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#1
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Plant Labels - from used aluminium cans
One of my gardening books suggests using old aluminium cans to make permanent
plant labels. I assume you scratch the plant name onto the shiny metal side of the aluminium foil. Excuse my ignorance, but does this work... erm how long do they last ? (Does the metal colourize over time ?) |
#2
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Plant Labels - from used aluminium cans
al wrote:
One of my gardening books suggests using old aluminium cans to make permanent plant labels. I assume you scratch the plant name onto the shiny metal side of the aluminium foil. Excuse my ignorance, but does this work... erm how long do they last ? (Does the metal colourize over time ?) I've not used this technique but it would probably work somewhat. You would just cut the can into strips and write on the inside with some sort of stylus (an old ball point pen would work). The metal is soft and will take an impression of the writing if you back it up with a couple of sheets of newspaper on a hard surface. The writing is just impressed in the metal surface and is not colored, so it is not easy to read from a distance. Aluminum does oxidize over time, particularly when exposed to acid rain. However, the metal labels you buy at the garden center will likely have the same problem. The cans have the advantage that they're anodized to prevent corrosion by the stuff they put into them. The strips of aluminum can will have sharp edges, so you might want to bend them over to avoid hazards to small children and pets. The labels will have to be mounted on something to hold them up. A length of galvanized wire can be bent around the strip and hammered tight to hold the label. Wood supports will rot. |
#3
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Plant Labels - from used aluminium cans
Dwight Sipler wrote:
The strips of aluminum can will have sharp edges, so you might want to bend them over to avoid hazards to small children and pets. I think cutting up a bleach jug and using a permanent marker might be a better idea. No sharp edges and the plastic lasts a long time. Could be a use for old floppies too. Thread a wire or string through the hole and write on the floppy with a marker. |
#4
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Plant Labels - from used aluminium cans
In article , al wrote:
One of my gardening books suggests using old aluminium cans to make permanent plant labels. I assume you scratch the plant name onto the shiny metal side of the aluminium foil. Excuse my ignorance, but does this work... erm how long do they last ? (Does the metal colourize over time ?) The Rhododendron Species Foundation has sometimes used aluminum tags for field-grown species shrubs -- as these labels have to last several years before the shrubs are old enough to put on sale. The tags must be removed from plants before the shrubs are sold, as one rarely sees any of them, but I obtained one rhody from them that I later found had an aluminum tag that had the attached end deeply imbedded in the bark. The aluminum had been EMBOSSED with species name, date it was planted (or a least tagged, a decade earlier), & initials RSF. There must be some equivalent of those plastic label strips to emboss aluminum strips instead of plastic. The surface of aluminum turns black over time & rubs off, though I wouldn't call that "colourize" which is what I thought crazy rich *******s did to classic black & white films. Man-made aluminum & aluminates MIGHT have some involvement in the development of alzheimers disease, though years back when Science Digest did a whole issue about it, looked like only about one out of ten researchers thought it much likely. A few researchers think the link is plausible; others think the aluminum deposits are an incidental side-effect of other causes. From a lay perspective though it seems that the only other possible explanation for these deposits, other than from our continuous exposure to man-made aluminum, is that the human body can go wacky & begin to manufacture aluminum from boxite, which is all around us in the natural environment whereas aluminum is not. For there's no question but that the majority of alzheimer patients have amazingly high levels of aluminum deposits in the brain tissue. So while the science proving or disproving a source of explanation for these deposits has failed to clarify the issue, in the meantime anyone with aluminum kitchen pots & utensils should toss them immediately; & check medications & deodorants for aluminates with which we may be dosing ourselves orally or through the skin every day. As for aluminum beverage cans, they are coated inside & out -- everwhere except where the key-hole opening bares the raw aluminum in the one place we'd put our mouths. So I avoid those too. I wouldn't want aluminum in the garden, first because it would be, like plastic, an eyesoar, for I like things to look as woodsy-natural as possible. Plus, even if a few aluminum tags here & there would likely be harmless whether or not aluminum's connection to severe loss of mental faculty can be shown to be factual, it'd still be like hanging symbols of humanity's self-invented doom all around the place, & I prefer the symbolism of my gardens to refer more to Eden rather than some futuristic city designed by Albert Speer. -paghat the ratgirl preferring to die from UNrefined sugar -- "Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher. "Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature. -from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers" See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/ |
#6
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Plant Labels - from used aluminium cans
If a sharpie marker or some paint would stick to the aluminum, you could
