Seed Register

This is the proposed structure for a Seed Register that can be used by Seed Saving Groups to record the details of their seeds.

For simplicity it is suggested that groups record their information in a spreadsheet (such as Excel) with the following structure:

The field labels for the seed records are in the first row.
Each seed record occupies one row.
Additional fields can be included by adding more columns.

The following table provides an example Seed Register for Coromandel Seed Savers. The descriptions of the fields are listed below the table.

Coromandel Seedsavers Seed Register

Entry	Group	Code	Genus	Species	Common	Cultivar	Type	Organic	Season	BKRF	Grower	Origin	Description
1	COR	LAsG00010	Lactuca	sativa	Lettuce	Joe's	NZH	Bio-Gro	2000		A. Brown	B. Groves
2	COR	LAsG00001	Lactuca	sativa	Lettuce	Stevens	NZH	Bio-Gro	2000		A. Brown	Derek Hindle	A nice sweet lettuce small round leaves which are crunchy and substantial, a compact small lettuce. Named after Percy Stevens, a professor from Lincoln University who bought the seed from Europe after the war.
3	COR	LAsG00002	Lactuca	sativa	Lettuce	Finger Leaf	NZO	Non	2000		B. Smith		A beautiful small pale green tender lettuce and as the name suggests is excellent for picking one leaf at a time. This lettuce has been grown in Kerikeri since the war, but sent to us by a member in Palmerston North
4	COR	LAsG00003	Lactuca	sativa	Lettuce	Mingonette	NZH	Org	2000		C. Jones
5	COR	LAsG00004	Lactuca	sativa	Lettuce	Winter	NZH	Non	2000		B. Smith
6	COR	LAsG00005	Lactuca	sativa	Lettuce Tree		NZH	Org	1999		C. Jones
7	COR	LAsG00008	Lactuca	sativa	Lettuce Tree		NZH	Org	2000	LAsG00005	C. Jones
8	COR	LAsG00014	Lactuca	sativa	Lettuce Tree		NZH	Org	2001	LAsG00008	C. Jones
9	COR	CIeG00001	Cichorium	endivia	Endive	Red Verona	OSH	Org	2000		C. Jones
10	COR	CIeG00002	Cichorium	endivia	Endive	Red Verona	OSH	Org	2001	CIeG00001	C. Jones
11	COR	TRpG00001	Tragopogon	porrifolius	Salsify		NZH	?	2000
12	COR	SChG00001	Scorzonera	hispanica	Scorzonera		OSO	Non	2001		B. Smith

Seed Register Field Descriptions

Entry

The Record Entry Number.

Group

A 3 letter abbreviation of the Seedsavers Group name.

Code

The Catalogue code is made up of the following elements:

The first 2 letters of the Latin family name (Genus) in upper-case
The first letter of the species name in lower-case
The letter G for germplasm
A unqiue 5 digit number for that batch of seed

Latin

The Latin Name of the seed.

Common

The name the seed is generally known by.

Cultivar

The cultivar if known.

Type

A 3 letter code to indicate the type of plant:

NZH = New Zealand Heirloom (80 or more years old)
OSH = Overseas Heirloom
NZO = New Zealand Open Pollinated
OSO = Overseas Open Pollinated

Organic

The plants organic status may be:

Bio-Gro, Certnz etc = Certified organic
Org = The grower confirms it is organic
Non = Grown using non organic methods
? = If not known

Season

The year the seed was harvested.

Quantity

The quantity may be shown by numbers for small amounts of seed or by weight for larger quantities.

BKRF

The Back Reference to the Sowing Seed Code Number. This will be blank if this is the first seed entry of this type.

Grower

The person who grew the seed.

Origin

The person the seed was originally obtained from.

Description

General characteristics of the plant and its history.

Attributes

Any note-worthy or distinguishing characteristic observed from growing the plant.

Germination

The percentage of seed that will germinate.

Information

Other information you may wish to collect and record with regard to the characteristics of each plant. This information could be included in additional fields:

days to maturity
best time to sow seed
expected lifetime of seeds
pollination type
cultivation requirement
uses of plant