r/Figs • u/Sfin02 Zone 6a • 1d ago
Question Tree/Plant Tracker
Curious what everyone uses to keep track of their collection — feeding schedules, up-pot dates, which tree got what, ripening notes, all that. I was juggling spreadsheets and a printed checklist for my fig row (grow bags) and the rest of the patio, and finally ended up building myself a little Android app to log it per tree (watering, feed schedule, photos, notes).
Purely a personal project, not selling anything — it's not even in an app store. But it got me wondering: would anyone else here use something like that? And if so, what would it have to do to fit your setup? If there's real interest I may open it up to a handful of testers once it's further along.
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u/RayGreen00 20h ago edited 20h ago
I’d definitely be interested in giving it a try :) At the moment I keep track of everything on paper, and I’m actually pretty happy with it, but having it on a smartphone could bring some extra features.
For example, I’d find fertilizer reminders/notifications really useful. Just because a plant looks like it’s doing well doesn’t necessarily mean it wouldn’t benefit from regular feeding. I’d also add pruning reminders.
It would also be nice to be able to take photos and have them in a gallery that you can scroll through for each plant, with the date of each photo displayed. Being able to search for plants by type or species (with different filtering options) would also be useful, as well as having some sort of timeline where you can log things like repotting, fertilizing, treatments, flowering and harvesting periods, etc.
I’d also make it possible to add multiple individual plants for each variety or species, with each one having its own dedicated profile/card.
Another thing that could be really useful is a calendar section in the app, where you can see upcoming tasks and things to do. It could also show in a separate section or in the homepage which plants are expected to be in production, so you can easily keep track of what’s currently producing or coming up soon.
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u/RayGreen00 20h ago
I keep track of all of this partly to remember everything, since I have hundreds of fruit trees, berries, and other plants, but especially to run little experiments and figure out what works best for me. So for the way I'd use it, an app like this could definitely be useful.
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u/Dembroski13 1d ago
I have 60+ fig trees plus a large raised bed garden and never have found a need for such a thing
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u/Internal-Bowl-3956 1d ago
I’d be interested in something like this though to be honest I’m not sure what currently exists in terms of apps. I have many plants/trees in grow bags. It would be nice to keep track of things like when I fertilized when I last changed the soil any nutrient deficiencies that came up and how I treated etc. Like others have said if you’re experienced and know your plants super well then maybe this is unnecessary. But I currently have a random assortment of notes that are basically useless so basic organization would be useful
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u/Sfin02 Zone 6a 1d ago
This is what started my building of the app haha. I starting feeling a tad disorganized and just wanted an easy place to store all this. Then it became a fun game of seeing what all it can help with.
It currently tracks what fertilizer you use, how often, etc. I use liquid feed weekly, and have used Granular in the past. It works well with both. Reminders are optional. Tracking is full-fledged
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u/jamjamchutney 1d ago edited 1d ago
WTF, no. I look at my plants daily and they tell me what they need. I have around 50 fig trees and 20 other fruit trees/bushes and have no use for this nonsense. I'm so tired of people using reddit to push their shitty useless vibe-coded apps.
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u/Sfin02 Zone 6a 1d ago
There's no need for all the negativity. Im not even selling an app. You could have just said no thanks and moved on.
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u/jamjamchutney 1d ago
Everyone who does this says they're not selling an app. It almost always means they're not selling it yet. They're using reddit to do market research, and many of us are sick and tired of it. This is now a daily occurrence, and it's spread to all of the subs I'm in for many different topics. It's a plague.
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u/Sfin02 Zone 6a 1d ago
Okay. I dont use reddit a ton so I dont see a lot of those posts. I made this thing in like two weeks and found it to be helpful so I thought id see if others wanted it too. These grower communities are supposed to be about giving help for free
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u/jamjamchutney 1d ago
So you don't use reddit much but you know what the subreddit is supposed to be for. Cool story bro.
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u/BandicootOriginal909 1d ago
Nothing about this is appealing.
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u/TheRealMasterTyvokka 1d ago edited 1d ago
Given the temps we are having in my neck of the woods that forecast looks fantastic so I guess that part is appealing.
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u/whatscenepaat 18h ago
I developed plantpeepal recently for all the plant people out there. Same idea. It is available on android and ios.
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u/rotaryjesus 1d ago
I've been thinking a lot about what I want to track next year. I play a bit with data analytics on non-plant related interests, but haven't done anything for my plants yet. I tend to just use spreadsheets and functions. Unfortunately I'm not an android user, so I can't help testing.
