Kippy, Sorry I can't answer your question. I sincerely hope someone here will be able to. I must admit that the title of your post sent me into something of a tailspin. I now feel the need to express my great relief that, with your question on metal tags, you are not attempting to go where no one ever wants to go again.

It's been EXACTLY one year since Bug Girl visited here with metal tags on her mind. I was very fearful that the one-year anniversary might be provoking you to launch a sort of memorial journey into that labyrinth.

Sorry for taking your thread on an early detour.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bug Girl on Investing in Metal Tag Futures

Jaxondel, that thread was epic. Thanks for the memory with my morning Joe.

Almost to the DAY! Thanks for the flash back!

Jaxondel, I found that thread when searching too...both a hoot and a headache!

But I do have such a machine and want actual info (and since roses are the main plant that used to have metal tags....)

Kippy, if it helps, none of the roses I've received lately have metal tags.

Best-
Herding Cats

Wow - you know, I wasn't even conscious of that. When I first started buying roses, minimally all the Weeks roses were tagged. I now don't remember the last time I saw a tag on a sale rose. Always plastic thingies now. Wonder why they stopped getting used?

I solved the mystery this morning!

Found the caller, we had added caller ID and she thought it was a blank name, it wasnt. Turns out it was the company that made these machines or the metal tags. They apparently wanted this one back at $200 to clean and resell for $700.

But they probably found one closer to Florida and never called back.

Cats, I found old J&P metal tags on a couple of the older Austins I bought. Guessing they have held those roses a looonnnnnggggg time.

Metal tags with metal wires around a cane caused the cane to die.

This article says cause is heat (look right below the word spring in title):
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=903&dat=20020220&id=32FIAAAAIBAJ&sjid=31EDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6709,1934565

This article says cause is growth restriction See below.

It happened so many times with my roses that I feel something happened.

Here is a link that might be useful: growth restriction link

Missing the rrd discussion Henry?

If you failed to make sure your tag was secured as to not damage the cane, seems to me that is user error. Just the same as a plastic tag, which by the way covers more of the cane than a thin wire.

I am thinking it is much cheaper and easier to make plastic tags than metal

I think I have come to a clarifying realization.

You know that feeling you get, when you come into this forum, and normally leave with this educated, peaceful feeling - sometimes overjoyed for being able to share some phenomenal anomaly in your garden, or have seen someone's gorgeous pictures, or find a kindred soul obsessing like you over some funny rose issue, or you get epiphany inciting advice.

But then there are those other times, happen for a few weeks here and there, you feel like perhaps you're on another planet, or the moon isn't aligned quite right? That's the time we're getting gardenweb from our parallel universe. It happens for a few consecutive weeks each year. Fortunately it passes eventually. But we have the threads to return to, to remember!

I think this is one of the cases I sure wish gardenweb had the feature where the originator of the post could request the topic closed.

In this case because I solved the mystery of the tag machine caller.

Harmony, I hope I can return a smile to your gardenweb rose forum reading, or at least a funny image in your head.

Mom and I decided that we would hang on to the machine a bit and create some tags for our new citrus trees, using the old social security card blanks, the top line will be the name of the tree and the second line the root stock....the giggle:

Most of the social security tag blanks left (my parents bought the blank stock metal plates with the machine) are the ones they were too embarrassed to display.

So my trees will now have gold dangling neked ladies hanging off them....hehe

I spent a-l-l day removing old HTs from a raised bed that's being rejuvenated to accommodate other plants (maturing trees, though wonderful, have their downside -- very shady characters, those trees). Working on the bed was supposed to have been a leisurely weekend task with help from a couple of very petulant, VERY dependent scholars who always have far more urgent things to do (like sleeping and eating). However, I got spooked by the approaching Hurricane Sandy, & decided that there was no time like RIGHT NOW.

While digging out the roses, turning the soil, working in a boatload of horse hockey, I uncovered a virtual treasure trove of metal tags!!! A total of seven. (How I wish Bug Girl were still around so I could share the news of my good fortune!)

After a while, I began searching frantically for those little metal discs, & getting really kind of bummed-out when I couldn't find one for each of the roses. (How perverse is that?)

The most amazing thing to report, though, is that all the tags are in pristine condition -- they look brand new! D'ya suppose Bug Girl is ahead of the curve here, and maybe these things might augment my dwindling accounts? Please advise.

Oh wow Jaxondel, you are tag rich!!

So we got a letter from the caller today, it is written in shaky handwriting on stationary that is so old it has yellowed around the edges. Guessing some one has a warehouse full of old tags and is hoping to get enough machines out in circulation to use up those tags so he can finally retire.

I am going to try the thing out this weekend and see if it makes good tags. If it was not for the naked ladies (and I am not talking flowers) on the one side, I would say I could make some tags to share. But I think we will just have our "golden valuable metal tags" on our roses instead (thinking like a ground stake infront of the bush)

"...with help from a couple of very petulant, VERY dependent scholars who always have far more urgent things to do (like sleeping and eating)." - hysterical - I never thought of bringing my inside male cats outside with me when I garden!

