Anyone interested in an computer program to keep track of things?

[busty]

I'm pretty good at the whole computer thing and I've been growing for a while, so I figured I'd combine my talents and write an application to keep track of my plants. I'm wondering if there's any demand for such a thing or if anyone has heard of/seen something similar that I can either use or improve upon?

Up until now I've been keeping track of my individual plant's life cycles. Things like strain, date put into soil, date put into flower, days veg'd, days flowered, harvest date, and dry weight harvested.

I was thinking about turning this into an application so that I could start recording more granular information like waterings and feedings. From there I could report on the data captured to optimize my process.

Let me know if you guys are interested in such a thing or if there's already one out there that you've seen... or any other random thoughts that strike you! I'm not going to try to sell the thing, it'd just be nice to give back to this community

 

[WasntMe]

there are a couple stand alone programs out there that do automation, observation and remote controlling already I believe. I haven't used those though.

Also there is a relay based Crestron module and a RTi module available if you do full house automation. Crestron controls and GUI can even be installed on an iPad for walk around control. These are more my realm.

 

[MJBadger]

Reminds me off a major bust some years ago where a grower had his own programme connected to the PC that ran the lights/watering/ph/nutrition/ducting , the whole works that he could veiw & control from virtually anywhere . Trouble was he never took into account pests & when he had a big problem with spider mite he let a insectacidal smoke bomb off to fumigate the whole grow . Neighbours spotted smoke coming from the vent in the wall & called the fire brigade that led to being busted .
The judge actually praised him on his programme saying how highly technical & efficient it was . All it took was a smoke bomb to destroy all that hard work . He got prison .

 

[merlot]

Nice idea busty! I definitely keep track of everything on paper, guess it would be nice to do on a computer instead.. so I may definitely be interested if it's a nice app you make

Maybe keep track of:
1. Veg
A. Day number
B. Light cycle
C. Feedings
1. PH
2. Nutrients/ additions
D. Soil mix
E. Foliars
F. Height of plant

2. Flower
1. Day number
etc etc

Just throwing some ideas out there.. what program are you planning on using?

 

[busty]

I would definitely not be trying my hand at mechanical automation.

It would be a glorified, prettied up spreadsheet to record how individual ladies have been taken care of and what the results were after harvest.

The goal would be to gather enough data to dial in watering and nutrition for individual strains over time.

Maybe this is just something I'm interested in since I'm in the organic hand-watering crowd with teas as needed instead of the regimented branded feeding product crowd?

Nice idea busty! I definitely keep track of everything on paper, guess it would be nice to do on a computer instead.. so I may definitely be interested if it's a nice app you make

Maybe keep track of:
1. Veg
A. Day number
B. Light cycle
C. Feedings
1. PH
2. Nutrients/ additions
D. Soil mix
E. Foliars
F. Height of plant

2. Flower
1. Day number
etc etc

Just throwing some ideas out there.. what program are you planning on using?

Haha, until I quoted your post and saw the indents I thought you had the craziest numbering/lettering scheme. Keep the ideas coming, though! Gathering enough data to turn it into something actionable is our goal!

I was going to throw it together in C#. I've been a Java guy for long enough and this would give me an excuse to give the .NET world a go.

Edit: Or Groovy. Groovy looks like it'll be more fun than C#... and to heck with Microsoft!

 

[merlot]

Ah, I didn't notice the lack of indentations, I can see how that looked funky .

I have no idea about java or groovy or c#, but let me know how it comes along if you do put something together!

 

[smoke1sun]

Its a good idea. One thing I would like is the ability to insert pics based on the day. I can click on day 26 flower and see what my plants looked like last round compared to this round.

Nutrient tracking, for testing purpose.
Make it easy to input data. lol

Not much at all

http://herbiq.codeplex.com/
This one kind of a pain in the ass to keep up.

