Just discovered 1 of my 3 unknown pears wound up being ayers. I sealed the plastic tag I made in a plastic bag at the time and inside the bag the tag became unreadable when I went back to check it. Good thing I took pictures. Ever had that happen?
You can see it was a multigraft I used as a place to grow out scion wood. It had clara frijs, clapps favorite, madame boutant, and ayers. All but the madame boutant took off. The clara frijs on top two years later is well over 10’. Pears this year or next I think.
I used many of those tags but most would come off after 4-5 years. I want a lifetime tag. The metal plate on those tags if solid will last 10-20 years. Some of them are cheaper foil over cardboard and those kinds last 5-10 years. Its the wire that is the weak link. Replace it with a thick wire well attached (further in, not so close to the edge) and if they are solid plate you will get 10-20 years. I use 12 gauge copper wire and staple it to the tree with a staple gun.
You said before that looping a wire around the branch could become a girdling issue in the future if the branch outgrows the slack. That got me thinking that it might be best to attach the wire to the tree at one point with a nail or screw, but I wasn’t sure how the tree growth interacts with them. Will the tree growth engulf the staple and wire, making it a solid anchor?
Right, the tree just grows around it. I got this idea from professional foresters, they need to have tags lasting many years that they may visit only once every several years. Here is the webpage I found it on: http://www.proaxis.com/~johnbell/equipment/equip56a.htm. They suggest using cable ties, thats what I did for five years but I found they would sometimes break off at the attachment point. I used UV-resistant cable ties as they recommended. I am now using copper wire, about 6" length on most trees so the tree will never grow over the tag.
I took several members advice and switched wire. Copper wire is a bit pricey right now so I opted for some electric fencing wire. It lasts in fences here for at least 20 years and I already had some. The holes in the tags are already large enough.
I have been using 17ga electric fence wire for several years now with no regrets. Not only does it cost less it is stronger than copper. I also use it to bend limbs downward. Bill
I had alu wire tags and wires decay on me so its now copper all the way. You can get rolls of copper wire for cheap on eBay (but seemingly nowhere else). The copper sheeting I use for tags costs real money but it makes tags that literally will out-live you.
Scott I ran electric fence wire through all the tags on the mature trees, The wire was inexpensive. They will be there longer than me. I’m glad you told me to watch those wires on those.
Of course it’s nice to have the blanks. I have an entire bag of probably 150-200 of these. They were leftover solid aluminum blanks from when a buddy worked as a tool and die maker.
The wire you attach to a dowel rod in a hand held drill and make your own “spring.”
