Easily irritated engineer of odd things
Joined:
Jul 2008
Posts:
29837
EE: 100% (5)
MN, USA
Posted: 5/13/2025 5:00:38 PM EDT
|
As if you actually remember what variety of apple you plant!!! OK, new place (just moved in December), first spring here, planting stuff. Property came with 4 very mature apple trees (previous owner said 2 were honeycrisp, 1 was "sweet something or something with sweet in it" and #4 is a mystery, might even be plum). I've planted 2 more, going to get some more ordered up of my favorite varieties, plus strawberry, raspberry, maybe blackberry, maybe blueberry if the ground tests good for it. Not only that, I'll be planting other trees like wild plum and some ornamentals. I wouldn't mind them all tagged with what they are. I have 2 options for custom tags as I see it: 1. 3D print from UV resistant plastic. They should last easily a decade outdoors, can always be replaced later. I'm completely free for size/shape/whatever. It is also cheap for me to do, I have all the stuff. 2. Have some aluminum tags engraved/anodized. Limited to either pre-made rectangular or round plates, or I could have some custom CNC machining done. As I see it, you can either put something in the ground or hang something on the tree. Both have their shortfalls, but for those who have been there/done that with this sort of tag, what seems to work best? |
Strong men create good times. Good times breed weak men. Weak men create hard times. (You are here) Hard times breed strong men.
I'm not lazy, I just really enjoy doing nothing.
Joined:
Mar 2019
Posts:
13333
EE: 100% (17)
USA
| Traditionally it is the metal tags, I think you can use a letter punch set to do the lettering yourself. |
"And I never did get my lawnmower back!" - Bandit 6
"On the bright side, the money we saved by not going to Mars in the 1970s, we spent on welfare and public schools." - @MorlockP
"On the bright side, the money we saved by not going to Mars in the 1970s, we spent on welfare and public schools." - @MorlockP
| I use aluminum tags you write on. They last several years. You can get a bunch pretty cheap on Amazon. My grafts, I use a marker and flagging tape until they take. Once they get mature, I’ll usually use a more permanent solution. I also make a map. |
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
|
Originally Posted By Rat_Patrol: 2. Have some aluminum tags engraved/anodized. Limited to either pre-made rectangular or round plates, or I could have some custom CNC machining done. Not tree related, but there are a bunch of Amazon and Etsy sellers that can do this for you fast and decently cheap in a variety of patterns or metals. You can also get ID tags(AKA dogtags) made. |
No one remembers your name just for working hard ~ SC
The only thing that keeps the peace are the voices in my head~ BT
The only thing that keeps the peace are the voices in my head~ BT
|
If it's just a couple I could cut some out of stainless on a waterjet for you. Would be in a stencil style font. PM me if you like. |
Not a day passes over the earth, but men and women of no note do great deeds, speak great words, and suffer noble sorrows. Charles Reade
|
Originally Posted By Oldgold: I use aluminum tags you write on. They last several years. You can get a bunch pretty cheap on Amazon. My grafts, I use a marker and flagging tape until they take. Once they get mature, I’ll usually use a more permanent solution. I also make a map. I live next to a campus that has lots of old evergreens. The aluminum tags that you can write on can last for decades. I think the standard/best practice is to use aluminum nails to affix them to the tree trunks. |
“War is a racket….”
Smedley D. Butler, Maj.-Gen., USMC
Smedley D. Butler, Maj.-Gen., USMC
| I've been using 1/4" thick PVC tags I cut from a sheet and then stamped them with 1/4" metal letter stamps - amazingly the stamped letters have lasted as long as 17 years so far. Originally I used a Sharpie in the embossed letters to make them more easy to see but it fades in a year or so but the embossing stays and is legible. I drilled holes in the tags and I use long cable ties to hang very loosely around a lower branch. Have had to replace a few cable ties over the years but the PVC dog tags have held up well. |
|
I have irrigation going to each tree with a PVC pipe sleeve to protect the polypipe coming out of the ground. I put the nursery tag on that. But yeah, laser engraved metal tags would be neat. Good project for my fiber. |
Never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end—which you can never afford to lose—with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be. - Adm James Stockdale
 
|
Born with a low tolerance for bullshit
Joined:
Feb 2007
Posts:
53217
EE: 0% (0)
KY, USA
|
Originally Posted By Rat_Patrol: As if you actually remember what variety of apple you plant!!! OK, new place (just moved in December), first spring here, planting stuff. Property came with 4 very mature apple trees (previous owner said 2 were honeycrisp, 1 was "sweet something or something with sweet in it" and #4 is a mystery, might even be plum). I've planted 2 more, going to get some more ordered up of my favorite varieties, plus strawberry, raspberry, maybe blackberry, maybe blueberry if the ground tests good for it. Not only that, I'll be planting other trees like wild plum and some ornamentals. I wouldn't mind them all tagged with what they are. I have 2 options for custom tags as I see it: 1. 3D print from UV resistant plastic. They should last easily a decade outdoors, can always be replaced later. I'm completely free for size/shape/whatever. It is also cheap for me to do, I have all the stuff. 2. Have some aluminum tags engraved/anodized. Limited to either pre-made rectangular or round plates, or I could have some custom CNC machining done. As I see it, you can either put something in the ground or hang something on the tree. Both have their shortfalls, but for those who have been there/done that with this sort of tag, what seems to work best? You already have the printing setup so that seems like a no-brainer from my perspective. Make them a color that's not ugly, and not too big, and with a hole to hang them. Use a piece of wire in a garden hose that is very, very loose around the limb. Like floppy loose. Consider ten years of growth. Make it reasonable to undo the tag strap and reattach cuz pruning. Yes to UV resistant plastic.  ETA: My quick idea would be braided wire with a loop at each end, fed through the hose section, then a little bitty stainless carabiner to close the two ends and hang the tag. Easy to move, will move enough with the wind that the hose wont become embedded and hopefully NOT move so much that it wears through the bark. |
Nobody ever wakes me at 2 in the morning telling me that my grass is out on the highway.~~Radiopat
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe
Wine is sunlight held together by water~~Galileo Galilei
Well-behaved women rarely make history~~Marilyn Monroe