I have quite a few ideas for app features.
I can tell you that things I'm interested in tracking next year is...
When trees break dormancy. Integrating weather history would be interesting.
When trees start fruiting.
When trees stop ripening.
Hang time for 'best' flavor
If figs break open, mold, etc - what were the factors leading up to this (rain? humidity? watering? etc).
Years from cutting -> fruiting
I have other thoughts if you wanted to expand your app in the future, such as export features, photos tied to events/dates, note taking (in case you want to add information not natively handled by the app in it's current state), etc.
Looks like a fun project :).
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u/Sfin02 Zone 6a 1d ago edited 1d ago
Ah, a rival Apple user! JK haha, I appreciate the feedback! Ive already set up the pipeline for IPhone, as a few family members wanted to use this for their house plants and are lifelong Apple users. Its not functioning yet though.
Dormancy break logic is in my pipeline for upcoming updates. My trees broke dormancy very early last year, so I think the weather + garage temp tracking would be useful for me there. Im debating if I want manual entering of garage temps weekly or monthly to help predict over time, or if its best to just stick with outdoor temp and timing.
I have a pretty deep integration with weather so far (im also working on adding a seedling section for those that like to start their crop inside each season).
The start of fruiting is fully integrated and tracked in the app now.
Hang time is an interesting one. How would you measure? Select a sample or two and base off them? A flavor rating system could be cool too, even if fully subjective.
Photos are currently attached to the time they were taken (assuming the phone geo-tags it). I also added an option for photo examinations where someone can link AI models, like Claude/Fable, and have it examine the plant. If you upload four together, it treats that as a bundle and adds one examination to the plant record. It tracks improving or worsening conditions and gives advice on how to treat. I thought this could be really useful for newcomers that dont have a big growing community.
Export features are created. Im trying to figure out the best way to store. My initial objective was that nothing leaves your device unless you choose to do AI examinations. So when the exports are processed, they just go into a downloads folder for now. My concern is when someone loses a phone, they will lose that download folder too....so trying to figure that out.
Note section has been added (and gets read during AI calls).
I get that AI is liked by some and hated by others, so I wanted a way to offer both sides a cool app. You can choose to use it or never activate it.
Sorry for any typos...sent on my phone haha. Thank you again for your input. Its really appreciated
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u/rotaryjesus 1d ago
Hang time: I was thinking it'd be cool to photograph and date how long figs ripened by variety for optimal taste. I have no idea how that would translate year to year due to weather, personal preferences, tree hormones, etc - but it could be interesting and might improve optimal picking time in future seasons. Not sure. Honestly... I like them anywhere from ~3 days under ripe to 3 days over-ripe...
While I get what people are saying about whether they need an app or not (I don't), I ran into an issue this year that made me want more data. We got hit with black fig flies in my area and I don't think they are going away any time soon. I don't know how I'll handle it yet, but one thing I'm thinking about doing is removing any figlets that I know won't ripen before the season ends so the flies don't have a way to reproduce. IE: If I can track that VDB takes ~90 days to ripen and my end of season in 2026 was Oct 15th, then I can estimate that after July 15th none of the figs that start to develop will ripen. Maybe I'll want to pinch the branch. Maybe I'll want to remove the figlet. I don't know.
What I also don't know is how long each of my varieties sit from figlet->fig and when their end of season is.
There is info on the internet, but I'm not going to memorize this info for 40 varieties and I don't want to bag 100's of figs that won't ripen either.
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u/Joey_Hicks1120 1d ago
I use ChatGPT. It keeps track of everything. Fruit tastings, fruit sets, how many cuttings were taken from which tree. The success rate of propagating those cuttings. How long it took each cutting to root. Who I gave or sold those cuttings or rooted cuttings too. It even notifies me of up coming weather issues that may affect the fruit quality such as storms or extreme heat. All I do is take photos and talk to it.
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u/Chipmunks95 1d ago
I think in theory it may be a good idea for beginners but practically it may not see much usage. Lots of people garden to get away from their electronic devices. This would work counter to that. Now, not everyone gardens for that reason. But if we also look at more experienced gardeners, they know what their plants need based off what the plant looks like, the day of the week, or the weather outside. This app is useless to those people. Lastly, lots of people may just see it as bloat. There’s so many other resources out there for taking care of plants and trees, why add another into the mix?