I have been buying metal plant markers and it's costing a fortune. I've read about as well as received plant tags on old venetian blinds. Would anyone have any extra slats to share? I don't want to go to WM and buy cheap ones, I'd rather have the old sturdy ones.
I'd be happy to pay postage, cash or provide plants.
Plant Markers
I only have the modern, skinny, plastic slats.
The price of postage fpr 13 ounces would probably be about the same the cost of a few pounds at Goodwill or (better) a Habitat For Humanity "Restore". Mine was $5 marked down to $2.75.
Someone said that, when using the older metal kind of slat, the points can be sharp and stab or snag.
I also ownder how easy that glossy paiont is to write on. I like pencil-on-plastic, especially using a 0.7 mm mechanical pencil and B lead or HB lead.
If they don't push easily into stony soil, I open a slit first with an old butcher knife that I use as a trowel and weeder.
Corey
I got a brand new set for $5 @ my local resale shop. They're the newer vinyl slats, but I tried getting the graphite off of one I mis-labled, and, let me tell you, that writing does NOT come off easily! I used Ajax with bleach and had to put some man-pressure scrubbing on it.
I wonder if different plastics erase differently?
A rubber eraser erasers mine pretty clean pretty fast.
Someone else said a nylon scrubbing pad removes the pencil mark.
Yours sounds extra-permanent!
We recently replaced a window blind with curtains and I feel like I have a lifetime supply so I been using magic marker. I don't want to hunt for my glasses when I'm in the garden 8-) Pencil is too hard for me to read without getting right on top of it.
maithyme,
If you're interested in the 1" wide plastic slats, I juust found one at a HforH Restore in Oregon. 80 slats, that I've cut where the holes are. I cut each to a very blunt point.
I have 80 14" lengths and around 150 5" lengths.
(I experimented with or messed up some.)
What do you think would be a fair trade for some a plant or some bulbs?
I'd like to hold on to some for my own use, up to 50 of the 5" and 10 of the 14"
I would be interested in any of these, whatever you have plenty of and is easy to ship:
Walker's Low Catmint (Nepeta)
Phlox paniculate "Purple Flame"
Chrysanthmum Helen
I also have some Pasque Flower seeds I could send.
Also, check the third post in this thread for a variety of other possible seed trades:
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1191453/
Corey
]
MaryMcP ~ I've found that even the waterproof sharpie can fade in the sun here. I would have to tuck the slats deep into the pot or soil to retain the name. Still have to bend over to read it them. That is why I use pencil. It is faint but does not fade. I use a #2 lead but maybe there is an even coarser lead. Just a thought.
Thanks podster, I'll try pencil next time I mark a piece for comparison purposes. I have .07 lead. There may be .09, not sure. Thanks for the tip.
I THINK that soft lead (B, not HB) makes a SLIGHTLY darker mark - maybe.
Does it smudge more easily? Maybe not.
I'm not positive there's any difference.
Corey
Any art supply store or online source will have much softer pencils. I use 6B for drawing; it leaves a nice, dark line. I also use the softest B leads I can find for my mechanical pencils. The .09/ .07 types refer to lead diameter, not softness.
I've gotten some marking pens that do seem fairly fade-resistant but none of them last very long.
I was using mini-blind slats until my stash got thrown away. Now I use plant tags made from Solo cups. I make 10 or so of them, by cutting from lip down to the cup bottom, then I snip each strip from the cup with a single diagonal cut so that it gives me a pointy tip on the marker. I usually use an ultra-fine Sharpie for writing on them. A pencil may do in a pinch, but I need a softer one, I guess, because it's very faint. I prefer the Sharpie.
Pros of the Solo cup tags:
- cheap
- available just about anywhere.
- may already be in your garden stash of seedling cups.
- very easy to cut.
- they tuck beautifully along the edges of round pots, seedling cups, and cinder block holes.
- no need to erase anything. Just make a new one.
Cons:
- flimsy for shoving into the ground. You need to make a slash in the dirt first.
And, the backside of them is colored (red or blue, maybe yellow). I don't know if that's an advantage or a disadvantage. I never use the backside.
This message was edited Sep 14, 2011 8:51 AM
This message was edited Sep 14, 2011 8:51 AM
That's a great idea Lise - even cheaper is to use your leftover cottage cheese, yogurt, sour cream, you_name_it cups. Although many of these I use for potting up seedlings, it's another idea, many folks don't grow from seed and don't need pot-up containers.
A 1000 words....
You're right, MaryMcP and the cottage cheese tubs, etc., have a nice plastic that is sturdier. Larger containers are best, I find the short yogurt things are too short.
My only problem with those things is neatness. I can keep 50 or 100 Solo cups in one slim stack in the corner of a bin, where they can be used as either seedling cups or cut up into tags as needed. Very neat. When I was collecting the other stuff, they didn't stack as well and I tended to end up with a motley assortment that looked suspciously like trash, lol. Plus, every time hubby threw a container into the garbage and I would pull it back out, he'd get a look on his face like maybe he should start taking notes while watching "Hoarders." (Gosh, why would he be concerned? Just because I also like dragging home free garden stuff that I find on other people's curbs on trash day? My "hurrah! free stuff" thread on DG possibly pertains!)
Anyway, it keeps the peace and keeps my area neat to spend my $2 and have my nice stack of cups. Sometimes we have to make sacrifices, lol.
Oh I get that part alright! Especially the hoarding and alley trolling on bulk trash day.....but it's the opposite here. DH is the culprit. Hah! He brought home a sink one time, it's not cast iron but some kind of heavy plastic, on legs. All my nursery pots are in there, under a pretty beach towel.
I was just wondering why the darn yogurt makers don't use square containers????? Such a space saver is square. :-} Even for them to ship............I guess consumers would have a harder time getting the yogurt/cottage cheese/whatever out of the corners - but still!
Older venetian blinds contain lead. A search on Google will turn up several references.
Mine in the pic are the new, vinyl blinds. ^^_^^
>> When I was collecting the other stuff, they didn't stack as well and I tended to end up with a motley assortment that looked suspciously like trash
After I clean them, I tie them into bundles with waxed twine. (Rubber bands would work.) Once cut up to different sizes and pointed, I tie them in bundles for specific purposes:
- big for in-the-ground
- medium for outdoor pots
- small & half-wide for 3.5" square potting-up-pots
- tiny & half-wide for rows or cells in insert trays or propagation plug trays (exira-short so I can fit a humidity dome over them or drape 18" wide Saran wrap over the trays.)
Corey
Hi maithyme
I guess you found your own slats, but would you like a 0.9" mechanical pencil?
I figured out that I don't have room for more plants, except maybe one catmint.
Corey