quick idea

globetrottersara · Post by **globetrottersara** » Sun Nov 16, 2008 8:51 pm

I'm still wandering around trying to ID a few cacti that I have. I think I'll take some photos and post them here, haha.
Anyway... during my wandering I thought it could be useful to have a little note next to the photos, saying the approx. age of the plant.
I'm still a novice and after an hour of watching photos, they all look the same.

But I noticed some plants are way bigger and probably way older than others. I find very useful to have more than one photo for each cactus, so we can compare. But when this is not possible, it would be nice to know more or less how old is the plant we are looking at.
One might have a "baby [random cactus name]" but only finds photos of older plants, so... good luck with the ID

I have read a few topics on this section and I know there are a LOT of photos here, so writing the age next to each photo can definitely take some time. Plus, I'm not 100% the same idea has been written here already.
Anyway, just my 2 cents...
Cactus age or not, this site/forum rules!!

Post by **daiv** » Mon Nov 17, 2008 10:46 pm

Hi, Did you mean on the "guide" off the main site or within the forum or both?

Here is a discussion on the subject from not too long ago:

http://www.cactiguide.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9985

Obviously, there are some real challenges detailed in that post. If you raised the plant or know when it was sown, you can put the age, but beyond that - it can really be tough. All part of the cactus identification fun!

globetrottersara · Post by **globetrottersara** » Tue Nov 18, 2008 6:27 am

Wooops, I did miss that topic. Thanks for the link

I meant on the guide, but I do understand your point and agree with you. Not that easy to know how old the plant is. Plus, there are so many photos on the guide, eve if "aging" them all was possible it would take too long, I guess

Again, thanks for the link, I'm gonna take some notes on cactus age now, eheheh... Will sure help me in IDing plants

Post by **daiv** » Tue Nov 18, 2008 4:16 pm

What you point out really makes a lot of sense. I think overcomming with lots of pictures is probably going to be our best approach.

Take Stenocereus pruinosus, for example. Look at the two on this page:

http://www.cactiguide.com/cactus/?genus ... =pruinosus

Nobody would ever be able to ID a "baby" from full grown images and vice versa. I am still working on an "advanced" search feature that will include a search on the "encounterability" fields and the "distribution fields".

I don't think there is any way around flipping through lots and lots of images one at a time, but at least we can narrow that down. If you bought the plant at a garden center or from a grower that doesn't have lables, it isn't going to be something rare or unusual - so with the "encounterability" search, you can rule out tons of genera and species such as Facheiroa or Stenocereus chacalapensis.

On the other hand, if you find a plant in the wild, distribution is going to be especially helpful. You can narrow it down to country and state or province and that will reduce the number of images to flip through.

Daiv

globetrottersara · Post by **globetrottersara** » Tue Nov 18, 2008 6:00 pm

I see what you mean. Who would have guessed (especially a noob) that the little cactus and the big tree are in fact the same plant.

I remember I didn't have any problems at all double checking the plants ID I got from a grower, while the "random stuff" one can find in many other stores is the kind that takes longer to ID. Sometimes one might even have to do with hybrids without knowing, so it's nearly impossible to have a 100% positive ID on some cases. Being a veterinarian, I guess it is in my nature to try and give the most accurate possible diagnosis, so to say, but not having much experience in the cacti world, I'm still dwelling in the Realm of ID Criterias. I really like the encounterability approach! Like you said, it would help a lot.

Are you thinking of some area selection, for instance? Like, select Continent, State, Province/County...

Another huge project, I'm afraid

Let me know if you need any technical/web help in sorting plants and indexing for the search

s

Post by **daiv** » Wed Nov 19, 2008 4:27 am

globetrottersara wrote: Are you thinking of some area selection, for instance? Like, select Continent, State, Province/County...

Yeah, I just have to fine-tune it:

http://www.cactiguide.com/region_search/

Winter is really close now and that is when I really go after site updates and new features.

globetrottersara · Post by **globetrottersara** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 3:20 pm

Woo hoo! That's awesome!! Really really nice feature to have indeed!

I bet this site is now taking a lot more time than you think it would when you first started

Thanks for all the time you are spending working on it!

Post by **daiv** » Mon Nov 24, 2008 7:00 pm

globetrottersara wrote:I bet this site is now taking a lot more time than you think it would when you first started.

Yep, but I like it!

globetrottersara · Post by **globetrottersara** » Mon Nov 24, 2008 7:10 pm

me too!