Permanent plant labels

I have always labelled with a marker in the ground and loop lock label on the plant. However these have such a short life and I want a better solution.
I see there are aluminium and copper tags available which are meant to be permanent and would welcome thoughts and other alternatives that anyone uses and knows to be long lasting.
I have over 100 cultivars now and want to keep track of them all.

John

 

Hi John,up 'til now I've just used plastic tags with CD marker pen.So far they've lasted 3or4 years but I doubt they're permanent.
I think if I was to replace them,keeping costs down,I'd use the soft ally ones.Apparently the pressure of a Biro is enough to 'emboss' them without the need(and tedium) of letter punches.However they probably don't look particularly attractive if that is a consideration.
Hope you find what you're looking for :)

 

Thanks Houzi. You are getting a longer life than me from plastic. I have used the loop lock so far, is this what you are using?
Although the labels are not visible when the maples are in leaf, they look very unattractive over winter.
I was wondering which is most unobtrusive once weathered, copper or aluminium.

John

 

I've just used those little white stiff tags from Wilky''s you stick into the dirt.I'm surprised how tough the ink is to remove when needed(it's an oil based permanent marker)
I would imagine copper will go green eventually if unvarnished so probably less obvious but may be harder than ally.

 

I've had good success with the aluminum metal tags and envelope address labels (the clear ones, not white). Be sure that your printer is a laser printer, not the inkjet variety. You can have a lot of fun designing the label with different fonts and even small graphics if you so desire.

Kevin in KC

 

Hi Kevin. This looks unobtrusive. With the envelope labels are they paper labels and then wrapped in plastic or are they clear plastic labels you print on?

Houzi, at present i use 6" plastic push in labels as you describe and use a brother hand held garden label printer. However i double label with plastic loop lock labels as used by garden centers and these have a short life. i like Kevin's answer and would probably use this in conjunction with aluminum tie on labels i have seen on the net (tied on with wire) unless there are any better answers that anyone knows off.

John

 

John,
These are the clear plastic labels that you print on directly. There's no wrapping of plastic. The label wraps around the side of the marker and sticks well. If you have a color laser printer, I suppose you could print the names in green ink, which would be even more inconspicuous. The stakes themselves often get moved by squirrels or by my garden hose, however. So this year I plan to use the thin aluminum tags that you can write on with any sharp object to make the impression. You can get 100 markers with wire for $20 from a seller on eBay.

Kevin in KC

 

Thanks Kevin.
I think that I am going to try the aluminium tag labels that affix with wire, same as what you are looking into. These should be permanent and fairly unobtrusive.

Thanks everyone for the advice.

John