My xmas tree enterprise

[roiphil]

Here are a few pictures of the xmas trees to date, from the seed sown in 2009 to present and the field before and after tidying up as it has only has horses on it for the past 10 years or so, the field is about an acre, the xmas trees are noble fir, i have to take a picture of the transplants in the field i will put that up in a bit, click on the link below and it will open up into photobucket

http://s148.photobucket.com/albums/s19/roiphil/xmas%20trees/

Pictures of the xmas trees planted in the field 5 ft apart alternating rows total 293 trees





And a pic of igpro in use notice the plant name noble fir 2010 seeds, this allows me to identify the year and item seed or transplants for the transpalnts i would have noble fir 2010 transplants, this year i just do noble fir 2011 seeds and so on



we are still in the experimental stages as to the best type of compost to use and plug trays or sowed outside, this year 3000 seeds 1500 noble fir and 1500 nordman fir will be sowed outside into seed beds about october

[NightHawk]

You've done a great job there Phil getting that field prepared and planted - obviously a lot of hard work went into that.

It's good to see the photos documenting the progress of your new enterprise.

What length of growing period is involved before they eventually reach the stage for cutting down for customers?

Laurie.

[roiphil]

thanks for comments, from transplants we are looking at about 6 - 7 years till ready for sale, from seeds you could be looking at 10 - 12 years to get a tree about 6 ft tall, we shall start to sell ours from about 5 ft, the plan is to plant so many each year the first field which is about an acre will hold about 1000 trees, in one of the pictures you can just make out the other field behind. all rushes in it this field is about 4 - 5 acres we are looking at start planting in that field in about 3 years time

[NightHawk]

You're definitely in it for the long haul there then Phil.  I wish you good luck with that.

George will also be pleased to see you making good use of IG Pro to keep track of your Xmas trees (and your other plants of course  ).

Laurie.

[ideasguy]

Yes, well done Phil. Not how I would have done it with Ideas Genie Pro, but what you have done is concise and nicely summarised, and shows that there is more than one way to accomplish things.

I did some surfing and found this interesting article about Abies procera and it gives some info about its common name - Noble Fir.
http://www.christmastree.org/trees/noble.cfm

Abies nordmanniana - The Nordman Fir Christmas Tree:
These are really expensive to buy on line Phil, so having an acre or two to grow them should be rewarding!

Best wishes with your endeavours

[roiphil]

Thanks george, i do actually have that page bookmarked as one of my never ending such for info as we are on a learning curve here, question how would you have done it in igpro to show what section you wanted just by looking at the garden area



Also how can i change the quantity to a lower number the original number was seeds for that year 2009 now i know how many plants i have so far i need to reduce the number



thanks
Phil

[ideasguy]

Hi Phil

I was going to say that I would have created Specimen records, and recorded the things you do (Sow etc) as Events and the things that happen (Germinate) as Events.

If I were planning ahead (to sow next year) then I would use the Tasks program. When the Task is done and marked as complete, Ideas Genie  records that as an Event (same as described in the quick way above).

That Count problem:
You do seem to have created at least one specimen. It has a count of 565.
If you edit the Specimen record (click Specimens button in screen GA100S36) in your screenshot and you can change the quantity to 78.

The actual Plant name Abies procera only needs to be entered once.
You can then add a unique Specimen record (for that plant) for each sowing. There are no limits to number of Specimen records.
A Specimen can also be a Batch (e.g. a packet of seed) and you can then split Batches, if a number of plants which grow from the seed are planted in Field A and another number are planted in Field B. When you split, more specimen records are created.

I think it would be a good idea to set this model up as a project for all to follow. It may stimulate ideas for each user in how to apply the things demonstrated to their own applications.
What do you think?

[roiphil]

thanks george have sorted out change of number, i will work on what you are suggesting for keeping records, have only just noticed the split function because you mentioned it  , i think that is ideal for my needs
thanks
Phil

[roiphil]

George, screen GA100S23 you have Origins bought in pots etc, how do i add another origin to the list as i could do with Transplants adding
Thanks
Phil

Ps, there will bound to be many more questions to follow, do you want to start a new topic if you want to make a project topic, could be easier, choice is yours move and rename this question if you wish

[ideasguy]

Currently, you cant add a new Origin. Iit has already been drawn to my attention, and will be added next upgrade.
A new program will be added under the Files tab.
For the time being, let me know what you want added, and I will add for you, and you can then download the updated file (just as we did with Plant Labels).
Transplants is not what I would call an origin though. I'd call it an Event, in Ideas Genie Pro terms.
Were the plants grown from seed? Did you but them as bare Roots? Did you buy them in Pots?
Those are three examples of what I would call Origins.

Keep your questions under this topic Phil. We will start a new topic for the project.

[roiphil]

Hi George, yes sorry transplants so call that origin bare root (purchased as bare root), seed (purchased as seed),

What i am doing is taken that one specimen mentioned and slowly adding all the plants, seeds, i have purchased onto that one specimen with the supplier name cost etc, next i plan to work on the seeds for 2010 because i purchased 2000 odd, i experimented with 8 different compost/sowings

1, 29 October 2010, 208 seeds sown into multipurpose and sand, Germination 21 March 2011

2, 29 October 2010, 208 seeds sown into multipurpose and perlite, Germination 25 Feb 2011

3, 29 October 2010, 208 seeds sown into soil based and sand, Germination 21 March 2011

4. 29 October 2010, 208 seeds sown into soil based and perlite, Germination 25 Feb 2011

5, 29 October 2010, 208 seeds sown into soil based compost, Germination 10 March 2011

6, 29 October 2010, 829 seeds sown into multipurpose peat based compost, Germination 3 March 2011

7, 29 0ctober 2010, 218 seeds sown in outside seed bed with horse manure, germination 21 March 2011

8, 29 October 2010, 208 seeds sown into multipurpose and soil based compost, Germination 21 March 2011

In screen GA004S10 NEW GARDEN PLAN REFERENCE can you add a few more text allowances there, at the moment i can only do for example 2011 BR max quantity letters, which means 2011 Bare Root

Thanks Phil

[ideasguy]

To keep tasks or events records, you need to add a specimen record for each of the 8 items you have described Phil.
You can add more than one specimen record for any one Plant Name. Thus the details you keep at Plant level (Height, spread etc) applies to all specimens you create.

RE:

In screen GA004S10 NEW GARDEN PLAN REFERENCE can you add a few more text allowances there, at the moment i can only do for example 2011 BR max quantity letters, which means 2011 Bare Root

Check that screen reference Phil. I don't see the field you are referring to, and I cant find any fields in other screens which only accept 7 characters max (counting the characters in your example).

[roiphil]

To keep tasks or events records, you need to add a specimen record for each of the 8 items you have described Phil.
You can add more than one specimen record for any one Plant Name. Thus the details you keep at Plant level (Height, spread etc) applies to all specimens you create.

Figured that bit out i think, will let you know for sure after more trials

RE:

In screen GA004S10 NEW GARDEN PLAN REFERENCE can you add a few more text allowances there, at the moment i can only do for example 2011 BR max quantity letters, which means 2011 Bare Root

Check that screen reference Phil. I don't see the field you are referring to, and I cant find any fields in other screens which only accept 7 characters max (counting the characters in your example).

The total letter  i can get into the NEW GARDEN PLAN REFERENCE is 10 (my miscount sorry) ie 2010 RP SD could do with a few more text allowance if possible their is space, Here a pic to explain better