Plant labels

This might be in the wrong thread. But is life too short to clean old labels?

 

I always clean my old labels @GreenFingeredPete. I donate plants to charity sales etc, so after I've used them for myself I scrub them off and then rewrite over the top. As long as the old description has faded enough and the new one is legible, that'll do for me .

I have been known to put them in the cutlery tray in the dishwasher and that seems to work well. Just don't tell my OH .

Glad you got the patio etc sorted @Kevin Cowans . They can be a deathtrap.

 

I only clean labels if they look reasonably robust - lots of them degrade within a couple of years. It can be instructive to see what I've killed repeatedly!

 

I've not yet found anything that works permanently on a label so I dont have to clean them in order to reuse.
Plastic labels do go brittle after a year or two.

 

I have tried using those wooden ones but found that they just rot off in a comparatively short time.

 

Some I clean in a plastic take away box, squirt of bleach, warm water, lid on and a few days later clean labels.
A soft pencil works is pretty much indelible.

 

I save labels that come with bought plants. Some I reuse if I harvest seds for the next year.

Otherwise, plastc stake, label maker.

 

i just sharpee on a stick

 

I clean them if they haven't gone brittle with age. It saves money.

 

I have ordered in the past different coloured labels, to put a unique a system of organisation in.

The only problem is the next year I forget what system I put in, complete disorganisation.

 

I just write on the pot and add a date. When we donate to the charity plant sale we use cut up milk bottles.

 

I also use the coloured labels as no need to write on them if you make a note of which colour applies to which plant.
NB don't lose your notebook

 

I'm notoriously bad at labelling.

My best effort is masking tape on the pot and a scribble with a permanent marker. That works a treat, and the solution lasts so well that when I re-use the pot I find it very instructive that something I thought was a forced Hyacinth in fact must be a Jalapeno Gourmet.

I did buy some black sturdy, professional looking ones and have used them outdoors as my young plantlets get moved around a bit. Very chic, and Mr Blackbird likes them too. He piles them neatly when pulling them out.

 

Apparently, the best non-fade plant label markers are Cattle Tag Markers.
I haven't tried them yet, as I use a Brother Labelling Machine.
No-Fade Ink Marker • Datamars Livestock
You can also get Edding Airline Markers, which are also supposed to be good as well.