Allotments 4 All

Ok so their not truly a mystery as I know what I seeded, however and dont you just love the "ah but" and "however" phrase, I put the names of each plant on them white plastic labels with a so called permanent marker and now after watering them not one of them has a legible label !!. Arrrggghghhhhhhhhhhh....

So whats the best pen or such to use on these infernal white plastic labels, I was kind of thinking of printing them on paper then laminating them for the pots but its a long winded way of dong things especially with the time it takes my laminator to heat up.

Spud

Hiya, superspud, welcome to a4a  ;D
we use a sharpies permanent marker, I thought I'd labelled everything this year, so far..3 unknown toms, 1 unknown squash and several unknown peppers  ;D

I like a chinagraph pencil, I make labels from margarine tubs which I think is probably the same sort of plastic?

Pencil or black CD marker pen.

The best one I found was one ordered from a seed company which they swore would not fade.
And they weren't fibbing, I'm reusing last years labels ;D

I've probably mentioned before a good HB pencil, and mark BOTH sides of the label.  ;)

Ninny

pencil is better than a lot of inks and even putting the seed packets on sticks as some people do, they fade too.

My dear dog found a new game. pulling out the white tabs along the seed bed. Not only did that confuse names but as the seeds had just gone in, did not help with identifying exactly where the rows were. Fortunately, we can identify the seedlings when they come up. Since all we had in at the time were carrots beetroot, lettuce and spring onions. They all look very different.   If it had been brassicas, like cauli, cabbage, sprouts and broccoli, I would have struggled.

I always tell people for belt and braces double security with seed sowing to use a notebook, a tiny one will do and write down on that a list of what seeds have gone in. keep a bottle of dry sand (for black soil) and run that over the line of seeds for a marker.  Keep the book with your packs of seeds.

There was a tiny machine which you could print out labels on by turning the dial for each letter then squeezing, so that the letters were raised, the tape was cut and after peeling off the backing, it could be glued on. Brilliant? no, the glue dried up and the labels fell off.

I have seen nail varnish used which is pretty effective if one is good at writing with the those fiddly little brushes.   

Marker pens are so good, that if you want to re-use the labels a soak in neat bleach is needed first to remove the writing. Keeping the pen in a safe place is my problem, they tend to move around and hide.

I also use a pencil to write my lables but as a back up i have a book that i draw a basic  picture of the bed i am sowing in, then show what i planted where just in case  ;D

I use fine sandpaper to take marker pen off.

Quick tip which is really the inverse answer to the original question, but some may find helpful... If you want to remove permanent marker pen from a plastic label so you can re-use the label for something else, get a dry-wipe pen (like you use on whiteboards) and scribble over the permanent ink - then wipe off with a tissue. The dry-wipe ink lifts the permanent ink - well, in most cases. Works best on non-textured labels. 

Our daughter's old venetian blind plastic slats made really good markers and hold the indelible pen.

Outside sometimes I've painted flat smooth rocks with the names of tomatoes/ perennials. They don't blow away or get squashed into the mud easily and stay where they're placed season to season.

Yes, I use venetian blinds, they work a treat XX Jeannine..sharpie pens too.

Think I will give the sharpies a go then as it seems to be a consensus

Things that have worked beautifully for me:

• Standard white plastic plant labels (the textured ones) marked in 2B pencil. Several labels have stayed legible for three years-plus:  others have needed re-marking because I'm growing different varieties. So I've cleaned the pencil off with good old Ecover washing-up liquid and an old pot-scrubbing sponge (you know, the green ones with the layer of rough fuzzy stuff on top).  Same plastic labels now on their seventh lottie year.   8)
  
  Sharpie pen on labels and on the pots themselves. Sweet and simple (yep, another Sharpie fan!)
  
  Lengths of scrap copper pipe with names painted on in bits and bobs of left-over gloss paint. These clearly took a bit more work in the first place, but on the other hand they're still going strong six years later.
  
  Balls of clay that the mini-Triffids wrote on before the clay had finished drying. Paint and varnish to finish off a lovely prezzie for Mothering Sunday last year.

And... things that seemed a good idea at the time...  :-[

• Self-adhesive paper labels (on pots and also stuck to plastic labels) - slugs and snails took a great liking to the paper and chewed them to illegibility in about two days.
  
  Seed packets inside plastic bags and held to the pots with elastic bands (mould turned the print into mucky black powder  - eeuuw  :-X
  
  Dinky painted wooden tags bought by a friend from some posh plant shop: the wood
  took up moisture, the paint cracked and - bingo! - all fell off.  ::)

Once the plants are all in their final places it's ok; like others I keep plans of what's gone in where. But the time when I've made most mistakes is when stuff is all being moved around while potting-on or hardening-off.  The worst was a visiting friend, thinking about getting a lottie and looking round at what I was growing at home. I left her looking at stuff in the cold-frame and came back to see her holding the labels from about a dozen tomato seedlings. "Oh, I just wanted to read their names. I thought you knew which ones they all were."
Aargh... *Yep, that's why I labelled them*...

Good luck with it all anyway...  :)

I bought 2 sharpies today, a standard one and as I was not convinced it would work I got the laundry one too as it said it was waterproof  ;D. I have to say I am now a sharpies fan, I wrote a label, threw it in a bucket of water and rubbed it hard, it stayed on!!. So now I just need to see if it fades off..

Supersud - now you have the proper pen don't get it mixed up with other pens like I did! I can now no longer identify any varieties of sweat peas I sowed, plus a heap of other stuff. I've now had a sort out and plan to not use the wrong pen  ::)