Label choice

[frank_in_la]

I have been buying all kinds of label from Amazon. I don't have any success. Either the surface is hard to write with pencil, or the material is to rigid. I'm looking for materials like polystyrene, it's water proof and UV resistant. It's pencil writable. Do you have any suggestion?

[Paphluvr]

Try using an eraser on them before you write. It usually removes the sheen. I prefer to use a label printer and then affix it to the tag.

[frank_in_la]

That's interesting. It will be very neat and look great. Is it easy to get water proof label and UV resistant ink?

[Diane56Victor]

I use a Dymo label printer and a 'plastic' type roll not the paper one provided with the machine.
My plants are under a solid roof verandah but they do get some sun and the labels are still good. After two or three years the printing does fade a bit, but by then the plant is due for a repot anyway and I renew the label at the same time.

[Rothrock42]

I recommend maybe getting a softer pencil. I find that a regular No. 2 pencil doesn't make much of a mark on plastic. My understanding art pencil HB is about the same as a #2. Look for something like 2B or 4B. I find that at first it is sort of smuggy, but after a short while it pretty much just sticks to the plastic and doesn't fade. The trick is to just not rub it!

Here is a page about pencil hardnesses. Graphite Pencil Degrees of Hardness Explained – Faber-Castell USA

[estación seca]

I buy a thousand of these every 10 years or so. A box like that is not very big so it doesn't take up much space. I buy the 6" ones and cut them in half with a scissors so I have two, 3" labels.
Molded Plastic Pot Stakes - DP Industries

The 6" labels are $51 for 1000 now. In May 2017 they were 39.45.

[frank_in_la]

I have many orchids with the type of label that has large top. I found it very appealing because it has lots of room to write information. Especially if you have the registered name and the cross information. and at the back you can write down when it was last bloomed, virus test date, etc. I just could not find it online no matter how I search. Here is a page that has the shape of the label(bottom three pictures) Labels & Faded Label Recovery › First Rays LLC