Bug Girl - where are you now?! It's such perfect timing on the forum for your comments!

Naked Ladies - Kippy - we MUST have a picture of this beast of a machine!

I've always used metal tags wired to the roses. Any other method I've used has always left me with an unnamed/no tag rose to ID. I have found over the years that Henry is correct about some canes dying where the tag was wired too tightly. But then I do usually try to attach them to the larger/older canes. So maybe they're just aging canes that would have gone anyway. Hard to say. But I do think it's important to be very careful in how you attach them. I tried the thin copper wire that came with the tags I bought but I found that good old twist ties actually work better and last longer.

This is what I use. The plastic coated sticks are from Lee Valley Tools and come in a variety of heights. With the computer printed tags - you can write anything you want to about the rose.

So I write the:
Name of the rose
Type of Rose - hybrid tea, etc.
Year I got it - so I know when I should repot it
Seed and pollen parent - it's nice to see that alot of the roses I have are related to each other.
Hybridizer and the year it was hybridized.

I laminate the paper, then punch holes in it and use an electrical cable tie through the holes and attach it to the stick.

Gah - I just noticed that instead of putting the name of the hybridizer (Austin, Meilland, Zary, etc.) I put the word "hybridizer." Not the smartest thing I've ever done!! LOL

My problem with tags that stick in the soil and not tied to the rose is that they seem to disappear on me. Or get moved. Or don't get moved when the rose does. Particularly in the spring when I'm cleaning up the beds from winter and re=arranging roses in the beds. By hardwiring it to the bush I know the tag will get moved along with the rose.

No matter what tag method, I recommend a backup notebook map.

Oh, I do have a large map, Henry. It doesn't matter when I've moved the rose and lost the tag before the map was updated, lol.

Add a microchip to each rose. Then get/develop an abb for your i-pad.

"RFID technology can also be integrated with cell phones and netbooks for the easy recording of images and audio, which can be linked back to the chip and shared ��" or, with global positioning systems (GPS), used to create a virtual orchard or vineyard."

http://ucanr.org/repository/cao/landingpage.cfm?article=ca.v066n03p97&fulltext=yes

Here is a link that might be useful: For those who forget to update their maps

Cheap metal tags can be made from soda cans. Cut the can so you have a flat piece of aluminum. Cut the size and shape of tag you want with scissors. You'd think the edges would be sharp but they're not. Punch a hole in it with a paper hole puncher. Write the name on it with an ink pen or nail..the ink won't stick but you will have embossed the plant's name and it will last. Attach to the plant or to a stake. I think I used a twist tie or nylon string. They are very lightweight and durable.

I you want to use nylon, my experience is to only use a black nylon cable tie that lists that it is treated for UV outside exposure.

I also have had good luck with green plastic twist ties.

Here is a link that might be useful: uv resistent cable ties

Wow, I need to make this forum a more regular visit; I entirely missed the "bug girl" thread last year.

Well, professor, the fates conspired to give you a second chance! Aren't you the lucky one . . .

Come back to this forum often. One never knows when an edifying bug girl-type moment will happen here.

;)

I can't find the thread, but my all time favorite thread ever on gardenweb was eons ago....on bully sticks. (probably from the early 2000's)

Wow - I haven't even microchip'd my dogs yet, although I should!

Rather than use a stake with a tag attached, I ended up using black plastic "gutter guard" screening. I make a circle around the base of the rose using UV cable ties to close the loop. I then attach the label to the cutter guard. The picture below may help make it clear.

https://picasaweb.google.com/HAKuska/HenrySRoses#slideshow/5070748980103566482

I feel that this worked better than a stake as I had the same problem that seil had: "My problem with tags that stick in the soil and not tied to the rose is that they seem to disappear on me."

I suspect that deer or other "critters" dislodged the stakes.

Here is a link that might be useful: picture of use of cutter guard

It has been a long 10 days... mom fell and broke some ribs (ICU-chest tube the whole 9 yards) so I have been staying with her and cleaning up.

Guess what I found...Different tags! Dog tags and name plates and more. Now to test the machine

(Mom is doing really well and kicked me out tonight and I am looking forward to sleeping in my own bed)

As soon as I saw this thread back - I thought BUG GIRL! But alas, we're in the world of sanity.

Really sorry about your mom. Hope she is on the road to recovery.

If your machine works - we'll all be putting in our requests!!!

Good luck - how fun.

So sorry to hear about your Mom! Give her our best for a speedy recovery.

Every once and a while I get a plant that has a metal tag on it. The first thing I do is remove it and attach to to my chain link fence. When the wind blows i can hear them clanging against the fence.
I use home made aluminum tags and use a label maker to put the name on with.

i want to buy your parent's machine! i would love it! i try all kinds of things on my 9 acres in De Luz, Fallbrook, CA. My neighbors and i are always frustrated with engraving copper and the tags we have used. and my 82 lb. bouvier des flandres puppy is always wearing out & losing her tags. i will need at least 500 to start.

David Austin includes a plastic band now. One may pay extra for metal embossed round tags from the major rose retailers like J&P. They do last, wear well. just wish i could make my own.

best to you & your mom.