Plant tags

[mensplace]

This may seem the ultmate of being cheap, but yesterday I didn't want to take time away from my work to have to drive to find tags for my plants in setting them out. After selecting my first twenty varieties and carefully checking each on Tatiana's to assure they were the correct leaf type, I wanted a way to permanently label each plant. Searching around the house for a waterproof material that would stand up to the rain, I noted that I had many empty milk jugs that I had been using for watering. I then carefully cut 1/2 inch bands of plastic strips around each. Then I had strips about a foot and a half long. I then used my retractable sharpie permanent marker to write the name and left an inch on the end between each name. After drying thoroughly, I cut them into individual labels and bent over the 1 inch blank space to use scissors to cut a 1/4 inch hole. Then I cut the heavy plastic twine that I had removed from the round hay bales into six inch strings to thread through the holes. That plastic won't rot like regular twine or string. In putting them into the garden, all was going well right up until lifting a spadefull of dirt and instantly seeing, AND FEELING, my hands and wrists absolutely covered in fire ants. They DIE today! But, my first twenty are in the ground...al checked, enterd in my log, and ready for rain tonight. Next, comes adding hay around the base of each.

[pete]

Sharpie ink can fade in the weather. Use paint pens or paint sticks.

After you plant, MAKE A MAP!!!!!

Pete

[sprout]

I make mine with strips of aluminum cut from a soda can. Then i label them with a ball point pen which indents the name into the metal. I bend them around the wire of the tomato cage at eye level.

[clay199]

Milk jugs break down quickly in the sun. You could try old vinyl blinds instead, I have used them for six years. They last a season, and to be careful I write on both the end in the dirt and the end up...

[ArcherB]

I do something similar to sprout, except I use aluminum foil cut into strips foil folded over several times so they are about the size of a piece of gum. I use my drill to put a hole in the end and twist tie it to the cage or plant itself. I used to use a hole punch to make the hole, but ended up breaking the hole punch.

[habitat_gardener]

I use a grease pencil (also called china marker) on plastic tags. It doesn't fade in the sun, and it's easy to erase with a pencil eraser when I want to reuse the tag. The only drawback is that it's a wide point so I can't write all the data on the tag.

[mensplace]

Thanks for ALL the great ideas! Any idea where to find paint pens? Maybe I DO need to invest in some of the very heavy white plastic or aluminum tags later. I do like to have the kind that stay on the plants. With the rains coming in the hour, I also used the large blue drink cups (16 oz) that I had used for growing and filled them with rocks and clay to leave next to the plants as an extra measure until I can get something more long term than the home-made tags. I will certainly draw a map with each name to keep as a permanent record. Thirty five varieties out his far...that's all the back and hips could stand. After the rains and some time for the soil to dry, I can add more. For those beyond the multiples of each I am growing, I put an add in Craigslist and it has worked VERY well. Many seem to have heard of Sungold and want it (for those of you selling plants regularly). I'm just trying to put the extras to good use. Noticed one dzruba already setting blossoms at a foot tall. Guess those need to be picked off until the plants develop further, but it was still exciting. NEXT year I will surely be making an inventory of what I am planting as the biggest job now facing me is getting them organized and an inventory made, that and the seemingly endless job of repotting. At least by the end of this year I should have plenty of seed for others and know for sure what I like best so that I can cut WAY back next year. I do think that I will fashion some blossom covers for at least one set of blossoms per plant. My plants are four feet apart between the rows, but closer than the norm just due to a lack of space, so those little bags tied around some blossom sets should prevent any crossing. With all of the good info on leaf types, I have taken great strides to assure that the correct type goes into the ground. One bit of GREAT news is that with all of my work to add amendments and organic materr, NO Georgia soil ever saw so many earthworms per spadeful ..and they are huge!

[prizebull]

Thanks for the idea Mensplace and others.I was looking for a cheap way to tag plants that I plan to give away.I got seeds from Heirloomer08 and plan to 'pay it fwd'.I was going to give bags of composted manure away with them but the new pumpkin patch got it all.For myself , I'm going to try the china pencil and aluminum can idea.Last year I just made a map of where I put everything ,and of course, lost the map.Live and learn

[prizebull]

Mensplace - Do you put good/bad hay around your plants? I have bales of moldy and older hay that I was thinking of using for that purpose.What about weeds?

[kygreg]

Perma Markers did not work for me (glad I had a map); so I tried and old fashion lead pencil and worked fine.

[jwr6404]

I use tags and majic markers for the 15-20 plants I grow. In the house by my computer I have an overall map,and sub-maps as well, in my tomato note book. Submaps are used as I plant in several locations throughout my yard. To be honest I spend so much time in my garden that the variety and location is memorized kind of like a large family.

[ArcherB]

Definitely create a map. Not only do I have a map on every computer, but I also have printouts and it's published on the web via Google Docs.

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?k...Ow&output=html

[Granite26]

The nice thing about aluminum is you can just write on it with a sharp object and it leaves an impression that lasts. Forestry suppliers has aluminum tags but they are not cheap at about $0.20 each. I would think strips from aluminum cans would work.
For my plants growing in pots I use tags from Woodlandcreeklabels

[TomatoDon]

I went through this too. Everyone has their own system, but here is a couple of things I did. you can get white plastic plant labels at most any gardening store or department. They are made to stick in the ground and they have a hole in them. You can find permanent markers and just write your variety name on that. You can take some twine like used for tying tomatoes and use that to tie the labels up high. I tie mine to the top of the tomato cage so it's at eye level. You can also type up your list of plant,s use a big bold font and point size, print them out and tape them onto the plastic labels. I was surprised at how well this lasted if I wrapped it with a lot of clear tape. Looks pretty nice too.

You can also get a 50 pack of clear plastic holders that are normally used for baseball and sports cards. You can print out even bigger labels for them, cut them to size, slip the paper inside the hard clear plastic "holder" and tape it shut. You can take a hole puncher like used to punch holes in paper and punch a hole in the plastic card holder and tie it onto the tomato cage or stake. A little dab of clear bathroom caulk sealer works pretty well to keep it waterproof.

You can also get surveyor stakes at Lowe's, Home Depot, Ace, and other hardware stores. This are (I think) two feet tall. You can stick these at each plant, and write on them and it doesn't fade much.

You can also find paper-like plant tags at nursery suplly places. These are about as thin as paper, but are made of plastic and are study and are made to hold the ink. I've found some of my old ones years later and could still read the plant label. You can probably do the same thing by getting a white roll of surveyor "tape" and tie them on directly.

If you are staking plants, you can just write the name on the stake.

Above all, make a map! This is the most reliable. Chart everything as you plant it. I go into MS Word and create a "table" with columns and rows, which is just a couple of clicks of the mouse. I make at least two copies. One to keep in a gardening journal that stays clean, and one to take to the tomato patch for reference and to makes notes on. Then I type these notes into the MS Word doc.

DS

[Anijunga]

Has anyone tried printing on sticker labels, spraying with waterproofing spray then sticking the label on a cut piece of mini-blind? I've got a lot of varieties to label and need a low-cost, temporary, mass-production solution. Last year I wrote on wooden coffee stirrers with a Sharpie, which was a good, inexpensive temporary solution but very work-intensive. Thanks!