How to record info on strains--suggestions?

[MinnBobber]

Hi,

any suggestions on how to record info on strains for personal use?
My current method is a hodge-podge of post it notes etc.

I want to start a library of info on strains I've used and maybe on a wish-list of strains I want to try.
I want to record info such as:
- lineage so parents and children of the strain like Blue Dream: from Blueberry Indica and Haze Sativa
- Sativa, Indica, Sat dominant hybrid, Indica dominant hybrid, or special like 2:1 CBD:THC
- bud description like emerald green or very dense buds or huge cola or some purple etc
- THC and CBD % if dispensary label has this
- terpenes, which ones are high % or medium %, from Leafly chart if available.
If electronic, I'd like to copy that chart of theirs that shows THC ,CBD, terps
- what Leafly may say about effects like good for anxiety or uplifting etc
- what effects were for me after use
- taste like berry + sweet + vanilla
- price paid
- general comments like : strain has high levels of Myrcene and Caryophyllene which proved great for pain.
Plus any other comments.
- Maybe a strain rating of 1-10 or to record must buy again if available or meh strain, don'y buy again.

Any ideas on how to record? Recipe cards or loose leaf binder where you can keep in alpha order or any online template that you might use?

I especially like to track the lineage as I find that super-informative. A new-to-me strain or a wish list strain might have Blue Dream and Green Crack ancestry, for example.

Anybody have a good system to track their strains??
Thanks for ideas or tips

 

[TwistedGray]

There is always Excel, and if you're good you can build some drop-down charts as well (ie: pivot tables).

 

[MinnBobber]

@TwistedGray ,

I'm probably off the chart (at the bad end) for Excel--really bad/never use it
A paper version has some merit and so do E-records .
I'd like to see the charts, like below as I find them very interesting/very informative

 

[TwistedGray]

@MinnBobber With the right skills that would be readily available in Excel. You just need the fields.

 

[lazylathe]

Have a look at this one:

https://budfolio.com/

 

[darbarikanada]

ever since the advent of medical, then recreational, dispensaries here, and the resulting huge # of strains, I tried to do something similar to what you wrote, minus a bunch of your categories. after ~3 years of keeping records, I concluded that it's pretty hopeless, for a number of reasons:

- how do you control for tolerance? unless you're 'drying out' between every episode of 'data entry' a strain
might seem less potent (a pretty key part of the 'profile') than it would otherwise.
- how do you control for variability between growers? just looking at the menus of dispensaries, you can see
different producers' versions of the same strain having very different test results, sometimes by 2X
- how do you control for 'set and setting'? it's pretty safe to say that the same strain, used once while in pain
and in a bad mood, will have a profoundly different effect if used on a happy, pain-free day

I actually have been careful, spacing (sic) the 'research' widely apart to avoid tolerance issues, always using the same amount, repeating the 'experiment' at least 3x per strain, etc., but it's hard get a clear picture with so many 'moving parts'.

I wouldn't say my 'research' was a waste of time, but it really just yielded a bunch of, shall we say, 'hazy' impressions. I think leafly's categories are pretty useful, but of limited value. all those hybrids that are somewhere in the middle between 'couch lock' and 'energizing' get kind of - er - blurred.

I think a more potentially interesting line of 'research' is to see how market forces affect what's on offer. presumably, the dispensaries only restock what sells. when wa. killed the medical system, people worried that high CBD strains wouldn't be available, but there are dozens, ranging from near-zero THC to 1:1 ratio strains. and I don't think anyone expected how popular medibles would be (I read that legal sales in colo. were 50/50 flower/medible). will the market select for stinkier strains? even though there are all those low THC, high CBD strains, potency still seems to be the main show: sales of concentrates keep growing. legalization is a huge social experiment, and the results are on display in the stores.

one odd feature I'm seeing: the 'budtender' perspective. in medical stores, there were open jars, so you could sniff the goods, and budtenders would talk a lot about the smell - which might not say much if anything about the effects. now that all the packaging is sealed, they tend to favor 'prettier' buds - but does that really have an effect? the THC/CBD lab results are on all the packages, but budtenders almost never talk about them - say wha?

another observation: there's competition for 'the next hot strain'. budtenders seem to get excited about new strains. the producers (and their friends) no doubt post as many rave reviews online as possible, to try to get attention and 'traction': strains with low #s of reviews tend to have very high ratings - i.e. the ratings are probably worthless until you have dozens, if not 100's of reviews.

maybe in some future time, after lots more (real) research, this will all become clearer, but at the moment it's pretty much all anecdotal.

I worked in the food industry for decades, and one thing seemed true: if I remembered (fondly) a dish, a meal, or a particular bottle of wine years after having it, that was a pretty good indicator that it was really good. not much better than post-it notes in the end...