The forum members here have promised me cuttings of some of the varieties on my wish list.  I was starting to get confused about who is sending what.  They all want PM's in fall as reminders.  Plus I have also made promises.  You can only keep so many PM's in your file, so What to Do?

Finally it dawned on me to make a column in my excel file of all my existing figs and wish list, and color the cell in yellow to remind me to remind the member in fall.  I'm using a different color for those I promised to send.

Do you guys have a better method?

Also, I just took out all the "promised cuttings" from my wish list, and added a few new ones.  A wish list needs to be updated, don't you think?

Suzi

Suzi,

Since I grow in the ground, I feel like things are a little easier for me (but I did the same thing when I was growing in containers.)  I have created a map in Power Point of the trees growing in the field.  Every year, I duplicate the map to show the progress for that year.  My propagation are is too long to effectively map in Power Point.  I keep a map of that area (along with other information) in an Excel spreadsheet.  The row numbers and column letters become the location number for the cuttings in the propagation area.

I normally send out trees instead of cuttings.  As i have request for trees and air-layers, I add a "comment" to the cell in Excel which reminds me that I have promised the tree and to whom it is promised.

Suzi,

I record everything in a notebook. Information on whom I got the fig from or where I found it. Who I owe cuttings to, as always need to deliver on promises if the tree lives. 

I am using MS Word 11 which has a notebook template which allows separate side tabs to make different chapters. Anything that is worth noting that is posted here on the board I will copy and past with the date and who mentioned the information. 

An example as I did yesterday:

Location Shepard - Norfolk
Small mostly brown fruit with a py shape
flesh red
fruit taste of berry (raspberry)
leaf tri lobed
6 - 7 meters in total height 3-4 meters wide
Variety unknown
Tree is being cut down for removal, grabbed several limbs and fruit.
Created 15 30 cm cuttings.
Owner says the tree is 40 plus years old. 

Wow, a power point map!  Now that is true tracking!  Thanks for all the input!  I have so many cutting reminders and dormant cuttings to send, it is pretty confusing!!

Suzi

Goodness! I just have a line of Post-it notes across the bottom of my monitor of people I have promised cuttings to and a plain old ring binder for acquisition/culture notes on trees. A Luddite...

I think Access is a better tool but to each their own :)