Working with specimen program

[diegartenfrau]

Yikes! Why do we only get 52 Cultural Requirements and Grades in GA003S01?

My smart vegetable growing book shows me which vegetables are compatible to grow together and which ones benefit each other.
So I made a Cultural Requirement/Property with
 "Crop Companions" using the vegetables or vegetable families/groups as grades. But I just ran out of 52 grades, used them all up. I am only halfway through the book.

I need more room for grades!

I think this so far is one of my most favorite program in IGpro.

With the Cultural Grades one can have almost all the cultural requirement in short form, right on the front page of the vegetables profile, without having to read through tons of articles, words. Concise and simple. It is so easy to get all that data in there, but to really do it well we should have more room for more categories and grades.
For the vegetable garden I really don't need all that excess, flowery plant information. All I want to know is when do I plant, seed, what does the plant like, who does it not like, what are the nutrient requirements.
This file program can give me all of that.

I still have not started on the lesson#3, when I read trough the lesson about deciding which garden area to add the plants to, I thought "I have no Idea" I need to know first where I shouldn't plant them. So I need to first input that information, to be able to plan the 2010 garden.

But I will start now, since I can not add more grades anyway

Isabell

[diegartenfrau]

Hmm,

I am trying to sort the grades in one of the cultural requirements/properties in alphabetical order, so it will be easier to find the right grade. all the other ones sorted just fine, but the one grade where I ran out of space after I got to the 23rd grade it won't move up or down. I can move all grades up and down from the top to the 23rd space, and I can move them all up and down from the bottom up to the 24th grade. but I can not move them beyond the 23rd and 24th space

Isabell

[bossgard]

George:

About my previous posting re: Plant Number;
I see the Plant Number as the predecessor to the Bar Code Label, used at the 'Point (or Place) of Sale',
or, in other words, the 'check-out counter' in a retail setting.

- Toby

[ideasguy]

Toby:
Good idea!
I'll make the Plant Number visible and usable in my next update to the Labels program.

Isabell
1) I can extend the number, but within the current database design it will be limited to an absolute maximum of 255
I'll have a look at this for you.
I never anticipated anyone doing more than 52 grades etc

For anyone techy:
The program has a one character field for Cultural Requirements and Grades
Referring to this ASCII table, there are 255 characters,some of which are Printer escape codes
http://www.ascii-code.com/

2) RE:

but I can not move them beyond the 23rd and 24th space

To allow me to investigate, I will send you an email requesting a copy of some of your files.

[roiphil]

George:

Happy that you appreciated the mental stimulation!!

Here goes:

Here are two different samples of copy that I want on two different GA048 labels to print for pot-stics to label my vegetable seed plantings:

?Carrot 'Autumn King Cr270 #456-10' (Ter) (Brt Org)?     

?Cauliflower 'Early Snowball #263-10' (Hum) (Wht)?   

Both appear as above in GA048, I?m not editing copy and placing the Plant Number there. What you see is in those samples is what I?m keying in for my own Plant Number ?#456-10, #263-10, however they are the same number(s) as the pre-assigned Plant Number in Genie Pro 5, except for the -10, (which indicates date of purchase of seed ? 2010). Rather than do that plant number step myself, I want the software to do it. Could the software plant number just be placed there automatically? I would put the -10 in when I key in the Cultivar.

I?m trying to think if there would be any reason that you WOULD NOT want the official Plant Number to be part of the Cultivar Name for identification purposes? It seems to me that they just go together (like apple pie and ice cream); the Plant Number reinforces the description of the Cultivar. You would probably ID the plant first by the number, rather than by the name.

Phil, what do you think? When you sow your seeds would you like to have the plant number on your post-stics along with the Cultivar? Am I making sense? Isabell, does this make sense to you? Anybody else?  Malcom?

I?m using #5366 15x2 label layout.