(once the ink dried) spray over the label w/ some clear acrylic paint to lengthen the life span of your ID. My favorite idea for plant markers is to paint the name on a rock, also using a clear coat of acrylic to seal the paint. If your ground is anything like mine, you can dig up plenty of free labels in your own yard! Heidi Raleigh, NC paghat wrote: |
#7
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Plant Labels - from used aluminium cans
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#8
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Plant Labels - from used aluminium cans
I used a bunch of old CDs (those AOL sample CDs, etc.). Flipped them on the
"pretty" side and used permanent marker. They look neat and make pretty rainbows, too. ;-) -- -- pelirojaroja ----------------------------------------------- "There is a garden in every childhood, an enchanted place where colors are brighter, the air softer, and the morning more fragrant than ever again." -- Elizabeth Lawrence wrote in message ... Dwight Sipler wrote: The strips of aluminum can will have sharp edges, so you might want to bend them over to avoid hazards to small children and pets. I think cutting up a bleach jug and using a permanent marker might be a better idea. No sharp edges and the plastic lasts a long time. Could be a use for old floppies too. Thread a wire or string through the hole and write on the floppy with a marker. |
#9
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Plant Labels - from used aluminium cans
paghat wrote:
...I'm picturing a garden decorated with cut-up Budweisser cans & Clorox bottles. How 'bout making an elaborate paper collage with the name of each plant somewhere on the collage, imbed the collage in a block of fiberglass resin, mount the block of resin on a three foot length of rebar, & pound these in the ground in front of each plant....plus several other suggestions... I know a couple of guys who would like their garden decorated with beer cans (Labatt's blue, not Bud), but it's not for everyone. The labels are generally meant to be unobtrusive, just there for information, so they might be small and not detract from the flowers (which are, after all, the main point). Also, the printed label part of the cans would be on the back, so you'd only see the "inside" of the can. Personally, I'd rather put my effort into the garden and not the labels, but then my garden is just there without any labels at all, so you will have to guess what's what. PS: plastic bottles are generally not protected against solar UV, so they will disintegrate with exposure. Anywhere from a couple of months to a couple of years. |
#10
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Plant Labels - from used aluminium cans
pelirojaroja wrote:
I used a bunch of old CDs (those AOL sample CDs, etc.). Flipped them on the "pretty" side and used permanent marker. They look neat and make pretty rainbows, too. ;-) Mine are all in use as coasters for the beer cans. |
#11
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Plant Labels - from used aluminium cans
"....... One of my gardening books suggests using old aluminium cans to
make permanent plant labels. I assume you scratch the plant name onto the shiny metal side of the aluminium foil. Excuse my ignorance, but does this work... erm how long do they last ? (Does the metal colourize over time ?) ........" You cut the label to the size you want then using an old Ball point pen you inscribe the name, the indentation will last for years. If you want to label tree or shrub then make a hole at each end . Insert soft wire into one end, then wind several coils around your ball point pen to form a coil like a spring, then plain wire to other end of the label. As the tree or shrub grows there is plenty of slack in the coil, so nothing gets embedded in the plant. -- David Hill Abacus nurseries www.abacus-nurseries.co.uk |
#12
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Plant Labels - from used aluminium cans
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#13
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Plant Labels - from used aluminium cans
In article , "pelirojaroja"
wrote: I used a bunch of old CDs (those AOL sample CDs, etc.). Flipped them on the "pretty" side and used permanent marker. They look neat and make pretty rainbows, too. ;-) Stop, yr killing me! -- "Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher. "Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature. -from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers" See the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com/ |
#14
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Plant Labels - from used aluminium cans
Pat Meadows wrote in
: Or cutting up an old mini-blind. (Or a new mini-blind, for that matter.) A mini-blind makes hundreds of labels. Pat You should be careful using in old mini-blinds for anything, as older stuff (and even some newer stuff) used lead as stablizers. Probably only applies to vinyl blinds but I wouldn't be surprised if some really ancient stuff had lead in the paint. Do a search if it applies to you. - Salty |
#15
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Plant Labels - from used aluminium cans
"paghat" wrote in message
news Man-made aluminum & aluminates MIGHT have some involvement in the development of alzheimers disease, though years back when Science Digest did a whole issue about it, looked like only about one out of ten researchers thought it much likely. Aluminum is an element and strictly speaking, is not something that is man-made. [snip]....So while the science proving or disproving a source of explanation for these deposits has failed to clarify the issue, in the meantime anyone with aluminum kitchen pots & utensils should toss them immediately; What credible authority recommends that? NIH doesn't. http://www.niehs.nih.gov/external/faq/alum.htm I wouldn't want aluminum in the garden, first because it would be, like plastic, an eyesoar, for I like things to look as woodsy-natural as possible. Considering that the earth is 8.1% aluminum, I'd say it would be entirely fitting to have some aluminum in the garden. Don |
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