• If you need help identifying a pepper, disease, or plant issue, please post in Identification.

How do you mark your plants?

I use plastic window blinds. People are always throwing them out, and one set will last you many years. I cut them to the length I want, use a hole puncher and tie them to the base of the plant with a twist tie. I mark them with a “SHARPIE EXTREME” Marker.
 
Years ago I use to just stick the labels in the ground until on day my three large Mastiffs decided to chase a squirrel into the garden knocking 100s of plants in pots over. I had well over 50 unlisted plants to deal with.  I now always tie directly to the plant, especially when in pots. I have also used plot maps for my raised beds and ground gardens. But with potted plants I’m always moving them around. 
 
qr codes. Each one gets its type and date planted plus an indentifier number. That way i can just scan it as i feed it or water it and my app takes care of tracking it all.
 
Edmick said:
Lead based paint. Just paint the names right on the stem. And on each pod.. Just in case it washes off the stem.
 
I recommend the radium based paint. Hard to find, but if you paint the pods they'll glow in the dark and you can find them easier at night if you have the munchies or something. 
 
Habanebro said:
Which app?
Its my own... Few months back i asked if anyone would use an app to track their plants and nobody was interested, in fact i was told not to bother. But i made one anyway
 
peppamang said:
 
I recommend the radium based paint. Hard to find, but if you paint the pods they'll glow in the dark and you can find them easier at night if you have the munchies or something. 
Tritium would make em glow like watch faces
 
dub_sauces said:
Its my own... Few months back i asked if anyone would use an app to track their plants and nobody was interested, in fact i was told not to bother. But i made one anyway
 

Is it on some app store?
 
peppamang said:
 
I recommend the radium based paint. Hard to find, but if you paint the pods they'll glow in the dark and you can find them easier at night if you have the munchies or something. 
We could make millions.. Why hasn't anyone thought of this yet?! We should test this on puppies and kittens first. I think the FDA will be our biggest hurdle though.
 
Hi folks.   I've lurked for a long time and am overdue to jump into the conversations.  
 
I have tried all manner of marking with stakes and don't have a lot of confidence in the method.   Random gremlins in the middle of the night remove or alter the stakes somehow.  If one were to still use this method it seems like the bigger the stake the better chance you have of it being where you intended later on.  To this end in the past I would cut up big bits of plastic from laundry detergent bottles and such and use paint pens to write on them.  
A while back googling the topic I saw that some were using paint pens on rocks with good success.  
 
Last year I wrote down a grid map in a notepad like has been described in this thread already and that worked fantastic.   
 
This year I added something that I think others would find useful that I thought I would share.   I cut rings out of a 2 liter soda bottles and wrote on them with a paint pen and slipped that over the plant not long after it moved from cups to the ground or a pot.      This way there is just no way a storm, or aggressive watering, or any sort of mess up I might do (the most likely scenario)  will separate the marking from the plant.    The more the plant grows the more impossible it is to mess it up as the growth of the plant expands to the point of making it unlikely to be able to slip the collar over the plant.    
Here is a pic example with a 1 gal. water bottle.   I couldn't figure out how to host the image in the gallery here but here it is at another host.  
Sqw8FDF.jpg

 
 
 
I cut up old window blind slats and mark them with sharpie marker. This year the damn marker wore off just prior to transplanting. Luckily I was able to see enough to read. BUt now in the garden, I have to wait to ID by the pods
 
SL3 said:
I use plastic window blinds. People are always throwing them out, and one set will last you many years. I cut them to the length I want, use a hole puncher and tie them to the base of the plant with a twist tie. I mark them with a “SHARPIE EXTREME” Marker.
 
Years ago I use to just stick the labels in the ground until on day my three large Mastiffs decided to chase a squirrel into the garden knocking 100s of plants in pots over. I had well over 50 unlisted plants to deal with.  I now always tie directly to the plant, especially when in pots. I have also used plot maps for my raised beds and ground gardens. But with potted plants I’m always moving them around. 
 
lol, I just posted about using  the same window blind material. I like your advanced ideas even better. I'll be using your technique next time around.Thanks!
 
  • Like
Reactions: SL3
I just write the name on the pot it's in with a permanent marker. I've had bad experiences with all other kinds of labeling. 
 
Habanebro said:
Ok, please keep us posted!
I'd be happy to post shots of the .xls files it creates for each qr coded plant though if you want to see what kind of things it tracks. I gotta wait until i get home in front of my laptop though, still cant post images on the mobile site.
 
Back
Top