I can't comment on the packing tape, but my question is: why do it? If you use a permanent-ink Sharpie it should be OK. On some very permanent markers I've cut into the surface with the words and then Sharpied over that. The ink sinks into the cut and stays even tho the other may fade.

@CA Kate z9 I can only guess you haven't tried your own advice in a location with both substantial rain and hot summer sun. Permanent ink works great indoors, protected from the elements. Outdoors, the California sun and rain just laugh at "permanent ink Sharpies". The ink quickly fades and becomes unreadable within 18 months.

The best way to preserve markings so far has been to put a paper label on the plastic plant tag and to write on that with a pencil. That honestly is not intuitive, but that is the method that two nurseries taught me and it lasts a whole lot longer than Sharpie, but ONLY if you protect the paper label from water, hence the reason to use the tape as a rainjacket for the label.

I live and garden in CA. The markers were outside, with irregation and watering, and lots of hot sun. What I suggested works for me. This might not work for you.

Here is the last one like this from the garden. This will be it's 3rd summer. It is faded, but legible.

I have moved on to metal markers - only because I found a bunch stored way back in the cupboard and want to use them up. ( I used the marker on those too. I'll see how they do.)

I also don't put all the info on the tags, but I do have it all on a data base in my Mac. However, on perennials I do put both the common name and the official Latin name on the tag/label.

Did you ask the nursery what they used? Perhaps they can sell you a roll.

@CA Kate z9 Honestly no one at any nursery I visited cares about anything except the next three months. They are trying to push plants out the door fast. I am trying to document containers that may stay in my outdoor garden for a decade. So they don't know how to solve my problem and they don't care.

I have tried your approach with black Sharpie on many different types of plant tags, and always the black Sharpie simply fades away to nothing in less than 18 months.

@morz8 - Washington Coast P-Toch with laminated labels is a great idea. Do they sell any version of that where I could generate the full label text on my computer and print it out to a desktop label printer? That way I could save off common soil mixes and just easily duplicate those.

i also use a ptouch.. AND I used THE the tape labeled UV .. its black on clear ...

they used to have a computer hooked version ... thats for you to research ...

it would get rather expensive putting a whole story on a tag.. imo... i think you would move to number your mixes.. so a vast majority could be very short stories..

paint pens also work. .. the enamel paint last forever.. especially on the side of a black pot...

https://www.amazon.com/Paint-Painting-Ceramic-Acrylic-Markers/dp/B07485T22B/ref=asc_df_B07485T22B?tag=bngsmtphsnus-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=80745502739797&hvnetw=s&hvqmt=e&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=&hvtargid=pla-4584345029946240&psc=1

sharpies DO NOT last.. period... maybe kate is a witch or something.. that hers last... idk.. lol ..

ken

I couldn't answer that Westes. My model is a Brother and likely at least 20 years old - I've been using it that long. All I've ever done is buy fresh tapes for it. Using two lines and lower case it will take a lot of letters/numbers if that helps....certainly room for much more info than i.e. 'Tomato, Early Girl.'

I live in Colorado and have tried many many tag types and labels throughout the 25 years that I've been outdoor gardening. I've tried Sharpie, pencil, grease marker, etc. But the best has been the P-touch labeler with the P-Touch Xtreme tape. I have this handheld labeler. Have been using it for about 10 years with the Xtreme tape. It's called TZe tape. I've had some markers with these labels outside for over 10 years now. The labels stick and have zero fading.

@popmama (Colorado, USDA z5) I have a P-touch and I am very familiar with how great their lamination technology is. The reason I did not think of it was that it is very cumbersome to use that to print out a large complex soil mix with six ingredients.

I found that Brother has a desktop WiFi printer named the PT-P900W that can print laminated labels:

https://www.brother-usa.com/products/PTP900W

This is a very expensive solution, but I am going to keep digging and see if I can find something used. There must be a prior discontinued model that is cheap second-hand now. Hopefully someone reading this thread will let us know about old models.

I prefer to use grease pencil on plastic markers. Never seems to fade.

@rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7 Can you point me to the brand that you are buying on Amazon? I'll try it.

Sharpie sells grease pencils, available on Amazon. Also known as china markers. They come in colors but I have only used black. A search under ’grease pencils” will be productive. They are a low-tech, inexpensive, and tried-and-true implement for writing on smooth surfaces. Waterproof and sunproof, as well. I use them in my veggie garden year after year.

Grease pencils are not considered permanent because the markings can be smudged with some effort and can be washed/rubbed off of a smooth surface with a detergent.

I have settled on regular pencil and grease pencils. Grease pencils are also great for writing on ziploc bags for stuff in the freezer and glass containers. They do not fade as easily but can be rubbed off but it takes a bit of an effort to rub it off. Even Sharpies extreme fades away in no time.

My scheme is to write the name on one side of the label. The other side has info on which year it was repotted. I use short forms like UP-2023 for an up pot and FR-2023 for a full repot.

My soil mix variations are very few. Either it is Als 511 or some variation of the gritty mix. 511 is easy to identify and I do not write that info. For gritty I do not write anything if it is the standard 1:1:1 mix. Otherwise I will use a coded version like: G2T3B2 for grit, turface, bark proportion. If using pumice I will write something like G1P1T2B2. I write the mix ratio only for some to compare how the plant does compared to more standard mix.

I have so many Christmas light strings and figurines that uses different voltage bulbs, years ago I started labeling the type of bulb each string uses with a P-Touch labeler that uses M-type tape. For the last 2 years I didn't care to take the strings down in one of my trees. some labels are more than 10 years old and although faded, they are still very readable. But I'm in Montreal, Canada where we have much less sun. The sharpies fade to the point of being non readable in a few months just from indoor fluorescent lights.