 - Toby                                             

crikey it a bit early in the morning for questions like that  thinking cap on, plant numbers for me have no relevance as i tend to go on the plant name, plus a plant is given a number automatically by IGPro, the only time i use plant numbers is to match up with my suppliers website i.e VON120 (vegetable onion 120) 120 is just the suppliers number for that onion, that way i go to suppliers site put in seed number and up it pops, these numbers i enter into IGPro description if i need to, but saying that i think it would be usefull to have the ability to enter in IGPro the plant(seed) catologe number and year the seed was purchased, plus on the label this way you can tell if it is still viable due to amount sown - amount growing etc, hope that all makes sense,

Phil
going for a lie down 

[ideasguy]

RE: (Phil)

would be usefull to have the ability to enter in IGPro the plant(seed) catalog number and year the seed was purchased

You can do that in the specimens program
You have fields for supplier, date of purchase, cost, quantity
You could put the Catalog ref into the Specimen Notes
Heres another idea - you could put it into the Specimen Name, or append it to the Accession number

[bossgard]

I thought maybe you would like a breakdown of what I do print on my pot-stics as illustrated earlier:
In the first example the Cr270 is the seed re-order number as printed on the packet and is entered along with the Cultivar, the (Ter) stands for Territorial Seed Company, the supplier of the seed to me, and (Brt Org) is color.
In the second example, (Hum) is the seed packager Ed Hume Seeds, although they distribute their seed racks via Garden Centers, etc., I actually purchased the seed at a Garden Center. Hume does not have packet order numbers, but their packs are bar coded.
However Hume?s online order system does have order numbers, I might go back and put those in sometime.
The seed supplier is entered on GA100S01 in the Collector/Author area.

What?s nice about marking specimens that way is if I?m in the Greenhouse or elsewhere, and notice that a few specimens have gone to plant heaven, I can quickly go to my seed storage area, and get some new specimens started.

I don?t know if bar codes are universal around the world, but here in the US the bottom left number is the manufacturer of the item, the number to the bottom right is the product identification number. I wonder who assigns those numbers, the registry must huge?

The Plant/Number I?ve discussed earlier with George should also be shown in GA047S8, GA047S07, etc., when doing Tasks. Yes?

Q.- When one is adding the task of making Labels via GA047S09 Choosing a Care Topic, would it not be a two phased task? You generate (print) the label but you have to place it with the seed it?s marking. (Duh!)
What would you call the first and second phase of that task?
Generate Label / Generated Label
Label Specimen / Labeled Specimen
Also, when you generate your label, you can add the sowing date in the editing area if you so wish.

- Toby

[roiphil]

RE: (Phil)

would be usefull to have the ability to enter in IGPro the plant(seed) catalog number and year the seed was purchased

You can do that in the specimens program
You have fields for supplier, date of purchase, cost, quantity
You could put the Catalog ref into the Specimen Notes
Heres another idea - you could put it into the Specimen Name, or append it to the Accession number

all good ideas and still playing, now in GA100S36 there is a tab at the top named sources if you click on the tab you get cat ref, cost, supplier, how do i enter details into this tab, or is that a differnt subject/lesson altogether

GA100S23 I can do it with working with specimans i entered code into the batch number field, that way i get code and name of plant in screen GA02S01
Accession number tried that but need more letter space currently set at 12 as i think i would like to keep as much of plant name as possible would it be posible to increase the number of letters allowed

[ideasguy]

RE:

Generate Label / Generated Label
Label Specimen / Labeled Specimen

Yes, they are fine, Toby being future and past tense.
Its a lot of work to create tasks for those using the Task Type 3 (as in the Veg Project)
Yes, its probably best doing it with one Task for each "Care Topic"
You can duplicate Tasks. We can get to that later in our Project

There's an alternative and simple way for some tasks.
Have you (and other members) ever tried the other Task Type on GA047?
Bottom of screen GA047S01, click Add General, in the Non-Plant Related tasks box.
You can shuffle Task items into priority order, etc.

RE:

The seed supplier is entered on GA100S01 in the Collector/Author area.

Unorthodox, but yes, that is a good idea for your veg.

Can't comment on the Barcode thing

[ideasguy]

RE: Phil

in GA100S36 there is a tab at the top named sources if you click on the tab you get cat ref, cost, supplier, how do i enter details into this tab, or is that a differnt subject/lesson altogether

That comes from work you do in screen GA004S20 in GA004
Start GA004
Click on the Supplier Catalogs button ===> takes you to GA004S20
Hopefully you can figure it out from there (that would be another project!).

