I need some help with this program! Please pitch in if you have any advice!

I'm posting my procedure for entering daylily seeds that I've purchased online. I'm hoping someone on this forum can tell me if this is a good way to go about it, or if I'm just courting trouble for the future. I hate redoing's! I've spent a lot of time in the past months trying to understand this program, which I think is the most amazing piece of work, ever! (Next to Garden.Org!)

So, I've been reading and watching videos on the PlantStep website. I've been searching and copyandpaste from the facebook page. I feel like I kinda have a good grasp of the basics. I've compiled WordPage documents with titles like: Plantstep PEDIGREE, Plantstep File Cabinets, Plantstep Pictures, Reports, Programs, Print, Delete, Errors, Backup, FIND, Hybridize, Locations, Ploidy, Catalog, etc... WHEW

But this thing with the seeds. My biggest concern was not wanting to add hundreds of seeds in there, when I might have very few that I actually want to keep track of. Just yesterday I came to understand that adding the parents of all crosses as WANTED was indeed a very good idea, even though most of them are not wanted. These entries help on the Pedigree pages!

So, I open the program, click on Hybridize, skip over the Hybridize Matcher, Pollination Cross Planning (where I entered the crosses I've made myself), and choose Hybridized Seedlings. I love this page! I enter as much info as I can, the pod and pollen parents and so on... The seedling name turns out to be the most important thing. Even though there may be multiple seeds from this cross, I still don't know which ones will be hopelessly ugly and tossed on the compost heap. So what I did was pretend there was only one, and name it a combination of the parent names. Such as, JAG X MASTER, QUOTING X DANCING, and LIKE X HEAVENLY. Later, if there's more than one keeper, I'll give them each a unique number or name. I LOVE how easily you can always add and edit! When I plant them out this spring, I'll be able to add which bed, row, etc...

Does this sound like it'll work? I'd love to have some thoughts on the matter!

I would love to hear suggestions, too!

josieskid said:
So what I did was pretend there was only one, and name it a combination of the parent names. Such as, JAG X MASTER, QUOTING X DANCING, and LIKE X HEAVENLY. Later, if there's more than one keeper, I'll give them each a unique number or name. I LOVE how easily you can always add and edit! When I plant them out this spring, I'll be able to add which bed, row, etc...
Does this sound like it'll work? I'd love to have some thoughts on the matter!

I think for me, step one should have been to come up with a system to create my hybridizer codes and then enter all of them. I was lucky that I had a system I had used last year of abbreviations that with a little modification I was able to use for my codes, saved a lot of time, when I finally realized that's what I should have done to began with.
Then step two for me should have been to use the "HYBRIDIZE MATCHER' to create my crosses, with no instructions I made the huge mistake of entering them all manually and skipping over this part, it caused all sorts of problems and extra work.
Then we get to step 3: The seeds and seedlings part that gets so confusing it seems for most of us. Being I already had many seedlings I had entered into the program, and they had been in the fridge and already out of the fridge etc. many of the normal entries would not need to be filled in.
So I actually planted some seeds and watched them as they progressed into little seedlings so I could experience each stage of the program and see how the info was entered along the way...wish I had done that on day one! I saw I had made many mistakes by doing things manually and not following the normal steps.
Finally getting to my answer!
I think the best thing to do is to wait until you plant your seedlings to create them and thus name and number them by the program automatically.
My seedlings being in cups may have several seedlings in a single cup, but for one reason or another only one or two may actually get planted: ex. one might be an albino, one might just be too small.
So when you get ready to turn a seed into a seedling the program will use your hybridizer codes and your names from your crosses to give each seedling a name and a sequential number, I like how that works. I think from what I can determine so far, that is the best way. Will look forward to others replies.
Here is a screen shot showing some logged in seedlings where the name and number have been given to each "Created Seedling".

I did this step too early and now will have to delete a lot of these when I actually plant them out in the rows in the beds.

What I did was create a file cabinet and put all my seed crosses in that, Filling out all the info that I could including number of seeds in this cross. Adding pictures of pod and pollen parents. Then I could tell quickly which crosses where the most successful I make notes on how many seeds there where what the losses where and how many where later culled from this cross how many where trades/sold. It is easy to keep records in the Notes section and you can keep track of anything good or bad about the particular cross. Once I have the keepers I used the Hybridize part of the program so that I can keep track of seedlings and have parents photos as well as seedling photos to compare at a glance.

