Label maker recommendations

[aliceinwl]

Does anyone have any recommendations for label makers that can be used to print out weather (sun & water) resistant plant labels?

To my horror I went to pull the labels from my Sunset Valley orchids to copy down the info and the ink just rubbed right off. I’ve got too many plants needing labels to make hand writing them appealing. I’m sure other folks with lots of plants may be in a similar situation?

[Ray]

Without question, a Brother P-touch using black-on-white "TZ" tapes is the way to go.

[Paphluvr]

I use a Brother P-touch PT-70 and have used a Dymo in the past. The LCD on the Dymo started to become illegible so I trashed it and bought the Brother. Both made nice labels. The Brother I'm currently using does two lines on 12mm tape, albiet smaller print than single line. The paper backing is not split like the Dymo was making it harder to remove. I also feel like there is too much empty space at either end of the printing, leading to wasted tape. Both had plastic labels available, in a variety of colors, that seemed very resistant to fading.

[Roberta]

If I were growing seedlings (where there is a need for a bunch of labels with the same info) I would probably automate. For the moment, I make my own label(with #2 pencil) for every plant that I acquire. (process does incorporate into my database, since each plant also gets a number, and "extra" info such as parentage I can put into the database, saves writing on the tag) I have found these to be extremely durable... if I get one that is getting hard to read (or brittle) at repotting time, plenty of opportunity to replace it. But grower-produced tags that come with plants I have found to be not nearly durable enough - fading or "coming-off" printing and brittle plastic, they regularly fail after a couple of years or less.

[SouthPark]

Originally Posted by aliceinwl

Does anyone have any recommendations for label makers that can be used to print out weather (sun & water) resistant plant labels?

I've been using a brother p-touch PT-700. Lots of other people are using this one for orchid label printing, or models similar to it.

Ray mentioned the particular type of tapes used --- for water resistance and sun resistance. That type of tape certainly works - and incredibly well too.

I buy that type of tape (in the cartridge form). Just look up Brother P-Touch laminated tape ... eg. 12 mm width.

Buy the tape having a width that conveniently suits the width of your orchid tag. If you buy a tape with width too wide, then it would be necessary to use scissors to do some trimming (after printing), which is not hard to do, but takes time.

I get the regular plastic plant tags (not the thin flimsy ones) from a local plant nursery, around 1 cm width ones. One side of the tag is 'textured' (little bumps - not smooth - for pencil writing maybe). The other side of the tag is smooth and flat. I stick the label onto the smooth flat side.

[katrina]

I use a Brother PT-D210...and definitely the TZ tape because the ink last much longer than on the regular tape. TZe is the same UV resistance but in eco-friendly packaging.

[Orchidtinkerer]

I still write the names. It helps to place a piece of sellotape over the label once written, that way it becomes water and smudge proof.

The most permanent labels I have made were written on label in permanet marker and then I sealed the writing with a hot glue gun. That will last years

[SouthPark]

I'm still using the brother p-touch PT-700. Fantastic machine. The 'Tz' tape is UV resistant. It works excellently. The tape backing of my 12 mm Tz tape does have the split, which makes it easier to remove than with no split. That's the purpose of the split.

[DirtyCoconuts]

on a plastic tag, a number two pencil is still king- i have inherited plants with 30 year old tags and they are readable

p touch ( i have the cube) is great as Ray said, i like and use it a lot


i just bought a manual dymo that embosses on aluminum or steel tape--- last forever! also takes forever to make the tag lol

[Fairorchids]

For absolutely fade proof labels, I use paint pens (available in many colors at art supply stores, make sure to get 'extra fine'). This allows me to color code:
Black for the name
Red for clonal name, if any
Blue to show whether there are divisions available.

For mass produced labels (when I buy a compot, or, as in this case, I got 400 Cymbidium seedlings in this week), then I use my Brother P-Touch printer. The advantage to these self-adhesive labels is, that I can get up to 3 lines of print. Usually I have genus on top line, epithet on second line, and 3rd line with very fine print for the parentage.

I have used both for 10+ years, and they do not fade.