Name tags

[Paulines7]

What do you all use to name your plants? 

I have tried plastic tags and permanent pen markers but they can fade with age.

My next trial was with dymo-tape but that came off the tags and disappeared.

When I planted some irises, rather than tag them, I drew a plan of where each variety was sited.  This was all right to begin with but over the winter the cats and birds dug them all out and I didn't know which was which. 

My latest trial is black tags with a tool for scratching the names on.  However, easier said than done.  The tool is not easy to write with and the names are barely legible.

Any suggestions please?

Pauline

[Paulines7]

[adam04]

i just use the white tages and a pencil,  they do fade, but it takes time and by the time thye do fade, you either know what the plant is, or you just write over it again!

[Derekthefox]

I make my own labels from scrap signs from work. The names go on in pencil.

Derekthefox :D

[joji]

I have a dremmel. So I can engrave the names on. :)

You can also get ice lolly sticks write on them then varnish them with clear nail varnish. :)

[Jesse]

Pauline I use dymo-tape and stick on to plastic lollystick things, they seem to stick well for me but will fade after a few months.

[Mrs Ava]

I have almost given up labelling things.  Gives me a nice suprise and good guessing game!  ;D


Note to self.....must get out more!  :-\

[Robert_Brenchley]

I find labels work well in pots and seed trays, but are no use anywhere else.

[terrace max]

A friend of mine cut up yoghourt cartons to make his labels. Very frugal. Except the seedlings didn't grow in the module which he stuck the label. Bit worrying really...

[Derekthefox]

Yes, I tend to lay the label across the middle of a tray of modules, so it doesnt interfere with the roots.

Derekthefox :D

[Paulines7]

I have a dremmel. So I can engrave the names on. :)

Joji
Excuse my ignorance but what is a dremmel?  I have so many of these black coated tags to scratch names onto but have a real job using the implement provided to do it with.  They were expensive too and I bought two packets thinking they were the answer to my dreams.

Thank you everyone for your replies.  It is interesting to read how other people mark up their plants.  As far as annuals go, I don't have too much trouble as I use a plastic tag and permanent marker in the greenhouse and the plants are transferred outside before the ink fades.  However, I have about fourty irises which I have bought over many years with the intention of selling rhizomes on E Bay.  Having lost many of the tags or had them become illegible, I have to wait until they flower, identify them and then mark them up again. 

Pauline

[wardy]

I did as EJ suggested and cut up milk cartons and wrote on them with black permanent marker.  This is for seeds.  On the plot I use pieces of wood, again with black marker

My lotty mate uses some slats he salvaged from a set of wooden venetian blinds
He is very diligent and emulsions them every year (bless him) and then writes on them in thick black perma marker.  He has made them quite long so plenty is visible and they never come out or get nicked by birds. 

[Derekthefox]

Yes, I use pieces of wood for row markers. I can get almost unlimited supplies of wood about two inches by a quarter in section, it is used to reline doors for hanging by carpentry students. Once hung, the strip is removed and a new one fitted. So the old strips end up in the skip, or on my allotment ...

Derekthefox :D

[MikeB]

I use plastic markers and write on in permenant ink, the trick is to write on both sides of the label, as only one side seems to fade badly.

MikeB

[BAGGY]

If you use a pen designed for marking freezer containers it doesn't rub off.  I then chop up milk bottles and use those.

[Derekthefox]

I knew someone clever would know the answer ...

Derekthefox :D

[joji]

I have a dremmel. So I can engrave the names on. :)

Joji
Excuse my ignorance but what is a dremmel?

Pauline

Really sorry Pauline. Didn't see your post :-[

I have PM'd you :)

Sorry again. :-[

[Svea]

i follow the wardy school of gardening (mostly, anyways)
this is for seeds
for outdoors, i mark on a plan where i planted what ( i am not an architect for nothing ;))
worked well, even the potatos grew correctly.
now i got to know my plants and seedlings, it should be easier this coming year. still will mark on plan as am intending to grow several varieties of some plants - squashes and potatoes, mostly