My uncle, the tree expert, is coming over and is going to help me identify trees. I'm thinking it would be good to label the tree so I won't forget. I'm also thinking that when I plant future trees it might be good to say when it was planted and where I got it.

Gardener's supply has an interesting "perenial marker" where you write on a thing piece of metal that dents the metal - so nothing can be ever washed off. Lasts forever. This seems like the way to go except it's $1.50 per label and the labels are kinda small.

So I did some more searching.... I found metal tags without the stakes at forrest suppliers for a good price - but they would need stakes. Wood stakes would be out because they might not last the years. Plastic? Fiberglass? That made me think of temporary electric wire fencing. Isn't that fiberglass? I bet it's cheap.

Any other alternatives for labeling trees?

Any advice on plastic or fiberglass stakes? Maybe a web site that sells that sort of thing?

-- Paul Wheaton (paul@javaranch.com), April 03, 2001

Answers

Hi Paul. I use those white fiberglass stakes intended for electric fencing and write on them with a black laundry marker. It lasts for 2 or 3 years. There were a whole bunch of them scattered around the farm. When I had used up all I could find, I was appalled to learn that they cost $1.12 each! So I'm also looking for a substitute.

For tags, I have read about cutting up aluminum cans and writing on them with a ball point pen. If you put a few sheets of newspaper underneath and press hard, the pen tip should indent the aluminum. This method does require some effort though - you will have to drink a few beers to obtain the necessary cans. Sandy

-- Sandy in MN (jpevans_56353@yahoo.com), April 03, 2001.

Get some old wire coat hangers from dry cleaners or motels or whatever. Straighten them out and chop them in three equal lengths. Saw a slit the same width as the diameter of the wire about an inch into the end of a wooden broom shank. Place a piece of wire in the slit and wind the wire coathanger piece twice around the broom shank. Then slide the wire off the broom shank. You should end up with a length of wire with two close together hoops at the top. Push your labels in between the hoops (glue if necessary) and push the wire into the ground. This should last for many years.

Eric

-- Eric J Methven (e_methven@btinternet.com), April 03, 2001.

Excellent! I can't see how this could get any better than merging these two ideas: A coathanger stake with a curly at the top that holds a bit of pop can aluminum that has the info pressed into it.

Thanks!

-- Paul Wheaton (paul@javaranch.com), April 03, 2001.

I'm just shocked!Trees are for hugging not labeling.Do you like to be labeled?Can't you hear the little high frequency screams when you scrape their bark?.......Sorry it's late and I have a fever.

-- greg (gsmith@tricountyi.net), April 04, 2001.

You can cut up an icecream container into labels, then use the laundry marker. Personally, though, I prefer the idea of beer. I suppose children could use coke cans, but the beer would probably be better for them. Love the twisted wire. If you are going to tie the labels to the plants, make sure to use bio-degradable rather than wire or plastic, otherwise it ends up either cutting the plant, or having the plant grow around it.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), April 04, 2001.

I don't want to tie the label to the tree, carve the tree or nail anything to the tree. I want to stick something in the ground near the tree that will last through the years.

I made something with coat hangers and pop cans. They both turned out perfectly. Then it occured to me: The coat hanger will rust! It will probably rust through in about three years! So I need yet another alternative. Copper? Aluminum? Are we back to fiberglass or plastic?

-- Paul Wheaton (paul@javaranch.com), April 04, 2001.

Paul copper and trees don't mix.steel wire such as coat hangers are made from should last longer than 2 or 3 years once it gets an oxide layer on it it is sort of protected from further oxidation.

-- greg (gsmith@tricountyi.net), April 04, 2001.

I dunno. The hanger will be in contact with moisture most of the year. My truck wheel wells see moisture only when I drive in the rain and there are spots that are rusted through.

Using the coathanger would be excellent - can you tell me more about how you think it will last?

I do recall that copper is toxic (don't throw pennies into aquariums), but aluminum is benign, isn't it?

-- Paul Wheaton (paul@javaranch.com), April 04, 2001.

Your wheel wells see a lot more corrosives than the wire by the tree would.a car is exposed to nitric acid,sulfuric acid,road salt,good old oxygen, etc.In the case of your wire widgets don't think of them as a permanent monument but rather as something that will need to be inspected and renewed from time to time.Hey they are cheap enough.Make a bunch now and store some where they won't get rusty.

-- greg (gsmith@tricountyi.net), April 04, 2001.

An arborist I know uses the metal tags and just puts them on a branch with twisted wire. You have to go out every couple of years and untwist some of the extra wire to give the branch growing room, but it's permanent, not much trouble, and looks pretty good.

-- Laura Jensen (lrjensen@seedlaw.com), April 06, 2001.

We have an orchard of heritage apples and other fruit trees. We bought the metal tags that hang on the braches and they work great, until the tree grows and the metal ends up embedded in the tree. I now have a computer generated "picture" that hangs on my fridge with the name of the tree, the year it was planted and where we bought or got it from. If I need to go out to the orchard for a particular apple, I consult the "picture" on my fridge. It also generates some interesting discussions when we have people over. By the way, I used a landscape program to make the "picture". No lost tags, no expensive poles and if I really need a copy in the orchard I just print one off. Since I bought the expensive computer I have been trying to make it hold lots of info!!

-- Mary R. (cntryfolk@ime.net), April 09, 2001.

I have over fifty fruit trees and have planted hundreds more on a previously owned propetry in the past. For neat, geometrically uniform rows nothing can be a map. However, my current property does not lend itself to geometric uniformity. Even here I use a map, but also find that the aluminum tags (with aluminum wire) work fine, but after several years start to show marked wear from being jostled by the wind. Occasionally, some have actually come off of the tree. However, there is really not enough room on such tags for much information. I think that they are better used to reference a given tree, with a short symbol, to a catalog or some other data base where the detailed information about each tree is retained. If one did not want to use aluminum tags, one could use colored plastic beads (glass beads would be more durable). In this case one could simply use the resistor color code, used by electrical engineers, to provide a number for each tree. This would then reference a master catalog for the orchard where detailed data would be available.

-- Donald D. Derkacht (derkacht@toledotel.com), February 26, 2002.

I'm a farmer who raises cattle, mows lawn, & in the past has sent some trees to the local sawmill for lumber.

In all cases, the thought of that much metal pieces being 'around' would be a _very_ negative situation to me!!!!! Metal imbedded in a tree probably will cause serious damage to a chansaw or lumber mill, but could possibly kill someone when the pieces fly. Metal stakes & lawn mowing - same thing. Metal bits & grazing livestock - dead livestock. Metal and making hay for livestock - broken machinery, dead livestock.

This whole thread is just a horror to me! Who would do such a thing???? Aluminimn is the better of the bad ideas.

I would never buy a place that had a bunch of metal tags & glue & stakes littered about. Might want to think about this some more.

---?Paul

-- paul (ramblerplm@hotmail.com), February 26, 2002.