[roiphil]

RE: Phil

in GA100S36 there is a tab at the top named sources if you click on the tab you get cat ref, cost, supplier, how do i enter details into this tab, or is that a differnt subject/lesson altogether

That comes from work you do in screen GA004S20 in GA004
Start GA004
Click on the Supplier Catalogs button ===> takes you to GA004S20
Hopefully you can figure it out from there (that would be another project!).

You are one clever guy, malcolms not getting that trophy cabinet now you are    another little touch that i was hoping for hidden away, and i figured out how to enter all details myself  ok all i need now is a built in customer accounts, invoicing, stock control, etc and i will have all i need in one programe

[ideasguy]

tomorrow...

[roiphil]

tomorrow...

as late as that 

[bossgard]

 
Re:  Session 2, User Guide, Vegetable Project, Surfing for information on your plants.

I am most happy to inform you, that I have finally got information from Google Search into the Plant Data field in both
GA100S40 and and into the Cultivaton Tab in GA100S36.
If I would just follow the instructions you give me, I would be OK!
If I had known this all existed about two years ago, I would have saved myself a lot of keyboard work.
Thank you, George!

- Toby

[ideasguy]

Another boss I knew used to have a favourite saying.

If you assume, you can make an ass out of u and me

I'm afraid I assumed that folk knew all about copy and paste and getting data into IG, FG etc.
This project has been worthwhile for many reasons, and I'm delighted it has helped you Toby.

Have fun!

[diegartenfrau]

I tried the lesson #3 and #4 yesterday, just with one vegetable. I thought it was very easy to follow, but I am sure I need to do the procedure a few times before I am one with it. Today I am looking up more information for growing vegetables, since as I was planning my specimen for my Broccoli's I realized I have sprouting and Calabrese types but I only had general broccoli information saved. Some are for overwintering, some are for mid year and late fall harvesting. Unfortunately hardly any seed packages will tell you, which one is which. So now I went online to research more of my vegetables, since the same is true for the Cauliflowers, Cabbages......

As I looked up information as often I notice the same site is coming up for me, which I often noticed before. I don't know if you in Europe are familiar with the 'Mother Earth News Magazine' but that magazine is a mother lode of information for vegetable growing and sustainable living.

They have a great section on their website for organic growing with growing portraits for all kinds of vegetables, also good info about garden planning. So I like to share the link for you

here is the link
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organic-Gardening.aspx
 there is a link to the archive of articles for this section, but all you need to do for specific vegetable information is to search for the particular plant by name and tons of info for that vegetable comes up.

enjoy
Isabell

[ideasguy]

I'm very pleased to read you've worked through the Lessons, Isabell. Time for me to add a few more

That link is just the thing to accumulate in this thread and it will be invaluable to all other members.
Thank you for doing your homework and sharing

[bossgard]

George:

Re: Your post on Feb. 03 on this topic saying "I (Toby) knew somebody who could help me with sorting my vegetables by Family Names".

He paid me a visit at lunch today, wasn't very nice (mumbled something about me being an 'idiot'), but he told me how to do the sort! And now I can print out vegetable lists, as per FAMILY NAMES: Alliaceae, Apiaceae, etc., etc.

Now I have Vegetable CROP ROTATION and PLANTING COMPANIONS under better control. All I need to know now is what quantities of vegetable seeds to start indoors to put outdoors later.

- Toby

 

[ideasguy]

Please explain some more about what you actually did Toby.
Call me an idiot if you like
How did you do the sort and what program did you use for the Print?

[diegartenfrau]

Planting vegetables by family is not necessary a dry cut method. Some plants of the same family do not like to be with each other. One example is Dill a member of the carrot family actually does not like to be with carrots. Something I just learned and experienced myself, since I grew Dill in the same bed as the carrots last year, thinking they are family, and neither grew as nice then the other years.

Since then I have read in several books, to not plant them together.

I think there are other plant families with disliking members of their own family.

Hmm, seems the plant family is not so much different then some human families >lol<

[bossgard]

Isabell:

Yes, you are right. There's always a few veggies that can't get along with their family relatives. My Companion Planting List tells me about them also, as to what veggies do NOT get a long with each other. I've made note of those so when I create my beds I do not place them in the wrong spot There's not too many incompatibles on my list.

