Hi Nanzey, The system sounds great. There are dripper emitters that vary in amounts and even adjustable ones to match the amount of water to each plant. You can check how much water you are supplying to all the plants by measuring the water level drop in the 5-gal bucket and calculate the volume then convert it to gallons. You can measure the flow of the pump by volume divide by time the timer was on. Your emitter flow is measured in (Gal per hour). Your total emitter flow needs to be less than the total flow from your pump minus 10%. Aloha.

Hi Phal Pal and all, My tracking system has been evolving since last April. It has two parts: PART ONE consists of a grow list, alphabetical by genus, and kept on the computer, so that notes can be added each quarter as needed. After each name I try to note the following, where known: *Whatever I know about plant's origin (in brief). *Where purchased/from whom; Date and Price paid. *Pot, medium, or mount at purchase; repot history. *Spike and Bloom history w/dates *Color and Scent. *Notes Here is the entry for my Neofinetia falcata: Neofinetia falcata: clone (not mericlone) sib cross ~from seed; Scott, of White Oak Orchids at Sac.Orchid Society (SOS) show 4/19/2008 $22.00. 1.5" terracotta; media is Sphag & pearlite. Already had 5 tiny lower axillary spike tufts. Bloomed 5/19 - 7/4/08. 2 spikes had 6 blooms ea.; 2 had 5, & 1 had 4. Beautiful crystalline white, long "tailed"; vanilla cookies scent wafts two rooms away at night. 1 day more freq. water when blooming. PART TWO consists of a water/fert/flush (W, w/f, flsh, etc.) grid for day to day care. My collection is still small (13 plants) so that I can make an abbreviated list of orchids across the top and number each day of the month down the side. I can add the lines by computer, but don't know how to make vertical lines, so I mark them in with a ruler, after printing the page. This gives each plant a small box for care symbols. I use a fine lead mechanical pencil for marks and notes (easier to read) and keep the sheet in the room from which I work to water the plants. Ample space is left at the bottom of each monthly sheet for Notes. Here's an abbreviated sample. Maybe you can imagine the column lines and notations: ......... OCT 2008 ~ "All" refers to other plants. Docs are P591 Flask babies; BB is seedling. Ph1 BigP Baby Slipr Neo Cym Milt Morm Jewl BB651 Doc1 Doc2 Doc3 Onc All 1_______________________________________________________________________ 2_______________________________________________________________________ 3_______________________________________________________________________ 4_______________________________________________________________________ ......... This draft I save on the computer, so that I can make any changes and print a new sheet for the next month. I make the left margin only wide enough to accommodate the numbers and use the extra space in the right and bottom margins to make brief notes. I use pencilled asterisks within a box to show that there is a note corresponding to that plant in the margin or at the bottom of the sheet. (Come to think of it, this probably could be done just as well on the kind of graph paper we used in chemistry lab. I may do that...just thinking out loud here :) As said, the system is evolving.) Anyway, I save these monthly sheets, so that every few months I can incorporate any significant notes into the PART ONE grow list on the computer. Monthly sheets definitely work better for me than my memory! Sweetcicely

Uh oh. I hope I haven't made a textbook newbie mistake for my climate. I don't know *why* I zeroed in on HPs but looking back on this list there are several in all the main focal points of my yard. Probably because I love the colors and the scents... but I REALLY want something to blooom blooom blooom and bloom some more from spring to fall. I *thought* HPs would do well in my climate (probably because I extrapolated the vigorous description of Grandmother's Hat) but then I just found a post where someone from Emeryville said that HPs are the worst rebloomers for the Bay Area. Yikes. Uh. Oh. I may need to go back to the drawing board in search of a (thornless) tea or china. Thanks for enduring my many questions. -k

I have been working with eyelets. They are so fun to use! I also have been playing around with different fonts on my PC to use, and trying out a quilt look layout. I haven't been to a crop in a while. I am wanting to go also. Di