My solution for permanent plant markers.

I do not "garden" a whole lot but I do have 600 house plants outdoors for the summer. Have tried various metal, wood, plastic tags. Permanent markers, pencil, paint. Nothing works well until now. I have plastic tags/sticks in 9 different colors but I do not think I will go by the colors. They will probably fade over time anyways. I have 5 Gem hole punches: 1/4" : heart, spade, club, diamond and 1/8" hole. Starting at the end of the label I will punch out a series of shapes, a blank space may also be used. Easy to see, permanent - until I lose the label. A notebook of what is what, of course. If I had the time and energy, a nice digital pix might also help ID things later. If you do the math, you will really only need 3 or 4 different shapes to ID thousands of different things.

This message was edited Jun 14, 2011 10:29 AM

gasrocks, you may not "garden" in the traditional sense but keeping up with 600 house plants is quite a feat! Your use of the shaped hole punches is a great idea. The notebook is a good reference to keep track of scheduled feedings/care and any issues that might come up with a particular plant. I use a similar system when I plan my garden on paper by using shapes (circle, triangle, square, rectangle, star, squiggle, etc.) to correspond to certain plants and where they will be placed. The only plants I use plant markers for in the garden are my tomatoes. I grow those from seed and like to know which is which.

I think wrangling 600 house plants qualifies as gardening! It's container gardening in the summer, and indoor gardening during the cold months. :)

The only thing I grow in my garden is popcorn. I have my own strains and have been doing popcorn for 10 years now. OK, and some sunflowers.

Wow! 600 house plants and I would love to see some pics of what you grow. I too have a lot of house plants- I adore citrus and other tropicals/fruiting plants.

I'm just getting started to label things. Here's an example of 2.

Lookin' good gasrocks, I bet you can even play a mean game of poker with 'em! ;)

LOL, but I am not a betting man. In general.

Looks great! I like the idea

As someone that has no houseplants, because my daughter's cat eats EVERYTHING, in fact, everyone has learned not to give me flowers as a gift, because the cat chomps the blossoms also. I bow to you - 600 houseplants???? WOW !

Sure sounds like gardening to me! ~Jan

It is well over 650 now. I only count pots not plants. Once I won an auction on eBay for 25 plants. One pot arrived. I questioned the seller. "If you look closely, you can count 25 total plants in that pot...."

I had to chuckle over that - it just reminds us of "buyer beware" and to think about what is offered, and the wording.... ~j

Yes, indeed. Besides the many photography classes I teach, and a house plant class, I also teach one about eBay. The stories I coudl tell you about my experiences on eBay..... But, it still is a great place to buy plants, IMO.

Gasrocks I LOVE IT!! hahahaha

Your system reminded me of my working days when I had a very difficult supervisor who requested additional reports, because I was new - to see if I knew my stuff.

There were numerous charts, graphs, keys, legends, color coded, symbols, etc; but I made sure they were ALL correct.
Yep all 115 pages! Even a comprehensive report would be 25 - 30 pages max!

They never asked for additional reports again!! ROFLOL

. . .just had to share!

This is working out so well - wished I had thought of it sooner. One 3X5 card for a plant purchase: date bought, date rec'd, who from, how much $, size, etc. Another 3X5 ID card for each plant species. As they arrive, I stop and take the time to label them and make notes. The ID cards are arranged by label color. Today's batch of 6 plants I went with med. blue labels. Pulled out that group of cards - now I can see what symbols I have already used. Todays all started with a diamond. Examples: diamond, diamond diamond, diamond small hole, diamond (space) club.......... It is a real shame to see how many plants I brought in from outside with blank white labels - sun fading again.

Where did you find the punch that makes the shapes? And in color yet!

Sharon

The colored labels came from one vendor - I think it was 1000 (100 each of colors and 200 white) in 8 different colors. The hole punches came from another vendor. I do not remember which. I'm sure a Google search should find them. If you don't find them, send me a message and I'll find them for you.

This message was edited Sep 16, 2011 8:29 AM

http://www.charleysgreenhouse.com/index.cfm?page=_productdetails&productid=P8789&s=label&cid1=-99&cid2=-99&cid3=-99

I like the variety of colors! Thanks for posting the link ~Jan

If you are havnig trouble finding the punches, let me know. I found some more shapes and am tempted to get them.

Ok, just ordered 3 more 1/4" shaped punches: star, rectangle and flower. Widgetsupply.com

Just got my 3 new punches. Great. Quality, Fiskars (a local product even) with color coded handles.