When I created my seed file cabinet, each years seed crosses start with the year they where hybridized first then the cross then the number of seeds produced. ( this way each year is kept together in the cabinet) I can also keep track of seeds that I purchased and from who.
2017 Vampire Bat x Bowtie Affair 9 seeds mine
2018 Blue Eyed Dragon x White Eyes Pink Dragon 14 seeds mine
2018 Pink Damask x Purple Leopard 5 seeds Nina
in the notes section I would put the date planted and date sprouted I can add info each year along with general stats. As they mature I can decide how many if any are worth keeping.
This gives me something to play with during the winter, I can create the Hybridize part of the program, adding any photo's and individual statistics that I had noted, It also gives me time to make a garden name for the keepers.
I find the file cabinet became a quick reference when planning next years crosses.

Spent this whole morning trying to figure out how to use the Hybridize Matcher. It's a great tool, IF you own both parents. My purchased seeds, the parents of which I had added in the main cabinet and designated as "Wanted", are not showing up in this matcher. So the "Hybridized Seedlings" page is gonna have to suffice.

Thank you for posting, Larry. I've searched and searched, and I still can't find much info on hybridizing codes. I need to get started on this before I go much further. I do have hundreds of seedlings around here, down in the basement and out in the garden. Still, if I don't keep many of them, it might not be so important. Judging from the pic, you're doing a great job!

Ina, it sounds like you really know what you're doing! Hope you check back and answer questions!

I agree with Larry that you will have less "fill ins and changes" if you start the hybridization process from the first tab which is Hybridize Matcher and follow through the four steps.


After much trial and error: I used an approached similar to Ina's method.
Created a Cabinet:
During the winter months; I created a cabinet with ONLY the DL's that I know I will put into hybridization program for that particular year.
NOTE: This is the only way I see of keeping each year's seedlings separated from other years.
I may, in the future also separate purchased seeds/seedlings into their own cabinet. Not sure about that yet. Perhaps a better option could be to put some type of marker into the name/code/notes indicating whose seed it is. (BTW, I asked Kent (program owner) if there was a limit as to how many Cabinets could be created. He said "No limit".)


Hybridize Matcher TAB:
From there, I got started with the HYBRIDIZE MATCHER creating possible crosses. Click on the "Hybridize" tab at the bottom of the cabinet page (see above image).

Pollination Cross Planning TAB:
I decided that I'm NOT going to knock myself out keeping close track of seeds and germination. (For my "hobby status" I don't think I need that.) I'm just adding the number of ACTUAL seeds that germinated and made it to the "planting in the garden" stage. In other words, I fill this in WHEN I plant the seedlings into the ground. Easy enough to do. NOTE: I really only needed to add the number of seeds into the "Total Seeds" box. I placed it in the "Germinated Seeds" box first, then realized it didn't show the total number (of seeds from ALL crosses) unless it's in the "Total Seeds" box. (See the total count in the bottom left of the window.) Also, you see the total "Plannings" or crosses as well as total seeds. (All 42/286)
As you see, below, I have no Hybridize Code. I'm still not convinced I need that yet. As mentioned above it may be a good spot to fill in, manually, who the seed came from.

Hybridized Seedlings and Seedling Pictures TABS:
I will not have anything filled in here until (hopefully) this summer (2019) I begin to see some first blooms.
However, here are some screen shots from some seedlings planted in 2016.
Hybridized Seedlings tab:

Seedling Pictures tab:

Ah, NOW I get it!!! Each cabinet that you create is a separate, entire Plantstep program. It has its own Hybridize Matcher, Pollination Cross Planning, and Hybridized Seedlings tabs. That's how you can in-put and work with the purchased seeds!!! Sue, you doll!

Larry, Ina, Sue, thank you so much for posting here. The screenshots help immensely.

I have to sort this all out, too, so this thread has been very instructive.
Thank you for all of the very detailed posts, Larry, In a and Sue.

Hopefully I'll be working in this this spring. I'm assuming it will be easier since I don't hybridize at this point.

@josieskid
That is the good part, the bad part is you have to add all your plants and photos you want to include again to each cabinet.
@Legalily,
The program is very simple to work with if you don't hybridize.

Yes, I quickly added all my plants. It is the hybridizing that has tripped me up.

Valerie, if you want we can get together and go thru the hybridizing part some time. It makes sense after the first 3 or 4. I kept getting lost for a while but now it seems to fall together for me.

It is easy to move a plant from one file cabinet to another, just use the copy feature. However, I have not found a copy feature for photos, so not quite so easy.

Ina said:Valerie, if you want we can get together and go thru the hybridizing part some time. It makes sense after the first 3 or 4. I kept getting lost for a while but now it seems to fall together for me.

