How do you currently record your bonsai information?

tachigi

You might be interested in this, its what I use.

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Tom

Shady Side Bonsai
Bonsai Vault
4MAAT

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watzone69

What a great thread!

I started an excel file at the beginning of this year that was basically just a tree list with the date each one got repotted. It has been useful but a pain in the butt to manage. I've been trying to figure out a way to add more info.

Each of these solutions in the previous posts looks better than what I've been doing. I am looking forward to playing around with them this weekend.

Thanks!
Mike

bonsaibrett

Thanks for keeping this thread open. I find it very interesting to see how everyone manages their bonsai documentation and records

Mcspeed

Speaking of Brian, has anyone seen or heard from him lately, last I knew he was moving and dealing with serious illness, he/we were almost at the point of having custom software just for this purpose.


Brian - Hope you are doing well

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Bill

lanig

I use the software whose address is in my signature. Exists for Unix-like systems, Windows and Mac.
I 'll probably release a 1.1 version before september.

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OT2 : Free software for your bonsai collection

Graydon

For a long time I thought I needed special software to track trees and photos, care info and other pertinent info. I tried a simple spreadsheet as well as a couple of solutions available online. I'm a mac user to that limits what is available for my computer. I finally realized that a computer based solution would require more time at the computer and less with the trees.

I now shoot digital photos when I feel it is needed and make a note of what the photo was for. The date of the photo is contained in the meta data so no need to bother tracking that. I have a pad of paper that I make notes on a new tree such as cost, age, size and other basic things when I get the tree.

I don't see a need to track when I wire or need to unwire as that is obvious if you spend any time looking at your trees. Same with fertilizing, I feed during growing season with pretty much the same food. Pest care is essentially all the same as well.

I suppose there are great solutions out there but to me the simpler the better. Less time at the computer = more time with trees.

Edit :

I do a few things that may give some people as idea. I note grafting dates as well as cultivar info on copper or aluminum tags that loosely wire to the tree or a hole in the pot. I also use a china marker to note potting dates or species and cultivar info on nursery pots when needed. That way all of the info needed is with the tree. These things would not be too nice to see on a completed tree in a proper pot but they are fine for trees still in development.

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CScott

I recently switched to OT2 and like it. I started with index cards. About 10 years ago my husband created a very nice database program with AppleWorks, so I had extensive tree files and pot files. Unfortunately he kept tinkering and updating OS, and eventually I was losing files and getting very angry. To save my marriage and my sanity the OT2 program works. I wish it had a few more fields. For some reason I have trouble remembering the years I displayed trees in my local show and when I last transplanted. My custom database had a "Transplanted", "Next Transplant Due", and "Displayed" date fields that were helpful. To get fancy I could sort by Next Transplant Due and know which trees needed to be repotted.

Carmen

AlainK

I started a wiki a couple of years ago: http://ak2.apinc.org/bdB/

Er... I also have a plain, cheap notebook and a ball pen to keep track of treatments and when I use fertilizer and such things. Much less time-consuming...

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ilovebonsai

Hi all,

I created a web app to manage all of my bonsai(link below). There's a web admin back end to add/edit all of the trees' information. If anyone's interested, I can zip it up and send it to you. I was thinking about creating a site where users can have their own area to manage their trees. Let me know if any one's interested.

http://www.bonsaiabobe.com

Robb