I use aluminum foil tape folded over on itself with a 5 inch long piece of stainless aircraft safetywire in the crease. Hold it over a pad of paper and write in it to emboss the foil then bend the ends into a U and hook them around each other. Doesn't corrode and it is so light that they will blow off with a light breeze unless hooked around two branches. The foil tends to frighten birds away too. Doesn't have to be aircraft wire and the tape is available at lowes and home depot for hvac use.

I have bought several from Kern as well and love them but like Harvey, I have to be very careful they don't get swallowed up by the tree. I also put them into the pot through a hole but found my husband seems to think they're a target for the weed wacker. ARGH!

Tami,

Try using the florescent color (pink or yellow) zip ties instead of the wire they come with. Wrap a long type around the branch but very loose. That way you can spot it all the times with ease and change when ever necessary.

 

That's why I love you Rafed.....you just figured out how to get more pink into my mini orchard!
Thank you.

Love you back Tami,

I am doing something to go along with the name tags and once I have it set up I will post it.
Just a way for me to narrow the sources down when the plants are outside and out of reach.

Those florescent color zip ties are perfect for the project.

ok, new one.. "tree rat ate it". 

Wind, sun and moisture are always working against me as far as tags go. Those cheap little aluminum tags were nice for awhile but the first wind storm usually finds a way of twisting them off pretty easily (good thing I'm in the habit of writing on the tree itself or having an extra label in the pots).

Those Elmer's paint markers have come to be my preferred tool for labeling my trees. I've marked on the bark of the trees on occasion but that usually doesn't last more than a year. As the trees grow the writing begins to stretch and becomes unreadable in a season or two. I've found that white markers stand out the best when writing on the tree itself.

My best answer so far has been using the red paint markers on recycled white plastic window blinds. I break them into whatever length I want and stick 'em in the pots or in the ground next to the tree. Those heavy wide blinds work the best for in-ground stuff. The red paint really shows up well on the white window blinds. It may not be necessary but it's nice when I can see the names of my trees from 10-15' away.

For larger in-ground trees, I'm considering using 2' lengths of PVC water line. Use a heat gun to flatten one end, write the name on the flattened section & poke it in the ground next to the tree. The flattening part may not be necessary but I figure it would give more flat surface to write on. 

The paint seems to last indefinitely on most plastics and doesn't fade in the sun.

I'm pretty set with this method until I hear something I like better ;) .

Silver sharpie on the pot, aluminum can strip with name "engraved" by pen in the soil and aluminum tag and wire around the tree trunk.  Triple redundancy can't fail. Or can it???

If I don't tie it to the tree, the chickens will peck in the dirt, and uproot the tags.

I have to agree with comment on help from young children. I have only been working with figs for less than a year, and I already have a few unknowns due to "help" from my 7 yr old. It's all her fault for every unknown..... that's my story and I am sticking to it.....

Oh, and trying to make stick labels reusable by putting masking tape on them and then writing on the tape. DON'T do this. The writing is gone almost over night. I managed to catch all but one before the writing was un-readable. Now I too use paint pens to write on the tree itself (along with the standard silver metal tags).

CliffH

These are the best I've found. Update: the one I stuck in the dishwasher is still unfaded.

http://figs4funforum.websitetoolbox.com/post/best-labels-8254251?highlight=labels&pid=1293504740

I use aluminum or copper tags wired to tree limbs.
I also have my own orchard map drawn with all trees labeled as a back up.
Keeps confusion out of it.

Doug

I've been writing on my cuttings that weren't already marked with dark sharpie and on the other side with white sharpie because one or the other fades. I also write on the container, baggie or pot depending what stage it's in. I have a map of what is where for the in-ground stuff. My biggest problem is that for half my in-ground trees I am sure the nursery mislabeled them so my map has descriptions and could-be names. I did attempt to keep the original labels on them but they all faded to white. Anyone interested in investing in fig tree microchipping?

Lets see. Writing on plastic white plant tags stuck into pots failed on so many counts: chickens, toddler, UV enbrittlement ...   The black sharpie writing was the last to fail.