- Toby

[bossgard]

George:

No, no, I'm the idiot! I'm the one I had lunch with! Not you!

You want to know what I did to sort my Veggies by Family name:
Well, you told me how do the 'D - F -  R - S' by using a new Gardener and creating the four Garden Areas.
I just did the same thing and called the Gardener 'Mr. Family Names', and then created Garden Areas of the 'Family Names'.
Applied the proper cultivars to the various areas, and then printed them out on the Report screen. There are eleven family names, and a Miscellaneous that I work with. I still have to build the actual beds as to their proper location and what's going in them. That will depend on the actual number of plants I want to grow. It will be easier now, though.

Has worked great for me, so far! The final test will be in how the Veggie gardens come together in 2010.  Hope it all works out!

- Toby

[ideasguy]

I have a friend just like that! He talks to me a lot

Thats great thinking, Boss! and easily managed.

On the practical side, now you have sorted plants by family as "Garden Areas" - please explain your planting plans and plant rotation.
Not now of course - whenever you get your 2010 garden planned out.
Interesting

[diegartenfrau]

I have almost all of my garden plants for this years garden planned and made specimen files for them. I only have the few left which I need to start later in spring/summer. Our growing season is starting right now and I think I need to concentrate getting them going, rather then spend time on plants I can't grow yet.

I have now over 403 plants in the data base. Some are the same because I keep my home collected seeds as separate plants from the ones I bought, even they are the same variety to be able to monitor how they compare with each other.
For seed saving purposes some plants which would cross pollinate badly with each other I try to either only let one variety bloom each year (like carrots) to keep the seed pure or with others like squash I keep separate from each other and cover with garden fleece or only grow one variety each year.

Variety is the spice of life. Having that many varieties also helps me find the ones which do better or worse in my climate. Some vegetables are just difficult to grow out here, Peppers and Eggplants for example.

today I am starting my first indoor seeds, but because we had such warm days lately I tried my luck and planted some Russian Kale, Mache-corn salad, Rape, Endive and Tatsoi and for good measure some of my mixed bag of Lettuce seeds from my garden collections on Saturday. I will see if anything comes out of it, then today it is a bit cooler again, around 40 F, dark, cloudy and rain on the way. 

But now I am ready for the next lessons.

There was a question I had about something in the program, but I forgot to write it down and now can't remember. Darn, I know it was important. Oh well I will have to wait with that until the problem/question arrives back again.

How is everyone else progressing?

Isabell

[bossgard]

Isabell:

It?s good to hear how you?re progressing with the lessons, I think George is working on another batch for us and will be ready soon. We?ll let George speak for himself on that.

I?m at about the same planning level as you are with your Veggie Gardens. I am going to hold back on indoor seed starting until March 1st regardless of what the actual weather conditions are out-of-doors. My last frost date is April 20th here in the Pacific Northwest of the US.  The direct sows will go in then. We?ve had warm weather and sunshine here, but it is lightly raining now and is supposed to do so the next few days. I have read several warnings about starting your seeds to early, and then not having a space to put them.

I have my beds all planned, hoping that they will take care of any crop rotation problems, and have some good effect on pest control for me. I had big trouble with white moth (cabbage moth) last year. I used floating covers last year for protection that were damaged by animals and high winds. I would like to try something with hoop supports in them this year and of a tougher material.

I have one bed that I am going to retain in reserve, and use for those veggies that have no trouble living together and perhaps use for successive sowings, also. 

I have never tried saving seed. I can remember my mother and father doing that, however. Will have to try it sometime.

Do you add fertilizers or compost to your beds in preparation for the new plantings?

Have to get my seed starting equipment all cleaned and sterilized, I built a seed starting rack out of PVC pipe, that has five double fluorescent light units on it. I think it will give me plenty of space for quite a few trays full of veggie starts, plus some flower starts. The lights will be on a timer, I guess I have to keep the lights burning for approximately 16 hours and off 8. Do you know if this is correct?

It?s nice to compare notes with you. Maybe, with us sharing ?secrets? and those from other Forum Members, we can all have a successful veggie growing year for 2010!

- Toby