My preferred method to construct aluminum plant tags is to use alum. pie plates or baking pans as your tag material. The 9âÂÂx12â baking pan is of a thinner gauge than say a turkey pan so you have a choice of thickness. Ball point pens work fine to engrave them if you use something soft behind them. To make the hole I use a ice pick or hole punch. My preference is the pick because it allows me to size the hole to the thickness of wire that I use to help minimize the tags from flapping in the breeze. The wire that I use is worth sharing because it stops the alum. from reacting with the wire the way regular steel wire does and it is cheap and pliable. I use .014 stainless steel lock wire [1 lb. coil] from Harbor Freight Tools. $7.99 their # 08895, it even comes with a plastic case and belt clip. Another trick I use to stop that flapping in the breeze effect is to leave an extra 6â or so after I secure the tag with a loop and use this extra wire to tie the tag to the branch by LOOSLY wrapping it around the tag and branch together. Painting the baking pans after sandpapering them and priming them and before cutting them to size also goes a log way to stopping that shiny ornament effect when grafting on branches to your fruit trees but the paint does not have the lifespan the alum. does.

Good to have labels on the tree for a quick glance, also good for your kids and friends visiting / picking fruits. Also good when cutting scions. Those Leevalley labels would be too small for me, I want them large so you can read from a distance! Fast and easy is a must for me,..stamping would make it too slow, I can write larger, [or smaller] and faster right out by the tree free hand with a cordless engraver. I just take a bunch of cut labels and wires out to the garden. Double up the wire holes, so labels don't spin in the wind and facing always to you for the ease of reading.

Kim, are these the ones you use? I keep mine next to my computer so that while I'm online I can make more--that doesn't mean I'm good about actually taking them outside and putting them on the roses!;) I get these at a local nursery, Mt. Fuji, in Upland, CA. On mine I write the name, class, date and name of breeder (plus country), and where and when I acquired the plant. For example for Europa's Rosengarten the label shows Europa's Rosengarten Floribunda 1989, Karl Hetzel (Germany) Eurodesert Roses, CA, 2011 Here are some plant markers/signs used by Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden in Claremont, CA. Btw I asked about the markers, and they told me that they try to always put the ones with the accession number on the south side of the plant. So if you really want to know what it is, search for that marker (sometimes 2 different kinds are used--one in the ground the other wired on the plant). The signs are more prominent and contain more info. The last 2 above were on the same plant of R. minutifolia. What I like about what they are using is the heaviness of the wire gauge. I'm looking to find a wire that is a bit more substantial than what came with the Cole's (very fine--sharp looking too for rose canes!) and yet is still flexible and easy to work with and will fit through the pre-punched holes. Melissa

my experience... Last year, I tried wrapping a business card (other thick card stock will work as well) with metal duct tape. I was able to write on both sides of the card with a ball point pen and the card prevented the impression on one side from coming through to the other. I extended the tape about 3/4" from the card on one side and about 1/4" on the others. I was able to punch a hole through the tape on the long side and run string through it. I did not attach it to the plant this year, rather, I laid it on top of the mix in the pot. The print is still visible on both sides and it does not show any evidence of coming apart. These are a bit more time consuming than I would like. This year, I cut plastic (opaque) milk containers into strips and wrote on them with a Sharpie. They have faded, and I do not think they will last another season. Also, I've had more than a few dug up by the squirrels. Next season, I was going to try sending Avery Laser Business Cards (#5371) through the printer, separate, then laminate them. I have information about my trees in a database and created a print format to fit on the cards. I called Kinkos, they charge less than $3.00 per sheet, and by my calculations, I can probably fit 8 cards per sheet. Also, Harbor Freight tools has advertised an inexpensive laminator in the past. For those of you who are growing in plastic pots, you could write the information you want on the side of the pot with a Sharpie or a grease pencil. Also, there are dog tag machines in Walmart (probably in the pet stores) as well as online. These carry three lines of information and would probably be the most permanent in terms of retaining its original properties. The machines in Walmart charge $5, and if I remember correctly, there are some online sources that allow you to upload the information via a word processor and are about $2.5 Like George, I also write the cultivar name (and other info) on cuttings with a sharpie (now that I'm thinking about it, I may have gotten the idea from George). It is also good practice to write the same info on a tree before repotting/transplanting. Just remember that if you later find out your X variety turns out to be a Y, you want to be able to change the label easily. I also have a map of the trees in my backyard I created on the computer. When I move the pots around, I update the map. Since I am traveling a lot, it helps to have a map to write instructions on for whoever is caring for my trees while I am gone. Also, if there is a problem, I can tell which tree they are talking about. ~james