Another Random: How do you label your plants?

[HappyGardener23]

I've yet to find a good reliable method for labeling my plants once I plant them out. I've tried marking the plant in the ground with a mini blind or other such stake with the variety name but they sometimes break or become obscured by weeds, the plant itself, etc.

Last year I didn't label the plants themselves but kept a map in a spreadsheet of where each variety was planted in the plot (at my community garden plot). This was okay but sometimes it was hard to match up the plant location/variety name and more often than not I wouldn't have my map on me when I needed it so I'd just pick varieties on site and not know what they were once I got home.

So, what have you used successfully? Any suggestions for what could work as a practical, reliable time to label the plants "in the field"?

Apologies if this has been covered before. I tried to search but couldn't find what I was looking for. Please direct me to threads if appropriate.
Thank you!

[KarenO]

I tie a piece of plastic ribbon to the top of each stake or cage and write the name on it with a jiffy marker. I agree putting a tag or stick or whatever at the base is only good when the plant is small. My way looks a bit different but the "tags" are up where I can see them like little flags. I find they stay on and readable all season through wind and rain and sun

[nancyruhl]

We stuggled for years with labels. This year i made 12 inch labels out of the fake wood type blinds I found at Restore. I used a wax pencil and we faced all labels to the north so there was no fading of the labels. The labels were readily visible and can be moved out from the stem as the plant grows larger. We also had a map for backups.

If you need to keep track of the tomatoes you pick for tasting, weighing, and seed saving, take a sharpie with you when you go to pick.

[Doug9345]

I marked cups with sharpie the last 2 years and have had terrible fading problems. I finally went to ball point pen. It didn't fade as quick and it incised a word into the cup. The wax pencil sounds good. I'd think a plain old crayon would work also. I know that there are paint pens out there that I intend to try. I'll ask one of the guys at the local used parts yard where they get theres.

I like the flag idea. Nancy I'm reading what you wrote as you are hanging them right on the tomato plant it self. How do you think plain wooden ones will work. If you think they will work I'm going to start running firewood through my table saw. I guess I have some experimenting to do this weekend I'll report back.

[kath]

The best for me is to mark a tomato with its assigned abbreviation as soon as it's picked using an industrial Sharpie. I don't mark cherries but harvest contrasting varieties in the same basket and I don't mark anything that's distinctive enough (stripes, shape, etc.) and put the abbreviation as close to the stem as possible where I'm sure to be cutting away a lot of the nearby fruit.

For plant labels, Nancy's idea of the wax pencil facing north works well for me, too. I tried the wimpier blinds and don't like them because it's difficult to keep them from bending when putting them in the ground and I do move them as the plants grow, so I'll be keeping an eye out for wooden-type blinds. If they break, I replace them right away. Personally, I didn't find it as convenient to label stakes or cages and although labels in the ground can be a pain, that's what I'm doing at the moment, backed up with 2 copies of a garden map- a plastic covered one for the shed/garden and a pristine master copy kept in the house. Since I plant in rows, I mark the map with N, S, E and W so it's easy to know which plant I'm picking just by counting rows and plants.

kath

[Barbee]

This year I did something different. Plant labels with holes punched in them.. like this:
http://www.shovelandhoe.com/Plastic_...bels_p/777.htm

Then I wired the label to the cages and stakes. If you use a pencil to write the names on the tags, it seems to not fade out or wash off. At the end of the season I just snipped the label off the cage before I put it away. If you're really thrifty, you can use the other side next year

I always do a map as a back up. Row 1, plant 3 is variety X, etc.

[augiedog55]

I just made a map on a piece of paper of my tomto plants in my garden and used it.

[carolyn137]

Originally Posted by augiedog55

I just made a map on a piece of paper of my tomto plants in my garden and used it.

That's what I used to do when I was growing hundreds of plants and varieties each season. I'd crawl on my knees planting one 250 ft row, putting plastic 5 inch labels ( only Harris plastic and only Johnny's markers, thecombo that worked best) next to the first plant of the same kind, finish the row, go get my notebook and walk down the row copying in my note book exactly the order and number of plants of each variety.

My farmer friend Charlie would sometimes have one of his men cultivate and Roy would occasionally hook out some plants. Raccoons would get into a fight in that field and sometimes destory some of my plants.

Lables NEVER worked for me out in the field and b'c I was growing so many they were sprawled, not caged or whatever.

Carolyn

[bluebonnets]

I cut labels from soda cans/energy drinks and write on them with a pen. The ink doesn't work but it makes an impression that lasts and I stick them in the ground but now I am wondering if it would work to cut the labels into rectangles, punch a hole on one end and hang them up on the plant or cage.

[Farmette]

I grow my tomatoes in raised beds with CRW for the center trellis. Last year I printed and laminated maps for each bed showing the 5 varieties on each side of the trellis. Then I clipped the map to a clipboard and secured that to an endpost. It was very helpful and stayed legible all season long.

[Cole_Robbie]

If you just buy a "garden marker," the ink won't fade in the sun. This is the one I have:

http://www.farmtek.com/farm/supplies...oductId=514858

I still find trash from two years ago that I marked with that pen and it hasn't faded.

I'm going to try to take my field labeling more seriously this year. I'm thinking maybe a plastic cable tie around the base of the plant, threaded into a plastic tag with a hole punched through it.

[clkeiper]

You can get a "china" marker at the hardware store. OR if you use the window blind idea use a PENCIL. it won't fade or smear.

[nativeplanter]

Originally Posted by bluebonnets

I cut labels from soda cans/energy drinks and write on them with a pen. The ink doesn't work but it makes an impression that lasts and I stick them in the ground but now I am wondering if it would work to cut the labels into rectangles, punch a hole on one end and hang them up on the plant or cage.

I did this last year, and really liked how well it worked. The soda cans were easy to cut with regular scissors. I put the can strips on an old towel, then it was really easy to make the ballpoint pen make an indent. And by pushing hard, I could get the pen to act as a punch for a hole in the end. I then used twist ties to attach them to the vine clips. That way I could easily move the tag around if it got hard to find.

I've tried popsicle sticks a few times, but for me they always rot at the soil level before the season is half over, and then break and get lost. I'd like to try the mini blind route, since I have raised beds, but I refuse to buy new ones and haven't found ones being discarded yet.

One year I used a paint pen to label rows of veggies by writing on large clam shells (I live near the beach). They looked really neat and lasted a few years before the paint chipped off (unless I stepped on them).

[dipchip2000]

I use the paint pen on cut up miniblinds. I spent 4dollars at Lowes for a 36x56
cheap miniblind and cut it up with scissors and made over 600 labels. I use a paper punch for the hole and tiny zipties to attach them chest high to tomato cages. I always put them on the north side and have never had one fade or become unreadable. I dont have to bend over to see them either. Black paint pen on white miniblind is great for an old mans eyes.

ron

[b54red]

I just use cheap plastic surveyors tape of whatever color I happen to find and then write with a Sharpie. They can be tied to cages, trellises or the plant itself. The only problem is in our very long season if a tomato lasts long enough the writing will fade but by that time I know what the plant is. I have gone back and relabeled them with new tape before the old ones fade completely. If I can find a good garden marker locally then I will try one and see if it will last longer. The advantages of the tape is that it is cheap, very versatile and can be attached at eye level.