plant markers

I am looking for cheap plant markers. Anyone knows where to get them? Thanks, Fang

Hey, Fang... do you plant markers? Do you mean paper pot makers? I don't know what a plant maker is.

yes. Plant markers. Platic or wood are fine. Thanks.

They are mostly the same price or close to it. I buy mine at Parks or Harris Seeds. I have heard of people cutting up their old venetian blinds with the thin slats or buying the blinds at a yard sale or thrify shop.

I just went to Kmart and bought a set of cheap blinds, Id like to get my hands on some old metal ones but oh well. I bought the short set wich was under $5 and I havnt even gone thru have the stack yet, of course I dont have as many plants as some here but they work great. I also bought a paint marker, not just a magic marker, to write on them to keep them from fading out. I just bought another marker finaly because one of my kids took the origonal and no one is fessing up to the deed.

If I don't have plastic markers I use popsicle sticks {craft sticks} that come in a box of 1000 that can usually be purchased at a Wal-Mart or craft stores for around $3 to $4. Good if you are not looking for something permanent, just to get you through the summer for marking tomatoes and such. The cheap blind idea is something I may try too.

I have to put tags in hundreds of plants every summer, so I cut my own from plastic blinds. I use a fine point Sharpie, but my summers are not as sunny and hot as most.

Thanks for everyone's idea. I am going to try the blind.

Thats ALOT of time for such a simple task though, cutting up blinds I mean.
If you go through so many tags, wouldn't it be more efficient to just buy a case of labels and keep the leftovers for the following years?
That's what I do anyway. Then at least all I have to do is write out all those dang tags, but I don't have to cut em up too...hehe
Only cost me $60 for a few years worth of labels.

This is where I bought this last case from.
http://www.novoselenterprises.com/products/general.asp

SueLeese, I've ordered from this company before, and I recommend them. I'd love to have about 5000 of those 4" tags. It would be so nice to just reach for them and there they are! Ah, well, I can dream! I'm really looking at those yellow looped tags for bigger perennials. They're a bit obnoxious in the garden, but would be great for the plants I'm selling, or for tagging plants I plan to collect seeds from.

I usually cut up my miniblinds at night when I'm tired from gardening and I'm watching CSI. It really doesn't take much time. And one mini blind ($4 at walmart) will make 300-400 markers, 4-6 inches long. I even get two kinds of markers out of them. I cut both ends off, past the holes on the ends. Then these I can use with a twist tie to tie them on a branch of a tree or shrub. The rest of the mini blinds I'll cut evenly. Without holes, they're great to stick in pots and in the ground. And one thing I like is that they are bigger than store-bought tags. I write big. When I trade plants, I can write the plant name and growing info on the tag to ship with the plants. Cheap and effective.

For permanent markers to ID my daylily, canna, hosta, and iris varieties permenantly, I order Style E from www.Everlastlabel.com. You can get 100 zinc markers for about $30, which INCLUDES shipping. The shipping price is included in all their products. If you order 1000, I think it's about $210. I usually buy 1000 at a time to save money.

I love the Style E's better than the Style C's. I'm constantly walking thru my flowerbeds and inadvertently knock the label off the Style C's. They more or less just clip onto the wire stem. But with Style E, the stem is inserted into holes on Style E. So I don't find the zinc marker 3 ft away from the wire stem.

NancyAnn

The old plastic blinds are a great idea, especially for long term marking. But for short term (one season) I'm with Catydale--those popsicle sticks are great for flats, rows, pots. I got 1000 at a Dollar shop for $1 last year. I do reuse them--just write over the faded marking with new dark ink.

I'll have to check into the popsicle sticks. I think they'd work great with a grease pencil.

They do! That's what I use for outside markers.

I didn't like popsicle sticks because they rotted so quickly. I'd go outside and the bottom would be rotted and the top would fall off. I don't have that problem with mini blinds.

N.

Since you first wrote, I've dug around in the loft and found 3 sets of old mini blinds--great idea to do it while watching T.V. But I still like the popsicle sticks for seed flats--they last me for several seasons.
Maybe MY popsicle sticks are better than YOUR popsicle sticks! LOL