That would be great, Ina

Nice to have gardening friends close by

I'm glad this thread came up. I just bought this software a week ago, and had just started entering my plants into the program.
I have kept all of my plants and seeds in a spreadsheet. So adding the seeds into the hybridizing program is pretty easy, to just cut and paste.
Thank you @seedfork & @petruske for uploading images, that helps a lot. Thanks @Ina for explaining your filing cabinet.

I am wondering if you have a file cabinet for just the year? Or did you add the year and the ploidy in different filing cabinets?
I am not sure if I want to make a file cabinet for each or just keep the whole year all together? Any thoughts about this?
Most of my seeds have been bought on the LA, and I have very few of my own making. I don't want to start and then have to either delete everything and start over. Or, just keep everything in my spreadsheets.
For me this is just a hobby also, so I don't want to spend a bunch of time filing seeds/seedlings into a computer program. And I think it is easier to give a plant a # or code after they are in the ground. Just to keep track of who survived.

Friesfan1 said:
I am wondering if you have a file cabinet for just the year? Or did you add the year and the ploidy in different filing cabinets?
I am not sure if I want to make a file cabinet for each or just keep the whole year all together? Any thoughts about this?

So here, are you asking about the plants, you have, or the seed you have purchased?
I did not create a new file cabinet for year, or ploidy. I would love for you to explain your thoughts on that and why you think it might be necessary.
The year should probably be included in your prefix, and the ploidy is separated by the program, it will not allow them to be mixed. I think that might actually cause a minor problem in some rare cases.
Here are the only filing cabinets I have created so far.

Friesfan1 said: Most of my seeds have been bought on the LA, and I have very few of my own making. I don't want to start and then have to either delete everything and start over. Or, just keep everything in my spreadsheets.
For me this is just a hobby also, so I don't want to spend a bunch of time filing seeds/seedlings into a computer program. And I think it is easier to give a plant a # or code after they are in the ground. Just to keep track of who survived.

The only seeds I have entered into the program have been my own. I do think I would create a new file cabinet for purchased seeds. I hope others
who have done this will respond.

Hi Seedfork,
I only made a filing cabinet after reading the thread here and trying to figure out how to simplify things for me. I didn't know that the program would not allow mixing of the ploidy. I was only making filing cabinets for the year, figuring this would be the easiest way to keep track.

Seedfork said:
So here, are you asking about the plants, you have, or the seed you have purchased?
I did not create a new file cabinet for year, or ploidy. I would love for you to explain your thoughts on that and why you think it might be necessary.
The year should probably be included in your prefix, and the ploidy is separated by the program, it will not allow them to be mixed. I think that might actually cause a minor problem in some rare cases.
Here are the only filing cabinets I have created so far.

The only seeds I have entered into the program have been my own. I do think I would create a new file cabinet for purchased seeds. I hope others
who have done this will respond.

So now I am wondering since I cant mix the seeds up, that I will need to make another cabinet or just forget this part of the program and keep them in my spreadsheet, which is pretty simple. I wont need to add seedling #'s until I actually have seedlings.



This is my spreadsheet, which is pretty similar to the plantstep program. Also these are for seeds, and not yet seedlings. I have another spreadsheet for seedlings. Each batch of seeds gets a # when planted, and depending on how many may survive then a sequential number for each seedling of that cross. I guess I am not in a huge hurry to do this part, as I have lots of plants and pictures to add of all of my plants anyway.



My thought on spending money on this program in the first place was to keep track of my plants. I also keep track of my plants here on the NGA website. I am using spreadsheets for those as well. I am just hoping that I am not wasting time & money, when I already have these in an Excel program already. I am only a week in on learning this stuff, and have a lot more to figure out

I think if I were to have seeds that I purchased from a vendor, I would enter all the plants that were used to make those crosses, in a separate filing cabinet. I would go ahead and create a prefix for them and I would create hybridizer codes for them also. Then I would use the Hybridize Matcher to create those crosses, than go through the step by step process the rest of the way. You could then use the program to name and number your seedlings when you decided you wanted to.

Friesfan1 (Mary)
I also created a cabinet for seeds I got from someone else. Adding the pod and pollen daylily into the cabinet.
From there went into the Hybridize Matcher and re-created the crosses that the person I got the seeds from created.

It sounds like this is the step you may have skipped??? Which I guess is okay but if you create the match in Hybridize Matcher you can easily see the parentage of the pod and pollen daylilies by clicking on the "pedigree"