Ted,
That sounds like a really interesting project. Good luck with it!
Joanna

"Ted Byers" wrote in message
...

"J Fortuna" wrote in message
news:C1C3f.19356$at1.6533@trnddc05...
I was wondering how many people here have a database for keeping track of
your orchids, and if you do what kind of info do you store in your
database?

Well Joanna,

While I haven't done it yet, I hope to have a prototype developed over the
next year or so, as a web application. This would be set up to include
the
kind of data already described in your post and those of the other two.
But
to make it really useful, I'd have a section where one can enter
morphometric data and track how the geometric description of the plant
changes through time, as well as environmental data, perhaps even
supporting
mini weather stations (PAR, temperature, humidity, &c.) along with things
like potting media, or what the plant is mounted on, if it is mounted,
watering and fertilizing regimes, &c. Eventually, it may even support
genetic finger prints. The idea is to be able to support routine
taxonomic
analyses, and use these to provide provisional identification of noids,
and
then possibly to genetic finger prints to support such an ID.

Once I get it established, the more people who participate, and document
the
culture they provide to their plants, the more likely it becomes that the
system can ID a noid. Equally importantly, or the user can visit the web
application, supply a description of their growing environment and the
types
of plants they're growing, and then see the range of cultural practices
that
have been tried, and with what outcome.

No Joanna, you're not weird. What you're trying to do is quite sensible.
What you include in your database is entirely up to you, and should be
determined by how you understand your present needs. There is little
point
in collecting data for a given parameter if you don't know how you'll use
it. If you keep it up, it is certain that your database will evolve over
the years. It is also certain that my needs will be different from yours.
I am approaching this as an expert in decision support software who began
as
an environmental scientist with a strong background in biostatistics and
numerical taxonomy. But, with the breadth of my experience in software
engineering, I can design this so it will be as useful to a secondary
school
student just learning how to grow plants as it would be to a research
scientist, with each user using what he needs and ignoring the rest.

Cheers,

Ted


--
R.E. (Ted) Byers, Ph.D., Ed.D.
R & D Decision Support Solutions
http://www.randddecisionsupportsolutions.com/
Healthy Living Through Informed Decision Making