Yep, figure on getting the ole marker out and re-doing every 6 months!
But,. I’ve not gone to aluminum yet
For permanent tags I have been using copper sheet etched and a copper wire to attach. But its a pain to keep all those maintained and they can get knocked off etc. So I am now more relying on my spreadsheet to mark many things, and on the trees I am using UV resistant marker written on the bark itself. If you put the marking on the south side it should last around two years. It takes about five seconds to mark a tree, that’s the big advantage. Get a really fat marker so you can put a lot of ink down. I like the garden marker brand, the fat version.
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I use tin snips to cut old aluminum license plates into 1" x 3" pieces. Each plate makes 24 tags. Then I drill a hole wherever I want and stamp the name and date onto it. Then I hang it with scrap Romex or electric fence wire. This spring has been really stormy with a lot of high winds and we even had a round of quarter size hail. All the tags are still there and best of all they’re free! My kids enjoy stamping the names. Tags are an easy way to get kids interested and involved in what’s happening with the trees.
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I don’t bother with permanent tags on new grafts as they often fail (especially peach/nectarine). Many markets offer bulk food items like nuts and dried fruits where the customer bags and tags them. The tags are twist ties and work well for temporary use. Marked with a Sharpie they are still readable for at least a year. The main advantage is speed; just mark and twist on at time of graft.
I started making some of my tags a couple weeks ago out of the blanks I got from a friend and then came across some aluminum splice plates for cable trays.
I am going to cut the aluminum into tag size blanks and let the trophy shop engrave them for me for a few grafted apple trees…can’t beat that price.
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I like aluminum tags for the longer term too.
But , the other day I made this little jig for writing on flagging tape. For some temporary tags that I could see better from a distance, I use the garden marker brand ,marker ,as it lasts longer than a sharpie.
I hold tension on the tape as I pull it across the board for writing
Also I don’t like tying the ribbon around trees , I have had issues with girdling, so I pull it apart with my fingers , until a little hole appears, and side the seedling through the hole .
Sometimes I make 2 holes so it stays on better.
These are just cheep temporary tags for in the nursery.!
If left hanging outside the pot ,I can easily read these from 10ft away.
Or they can be tucked down in the dirt , to protect from the sun, and keep them from blowing away.
Photo issues
For now I use the scratch-on aluminum tags. Some day I’d like to get pretty 3D plastic tags like these.
… so here I am replying to my own post to show a photo of how I done it. I put up the tag in 2007 (12 years ago) when I planted the whip. It’s permanent enough still to be legible, and, yes, my trees are still in suspended animation at tight cluster.
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punch set and blank aluminum tags from Amazon… impressotags are too thin and wear from wind after a while, these are much thicker…
if you have been doing this very long, you have probably girdled a branch or tree with metal wires… this is my solution, copper wire pulled tight so the tag doesnt flop in the wind, as the branch grows the wire is open ended so it will expand until the tag falls off.
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I do the same as you as far as the punch set but I’ve got some old metal siding or flashing of some sort that I cut to desired size. Might have to try the copper wire trick though. I’m currently using some scrap chain link fencing for my wire cause I’m cheap.
What wire works well to attach the tags? I have the plastic coated garden wire and animals are chewing through it. Some mammal is stealing the shiny aluminum tags too.
this is just standard electrical wire, i use the white and black coated ones also
I’m calling my tag marker experiment. I like the high visibility of these plastic hanging tags. For me they last about 3 years. I have been confounded by the variability in the ink I use and wanted to try a few as a test.
One caveat is that these tags are slick on one side and a tiny bit rougher on the other. I’m guessing the latter is better for marking and that’s usually my go to (like top tag). I wasn’t consistent on this but the results don’t bear out this as the only variable.
My go to has always been a sharpie. I do have one sharpie extreme now and that might last even longer. In this viewing though the best in order were; Rev Mark, Bic marking, Staedtler lumocolor, and sharpie.
The Dura Ink dual tip was far and away the worst and completely disappeared in a couple months. Faber castell was poor also, although I’m not sure that one was intended for outdoor use.
Personal bias I guess but I always leaned to sharpie. I have some 3 year old tags as crisp and clear as the day I wrote on them. I think I’ll use the top 4 and when I write the tag make a little notation which one I used. That should be my final test.
These labels were on the same tree exposed to the same environmental conditions. I honestly don’t mind rewriting tags sometimes. It forces me to visualize the graft and I want to do that. This marking them every couple months though is driving me nuts.
I know the metal tags last longer but I like to see the tag from a distance. I like the bizarre look of multiple tags of different colors. Call me crazy.
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I bought a couple pens form AM Leonard…but the jury is out.
Like the Sharpie, also,
but I write on both sides of a tag…the side the sun hits fades in a year or so.
I write on both sides too. Yes the dark side always lasts longer. For me, I try to always have the top to the outside so it’s the first to fade. I have hundreds of tags so I’m trying to be a bit more efficient.
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After looking through a bunch of threads like this earlier in the year I ended up using these:
aluminum embossing tags . These are double-sided aluminum with cardboard in between. Even if the carboard breaks down, the aluminum is still fine. I switched the provided wires for coated garden wire but I have some fencing wire and I’m going to switch to that because it’s thicker.
Any tag I did with sharpie last year is completely unable to be read this year.
The forest service where I was in CA tagged a lot of larger trees for research. They used the same kind of aluminum tags as above but would use a big U shaped nail/staple thing and would nail it into the trunk at a standard height. I plan to do this for my larger trees.
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I’ve switched to galvanized fencing wire (17 gage) because it’s what I have. It’s thick enough that I have real trouble imagining an animal chewing through it. You could also try nailing or stapling the tag to the tree if you’re able to.
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I saw a guy on youtube using something like this to make labels for all his fruit trees… he has a lot of pawpaws and other stuff.
A bit expensive but makes a nice metal tag quickly that may out last you.
That would make a nice Christmas… or Birthday present for probably most of us. Lets see… birthday coming up Sept 3. Got to mention this to my wife 
I have done this, and it works well with a scribe. However, it is rather tedious making each one because the jagged edges and corners require smoothing to be safe to use.