many home-made labels

A lady at work told me of this recently, and I couldn't believe I never thought of it.
White Mini-blinds cut into labels. If one doesn't have them extra, they are less than $5 apiece at Wal-Mart.
She is a Master Gardener. She is always volunteering as part of getting to be a Master Gardener. She recently got her Master Gardener-ship. She says one of the organizations that she volunteers called I.C.A.N. will take all my plants, which is good. This organization is about mentally challenged, A.D.D., Autistic and other disabled people doing things. That sounds like a good place for my trees to go to. I just told her I'd like to know where they are planted at.
She mentioned some being used as memorial trees, which I thought was really neat too.
Anyhow, she says that you can write on them with a black Sharpie or other black marker and it never comes off.
I recently replaced a bunch of them in my mobile home. I had them just sitting on the floor there for months, I didn't know what to do with them. Then she said that and it was like a light went off! I gave her one of the mini-blinds, I have 3 left. Now I know what to do with them!
This might only be a new revelation to me, others might already have known of this.

Will

Great idea! However, I wouldn't recommend writing on them with Sharpie's, they fade in the sun in my experience, I've had to re-identify plants after about a year when I labelled them with a Sharpie. I think it has something to do with what's in the ink, so I think you would still see the fading even if you write on the mini-blinds instead of the plastic plant tags that I used.

I agree -- I've found no markers other than paint pens that will last indefinitely. I usually use pencil.

This is the start of a good thread that will help many people. How about some more ideas:

Another good label source, and free, is to use a heavy scissors to cut bleach jugs and other plastic bottles into strips. Cut off the top and bottom, then slice the sides vertically. They will be slightly curved, adding to their rigidity, and most of them are textured enough to accept pencil marking.

If you have an embossing set (maybe $15 at your local hardware store) you can use the same heavy scissors to slice beer cans into aluminum labels that can be embossed and will last for decades, unless the squirrels or deer try to eat them (yes, that happens).

And for treated wood stakes, ask your local lumber yard for the spacers strips (lath) that come with loads of treated lumber. They usually just pitch them.

Guy S.

Another tip - with plastic labels, write on them with a soldering iron. That gives a long-lasting, indelible label.

Example:
http://www.pinetum.org/canon/label2.gif

Resin

I kind of threw in the Sharpie part, actually she didn't say Sharpie, just a "black marker".
I thought they were about the same thing, only a Sharpie writes better, but if it doesn't work well, I wouldn't use it either, thanks for mentioning that ecrane. Actually what comes with some labels from Wal-Mart that I've purchased is a small pencil, maybe a "grease" or "carbon" pencil of some sort. I also bought a "Martha Stewart" plant black marker (from Kmart, $2.99 I think) thats supposed to work well, but it hasn't been thru much time yet.

Speaking of lumber, I am going to buy a 6 foot section of privacy fence (about $40) that has pickets 6 inches wide, and make rectangular planter pots out of them. I don't know if they'll come painted in red, or treated, maybe both, I don't recall. What I plan on doing with those planters is building them in rectangular shapes to fit exactly beneath a trellis, 15 inches long, one on each side, on the ground. It would be the width of the pickets all the way around to make for minimal cutting also (roughly 6 inch ends). I plan to have no large cracks that roots can get out of, and always drilling and using screws. That trellis goes on sale at Harbor Freight Tools for $5.99, reg. price $8.99. 6 inches deep wouldn't hold a fully mature vine or other plant of course but one could put a Wisteria, Climbing Rose, or other vine in there and it would look nice for a few years. The trellis is 4 feet wide so it could even go over a walk-way.
I already have three trellises, so when I get the extra money for the privacy fence section (and find the one I want), I'll get started! And you thought 44 ounce Sonic cups (and lids for squirrel protection) to plant seedlings, McDonalds drinking straws for trunk protectors on seedlings (to confuse and thwart squirrels possibly), discarded plastic box fan grilles over (screwed into) made 2 x 4 seed boxes (for squirrel protection) and plastic Kitty litter jugs for planting was the end! Geeze, some of the piles of things I have in storage must look like rubbish!

Just some of my ideas,

Will

I need a cool, refreshing deep drink of Oak tree!

Back to the theme. I have had decent luck with Black grease pencils (kind of like a crayon, pencil. Has a little piece of string that you pull that cuts a thin strip in wood fiber than you then unwind to reveal a new tip; sometimes called China markers--I don't know why). The writing has lasted without much fading for two years.

I'm quite intrigued, I must admit, about the idea of the embossing tool. Is this slow and cumbersome to use, or does it function okay? I've never seen one before, but now I'll have to track one down. Would a place like Home Depot have these?

Scott

Didn't you know, Sonic sells Oak tree drinks! LOL
I asked her if she writes on the inside or the outside of the mini-blind labels, she said outside. I suppose, depending on how much time one wants to give to label-making, one could use a vibrating writer on metal tags (preferably), or plastic ones (I forget what they are called, and I have one by Black and Decker).
I'll ask her what kind of Black marker.
I shouldn't say that the black marker never fades, because I bet it would after a number of years on anything.

Will

I prefer regular size blinds. You can put more info on them. And I use a pencil also. Rather than cutting each one individually, I take them to Home Depot and use their blinds cutter. You can cut 100 labels at one time, but except for the last cut, none will be no longer than 5 inches. You get nice rounded corners too, for a finished touch.

Okay, so I work at Home Depot. But if you go when it is not busy, I'm sure they would do it for you.

Rick

All of the Home Depot stores in the metro New Orleans area are busy, busy, busy from opening to closing with people trying to restore or rebuild their Katrina houses. Surely wish I owned stock in Home Depot. The average wait for kitchen cabinets is 3-4 months and installation is another thing.
However, everyone is stressed to the limit in the store and they would probably not like it if I brought in old blinds to cut for tree or plant markers. But, it is a wonderful idea and I shall try cutting them with my heavy paper cutter.

It's slow until you get the hang of it, stamping one letter at a time with a hammer. But if you want permanence, I think it's the easiest, cheapest way to get there. I made a jig for mine, out of a scrap of wood panel board with slots cut the height of the letters, so I could line them up quickly and neatly.

Guy S.