Keeping Good Records

One of the more difficult things in a nursery environment is keeping records straight when there are many different species. As you can imagine, some seeds germinate easily and quickly while others take longer or need special treatment. To further complicate this, it is also important to track the lineage of where specific plants have come from so that we are able to utilize the best genetic material available. Finally, many of our buyers would like to know where the plants they get came from, especially for native seedlings, where genetic material is in short supply.

To address these issues, we have designed a database that tracks many species of plants starting from the time they are collected as seeds. Seeds are given special codes (seed lot numbers) that are used to track the collection location. Seedlings maintain these seed lot numbers, as well as any remaining seed kept in storage. In this way we are able to determine which collection areas produce the best seeds and seedlings for a huge variety of species.

Our seeds (and cuttings, when used) are sown in batches, a standard nursery procedure, where each batch may have one or many species. Once sown, the seeds are tracked by batch number and species through the nursery until they are sold.

How does this help?

• The tracking system allows us to learn from past experiences, improving germination and quality of our stock
• Our customers can always find out where their stock has come from, which is important for some native species
• We focus our efforts on species that are not germinating in sufficient numbers, particularly those for which seed supplies are limited
• We can tell you what the nursery has on hand at any given time (how many seedlings, by species)

In short, information is paramount to an efficient nursery operation, resulting in good quality seedlings at an affordable price!