A good old No 2 Pencil is about the only thing that won't eventually fade in sunlight. I buy white plastic labels in boxes of 1000 and have noticed that one side is slightly less shiny and that is the side to write on with a pencil. They are die-cut with that side up, so if you feel the surface you can feel the burr from cutting and just put that side down when writing.
Plastic labels will all eventually become brittle from the sunlight (UV induced cross linking obviously) so for my long-term specimens (iris, eucomis, etc.) I use the metal impress-o-tags that come in boxes of fifty. They are aluminum with Al tie wires, and I tie them to long nails to anchor so the crows don't carry them off. The big 6" Al gutter nails work great. The labels even survive being trampled by deer.
Bob Zone 7 and getting some rain at last.
On Friday, September 25, 2020, 02:05:52 AM EDT, Lee Poulsen via pbs <pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> wrote:
I didn’t see anything after “—— next part ——“.
I’ve been getting my 4” vinyl plant stakes from the following source for years now: <https://hortcatalog.integracolor.com/en/… <https://hortcatalog.integracolor.com/en/…>>. You have to purchase a minimum of 1000, but I eventually use all of them anyway, and it’s nice to have a good supply always on hand. Vinyl lasts *much* longer than polystyrene.
Then I use a black extra fine point oil-based paint marker to write the information on them. I used to use the Decocolor brand because it was easily available at Michaels, but then they got harder to find. And they start to drop clumps of ink as the tip wears out but before they’re empty. Now I use Markal Pro-Line micro point paint markers. They seem to work much longer with less ink clump dropping. I have not tried to the Sharpie oil-based extra fine point paint marker because I still have a supply of the Markal pens. The acrylic paint markers don’t last like the oil-based ones do.
Don’t bother with the Sharpie Extreme Fade Resistant permanent markers or the Milwaukee INZALL permanent markers that Home Depot sells. They last longer than the regular Sharpies do, but out in full sun, they fade within a couple of years.
The only thing I’ve experienced lasting longer than the paint markers, are some labels I was given with some bulbs I was given back in the mid-90s that were the vinyl type but with a black on clear labeling tape label stuck on the plant stake. Even though the vinyl finally started to crack, 1) the tape still holds the stake together (and is still stuck to the stake) after all these years, and 2) the print is still exactly as legible as when I first got them. I’m not sure what the black text is on these labels.
I have heard that writing with a high carbon pencil on zinc produces a chemical reaction such that there is nothing to fade, so technically such a label and stake will last a lifetime. But I haven’t tried that.
--Lee Poulsen
Pasadena, California, USA - USDA Zone 10a
Latitude 34°N, Altitude 1150 ft/350 m
> On Sep 24, 2020, at 3:00 PM, Rimmer de Vries via pbs <pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> wrote:
>
> This is what i ordered in 2019 they a a bit thinner than i like but work
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> Rimmer
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>> On Sep 24, 2020, at 3:48 PM, Sabine K?mpfe via pbs <pbs@lists.pacificbulbsociety.net> wrote:
>>
>> ?
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