I made a small web app to keep track of my plant breeding and crosses
Hi all,
I'm a hobbyist plant breeder and software developer and I've built a web app to manage my plant breeding projects.
I created it earlier this year after getting tired of keeping track of everything through phone notes and spreadsheets and after having polished it up a bit, I've release it for free (it's a cloud-based app managed by me).
I mainly breed flowers like Hemerocallis, Dahlia, Tulipa, and Lilium, so I'm not sure how well it fits for breeding peppers. The software is tailored to the specific breeding workflow I've developed over the last couple of years, and it comes with a pre-populated list of cultivars for those species.
The software isn't meant to be a full professional breeding or genetics suite, but rather a practical tool to keep track of the process. It doesn't manage large fields, crops or land sites, as it's built specifically for small-scale gardeners like me.
Here is how it works:
- You create a plant and associate it with a species and cultivar. The system automatically assigns a tracking number to that plant. You can choose from built-in species and cultivars or add your own.
- Each plant can have photos, metadata, and growth notes.
- You can record a cross between two plants and the system generates a tracking code for that cross. You can then write this code on physical plant tags or whatever tracking system you use.
- You can search for a cross using its code and record how many seeds you harvested and how many you planted. For each planted seed, the system creates a new plant in "seed" status, which can then progress to "seedling" and "adult" (or be marked as dead/retired).
- Once a seedling grows, you can tag it with its new number just like any other plant.
It's mostly mobile-friendly, so you can easily tag crosses right from your phone while working in the garden.
The software also features a pedigree section with a broad visual chart showing all generations of plants and cultivars.
Additionally, you can attach custom properties to your own cultivars and use them for filtering or viewing in the pedigree section.
Right now, there isn't a pre-populated list of pepper cultivars or named varieties. However, you can easily create your own species (which acts as a container for cultivars and plants) and cultivars.
EDIT: I've added Capsicum to the system, split into three species groups: one combining Annuum / Chinense / Frutescens, one for Baccatum / Ají, and one for Pubescens / Rocoto. I also loaded a small list of popular cultivars. A lot of metadata is still missing, but at least the names and species are there to give us a good starting point for the future.
If you'd like to test it out with your recent or upcoming crosses, here is how you can get started:
- Add your plants: Go to Plants -> New Plant.
- Add the species: When selecting the species in the Plant Form, click "+ New Species". You can create a single umbrella species like "Hot Peppers", or specific categories like "Capsicum annuum". (I usually split mine into groups that can actually be bred together).
- Add the cultivar: Under cultivar, if the plant belongs to a named variety, click "+ New Cultivar" and add it (e.g., Carolina Reaper).
- You can ignore the other fields in the New Plant form for now.
- Custom properties: You can skip these for now while testing.
- Repeat steps 1-2 for all the plants you want to track.
- Create a cross: Go to "Crosses" and create a cross by selecting two of your plants. Once created, you can edit any previously created plant/seedling and associate that specimen with the cross.
The system will then automatically generate all the lineage and pedigree charts for you!
I grow peppers in my garden from time to time, so who knows, maybe I'll start breeding them too!
Here the link (requires a quick, free sign-up):
(the mod allowed this post)