Plant labels...

I guess this topic has been aired a lot, but on a search, I couldn't see anything very recent.

I have recently discovered that printing plant names out via an ordinary inkjet printer and then using heavy duty adhesive tape to stick them to conventional plastic labels works very well for a long time. If you wrap the tap completely around the plastic label, there is nowhere for the water to get in...

Apart from the 'scrape-off' black metal labels, nothing has managed to survive our wet winters in the past, but the printer ink under the tape seems oblivious to rain, cold and sun.

I always use bold fonts, and the method has the benefit of allowing you to make a template and print multiple labels without additional effort... ;o)

Do you find the inkjet color fades? I've had photos fade and they're not even outside. What brand of printer and ink do you use?

Colours fade, but black doesn't - I use a hp officejet...

Cool, thanks for the info. I have an HP Photosmart 7660 - I'll have to try plain black and see what happens. I can't remember if my faded B&W photo was printed on our old Epson Stylus Photo 820 or on this HP.

Remember, photos use grey as well as black, and dot patterns can degrade with time, so even if you have experience of 'fading' of b/w images, solids are not necessarily affected...

Another trick is to turn the label away from the main direction of light in the winter...

Found this website a couple of years ago and purchased the Large markers for my roses. They are great! They are power coated metal and you can put the names of the plants on with a paint pen. I bought my own, not theirs(to expensive) and used silver on the black. I would suggest that the "loop" be closed on the tag tho.
Hope this helps.
www.ks-markers.com

Springlover...I can't get the link to work

I googled and found this......

http://www.ks-plantmarkers.com/

Sorry, guess I again better wait to reply until the first cup of coffee is gone!
Thanks for helping me out!

This is kinda different - When I was putting tags on my flat with seeds last winter, I ran out of masking tape and grabbed my daughter's white tear tape - y'know the kind they use in the hospital and it's kind of a mottled white, gauzy look? (I really should call her and ask what it's called) I wrote on it with a regular blue pen. It's been watered umpteen times and sitting out in the sun since late April. It looks the same as the day I put it on the flat!!