Managing Master Data¶

Kamerplanter stores all basic plant data — species, cultivars, and botanical families — as master data. This forms the basis for planting runs, nutrient plans, phase control, and care reminders.

Overview¶

Master data is the central knowledge base of the system. Each plant species is captured with up to 80+ structured fields:

The hierarchy is: Family → Species → Cultivar. Each cultivar belongs to exactly one species, each species to exactly one family.

Managing Species¶

Creating a Species¶

1. Navigate to Master Data > Species
2. Click New Species
3. Fill in at least the required fields:
   • Scientific Name (e.g. Solanum lycopersicum)
   • Common Names (e.g. Tomato, Tomate)
   • Family (e.g. Solanaceae)
   • Genus (e.g. Solanum)

Key Species Fields¶

Propagation Methods (propagation_methods)¶

The Propagation Methods field is a multi-select that records how a species is typically propagated. It is visible in Intermediate mode and above (REQ-021).

This information feeds into care reminders, propagation planning (REQ-017), and the AI knowledge assistant. All 143 pre-loaded crop species already include their standard propagation methods.

Best Propagation Time (propagation_months)¶

The propagation_months field (Best Propagation Time) adds a timing dimension to propagation methods: in which months is vegetative propagation — division, taking cuttings, removing offsets or runners — most likely to succeed?

The field is also a multi-select; the stored values are month numbers 1 (January) through 12 (December), deduplicated and sorted.

Where in the UI: In the Sowing & Harvest tab on the species detail page, in two places:

1. Propagation card — The card has a read/edit toggle (pencil icon in the top right):

   • Read view: "Best propagation time: March–April" (condensed month display)
   • Edit mode: 12 clickable month chips — click the desired months, then Save

2. Monthly timeline (bar chart) — The topmost row of the timeline is labelled "Propagation" and displays the stored months as a coloured bar (teal). This row is read-only — editing is done exclusively via the Propagation card (pencil icon). If no months are stored, the row remains empty.

Propagation Notes (propagation_notes)¶

The Propagation Notes field is a free-text field for expert knowledge (max. 1,000 characters) that explains how propagation works in practice for this species — which steps require particular care, which mistakes are common, and what makes the difference between success and failure.

The field complements the structured fields propagation_methods (techniques) and propagation_months (optimal timing) with the practical, hands-on detail that cannot be captured in a simple multi-select list.

Where in the UI: In the Sowing & Harvest tab on the species detail page, in the Propagation card — directly below the propagation method chips and the best propagation time. Switch to edit mode via the pencil icon in the top right of the card:

• Read view: The text appears as a distinct callout block, visually separated from the surrounding content. If no text has been entered, the area remains empty.
• Edit mode: A multi-line text field with a character counter (max. 1,000 characters). The text is saved together with the other fields in the section via the Save button.

All 183 species with populated propagation methods already have an expert notes text.

Editing a Species¶

1. Click on a species in the list
2. On the detail page you can edit all fields
3. The detail page also shows associated cultivars, growth phases, and nutrient plans

Reference Images in the Species View¶

Kamerplanter displays reference images for each plant species. These images are automatically sourced from public image databases (GBIF, Wikimedia Commons) and help you quickly recognise a species — even without a botanical background.

Where do reference images appear?¶

In the species list (overview): A small thumbnail appears in the left column for each species. If no reference image is available for a species yet, you will see a subtle plant icon as a placeholder — this is not an error; it simply means that the reference image acquisition run has not yet found a suitable licence-free image for this species.

On the species detail page (Overview tab): A large hero image appears at the top. Below it, the reference image gallery shows all available images for the species, sorted by plant organ (leaf, flower, fruit, whole plant).

Image sources and licences¶

Images are sourced exclusively from providers with publicly usable, licence-compliant photographs:

Sourcing reference images¶

Reference images are not loaded automatically when a species is created. They are produced by a one-time acquisition run triggered by an administrator. For normal operation this run is needed only once — it can be repeated as needed (for example, after importing new species).

Which species receive images? The acquisition run searches the image databases for all species in the master data. Species for which no CC0/CC-BY images can be found (rare or exotic plants) receive no entry — this is transparent system behaviour, not a data error.

Connection to plant identification¶

The same reference images displayed in the species view also form the basis for plant identification (REQ-029-A). The DINOv2 recognition system compares a captured photo against the stored reference embeddings to determine the most likely species.

See also: Plant Identification

Managing Cultivars¶

Cultivars are breeding varieties within a species. They inherit base properties from the species and add cultivar-specific data.

Creating a Cultivar¶

1. Navigate to a Species detail page
2. In the Cultivars section, click New Cultivar
3. Fill in the fields:
   • Name (e.g. San Marzano)
   • Breeder (optional)
   • Traits (e.g. disease-resistant, high-yield, compact)

Botanical Families¶

Families group related species and form the basis for crop rotation planning. Kamerplanter comes pre-installed with the most common families (Solanaceae, Brassicaceae, Fabaceae, Cucurbitaceae, ...).

Creating a Family¶

1. Navigate to Master Data > Botanical Families
2. Click New Family
3. Enter the name and optionally the crop rotation category

Importing Master Data via CSV¶

For initial setup or batch updates, master data can be imported via CSV files. The import follows a secure two-phase process:

flowchart LR
    A["Upload CSV"] --> B["Preview & Validation"]
    B --> C["Fix errors"]
    C --> B
    B --> D["Confirm import"]

Supported Entities¶

Performing an Import¶

1. Navigate to Master Data > Import
2. Select the Entity (Species, Cultivar, Family, or Nutrient Plan)
3. Upload your CSV file — encoding and delimiter are auto-detected
4. Review the Preview: Each row is validated individually, errors are shown per field
5. Choose the Duplicate strategy (Skip, Update, or Fail)
6. Click Confirm Import

Prerequisites¶

• Kamerplanter instance running and accessible
• For CSV import: CSV file in UTF-8 format

See Also¶

• Preparing plant data with AI — Detailed guide to the AI pipeline
• Plant Identification — Identify a species from a photo
• Setting Up Plant Identification — Start the reference image acquisition run (for administrators)
• Growth Phases — Phase control per species
• Planting Runs — Accompany plants from sowing to harvest
• Fertilization — Nutrient plans and feeding charts
• Propagation Management — Lineage graph, cuttings, grafting