:Yuck:
Blech! Ick! Yuck!
:Yuck:

Hi all - and Paphgirl

I'm getting to the stage where I'm seriously considering moving some plants inside on a rotational basis. Where I can, though, I organise for light and size. I'm not species or genus centric although I have polarised towards Paphs recently.

To organise the collection I don't use a Db (as such). I like facts fine but I also like "look" and "feel" in my records so I use a free form notes application called Jot plus. This allows me to diarise individual plants a bit easier than a straight Db or spreadsheet. You can import pictures, hypertext links within a note and outside of it and pretty much whatever else you'd like. It's got a tree based setup which appealed to me. I've got three main trees - My collection, reference notes and Died (why).

Paphgirl, if you're THAT anal you can pretty much guess how the tree goes after that. :wink:

Regards all
Stephan

I am using an excel program, but only as an inventory basis. What I have, where it came from, price etc...

mine are arranged by light requirements
big light lovers are in front of lower light lovers

I just finished a semi-major project of relabelling all the plants I intend to keep with color-coded stakes. I broke them into six groups based on their light and temperature requirements and then added an A,B,C code for their winter rest requirements. In summer they're almost all outside so I arrange them with priority to light since I have little control over temperature. Indoors I'll arrange them according to light and temperature needs and subgroups of rest categories so I don't have to skip watering them on a pot-by-pot basis but rather by what bin they're in.

Mark - I like that idea a lot. Particularly for the winter rest periods, might have to do that when I do the autumn re-org. :) Thanks!

I use Access for my orchid database too; it is very easy to use. I keep a print out on the pc desk, open the database and type in the ID number of the orchid I want and it pops up. Very easy to use. And the set up is not hard. You can use the wizard to set up a plant database them just tweak it for your orchids. I updated to office 2003 and I do like it. Even if it is Microsoft…