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=4509

 

[Yes4Prop215]

my computer is on a different floor than the grow room, so it would be kinda annoying to go up and down. i track all of my grow info on 2 whiteboards that are placed in the flower and veg room, whenever i have a quick idea or have to write something important it goes there.

i have thought of developing a computer program that would be an online ledger or something like that. where you can track expenses, etc. then i realized they already had programs like that on the market.

also computer = possible evidence from cops in case of raid. not knocking your idea, but just letting you know possible negatives. i am sure that some people would find a use for a program like that, especially more complicated grows. i like to keep things simple most of my grow is in my brain.

 

[potlatch]

I like the white board idea, very practical.
I'm familiar with Excel so I'd probably record things with that.
The idea of including pictures is cool and you can insert them into Excel.

BUT, yeah, talk about a gift-wrapped case for the prosecuting attorney . . .

 

[Xerhoss]

I've used file amigo in the past. Categories are all inputable and you can add as many lines as necessary. Might be something to look into or improve upon.

 

[smoke1sun]

I like the white board idea, very practical.
I'm familiar with Excel so I'd probably record things with that.
The idea of including pictures is cool and you can insert them into Excel.

BUT, yeah, talk about a gift-wrapped case for the prosecuting attorney . . .

What method do you use to get your pics in excel.

Me I right click and choose add a comment. Then add it there. Its knid of a pain in the ass put it makes it nice so i can just hover the mouse over a field and get a pic.

 

[potlatch]

What method do you use to get your pics in excel.
[. . .]

Comments are very useful, like a post-it note.

I was thinking of the standard Insert operation.
Using Excel 2007, I haven't figured out how to make a picture into a comment.

Found it: http://www.contextures.com/xlVideos01.html#CommentPicture
http://blog.mclaughlinsoftware.com/microsoft-excel/add-image-to-a-comment/

 

[smoke1sun]

http://www.mrexcel.com/tip089.shtml

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1365762/add_a_picture_to_an_excel_comment_box.html?cat=15

 

[Snowdog27]

busty

I think it is a great idea to do up a spread sheet to track your grows, I had a spread sheet that I used to use before my hard drive got fried, it was a bit crude but it worked for what I needed it for. I have never been one for aesthetics so it would be nice to see what others can dream up. I would be interested in using it and I think it would make a useful tool for other members of this site.

 

[zen_trikester]

I use an excel sheet to track things and it works great. I have no desire to input data every day though so I don't log anything until harvest. I use white tape to label my pots and use enough tape to add little notes as I go, and then I log all of that at harvest time. My label starts off with the strain/pheno, soil mix, plant date, and 12/12 date. I use mostly amended soil and do very little feeding otherwise so the 0-3 times I feed I just put a note on the tape. Then at harvest I trim it up and peel the tape off, do a wet weight, add the wet weight and all the info from the label into the spreadsheet, and then after it is dry I weigh it again and put a dry weight. Then if it is a new one I may add some notes after I cure and smoke it.

I started doing this when I started working with recycled soil and it has been a great way to track what works. I am now trying little tweeks to get a little more production out of my plants and logging everything like I do is the only way to achieve that. I plan on stopping all of that once I settle on a mix that I think is peak performance for my system, but for now it is important that I remember what I did to each plant so I can get things dialed. Almost 2 years now and about 6 months of logging data. I am getting closer but still not fully dialed.

So l0ogging info is great but depending on how you run it may be a real big pita to input data as you do things. also since my my observation is based on how much product I get after harvest I perfer to have things organized by harvest date instead of plant date. My monthly harvest is where I set my goals and whatnot.

 

[smoke1sun]

Anyone else got aby good record keeping idea's.

I really like zen's white tape idea, for those times i need to input the info later.

 

[l337purpl3]

I would love a program like that!

 

[wantaknow]

how about this ,can you wright a program that would start deriks boot nuke if some one tried to open your hard drive with out a password or if its upluged from your pc and put on another like the cops do when they want to sniff out your hard drive?as soon as they try to access the drive it fires off the boot nuke in quick mode ?

 

[DIDM]

there is a great demand for this


as well as many folks perfecting it


HURRY

my friends are already looking into one system that is security and feeding combined, self filling mixing and everything all ran off a system with Iphone and Android apps and runn off our phones and Ipads.

 

[l337purpl3]

Which is the best software for this right now on the market?