Hello Old Friend,

When we were working on seedling recruitment in Pennsylvania and Georgia wind damaged forests, we used write-on aluminum tags. They come with metal twists to attach them to the seedlings.  you can adjust as the seedlngs/saplings grow and you can use any label format you want (numbers, letters, etc.).  They are pretty large - 2.5 cm X 8 cm, and are about $20 USD per 100.  You can cut them and punch new holes to increase the number of tags per kit.  Some of the ones Chris Peterson used lasted 15 years  (from his dissertation time to when I started as his grad student). 

Gemplers has them:

http://www.gemplers.com/product/T800/Aluminum-Marking-Tags-Box-of-100

but you may find cheaper them elsewhere.

Hope this helps,

Charles

We use these on BCI and they have lasted >12 years: 

https://nationalband.com/products/plastic-banettes-907/

They are a bit expensive though, but might be worth it since they have a proven track record.

An alternative is to get plastic binder rings, something like this:

http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/535608/Office-Depot-Brand-1-12-Binding/;jsessionid=00009m5JnMGwS4XOtJc_GpbaFtX:17h4h7aom

And then write numbers on with permanent, water-proof markers (I don't know of a good brand for this off the top of my head, but I have been told that Sharpie marker will rub off over time so do not use it).

I have heard that using metal tags is an issue because they are usually big and can make the soil/plant heat up if in gaps, and can attract animals because they are shiny (although the colored plastic ones might too, although we didn't find any clear evidence for that in our BCI seedling study).

Hope that helps!

We use a variety of Forestry Supply tags in tropical Latin America, Madagascar and Asia:

http://www.forestry-suppliers.com/search.asp?cat=136

Hello all!!!

Thanks for your quick reply!! 

We originally used the write-on aluminum tags suggested by Charles and Dr. Bussmann, however there are some pesky insects that roll these tags (make nests in them) which tends to blur the markings after a few roll-unroll events. Although the ones that Charles suggested seem to be a bit rougher, I may checked those out.

 I also used the "bandettes" suggested by Liza, but the ungodly temperatures of the tropical dry forest makes the plastic brittle and they tend to break after a while. Which means changing them every year. These is why we wanted to change to something a bit more rugged.  We were thinking of using the circular numbered tags from forestry supply, but the smallest ones are 1 1/4 inch diameter which may be a bit big for small seedlings (the heat thing the Liza mentioned), and they are somewhat expensive.

Thanks for the suggestions!

Hello

We use a combination of forestry suppliers round tags and write on aluminium tags to fill out odd number sequences. The bright write on aluminium tags unfortunately can be attacked by birds and disfigured. If you have some field helpers a dymo labeller using stainless steel tape is a good option and if applied with stainless aircraft wire will survive a wildfire. The forestry suppliers round tags will last a long time (for decades at least) and only become hard to read when covered in algae in our rainforest plots.

Thank you

Ross Peacock

Hi, Eric.

Yes, we have the same issue with the write on aluminum tags: the marks sometimes get unreadable when folding...and would not endure for so many years. However, there are some models, that are rougher (I believe they are also available at forestry suppliers) and I would expect to last that many years. The caveat, however, is that you cannot use a pencil to write on them, but rather you need a carver or something similar.

Anyway, I would like to suggest you to use Dymo. I don't know about the aluminium professional Dymo that Forestry Suppliers offers, but we use the traditional, classic Dymo (not the new printed ones). This kind of Dymo: http://global.dymo.com/esES/Categories/Rotuladoras_manuales_personales.html.

We have been using them for years, and there are almost no losses and they are easily readable after ten years or more. We use to put them as a lace around the seedling, with a staple or two to fix both ends.

Best regards,

           Asier

Hello Eric:

In our dry forest plots we have tagged saplings > 30 cm with aluminum Dymo tape. After trying several options this has been by far the best. The Dymo machine itself is a bit expensive but the rolls of aluminum tape are relatively cheap. We attach them to the plants with wire but if you intend to permanently mark very small seedlings this may not be the best way to go. Of course, in this dry forest site we have not faced problems like algae growing on our tapes!

Cheers,

Jorge

Thank you all for the helpful comments. We did use Dymo but with plastic tape and those suffer too under the 3 months of direct sunlight in the tropical dry forest. I didn't know they made aluminum Dymo tape. That one sounds Excellent!!!  I'll check that out, it sounds like the best solutions. I have a lot of helpers and we have made over 2000 plastic dymo marks, so that shouldn't be a problem.  Unless it takes along time to make each marking. Any comments on this?

We generally tie the marks using telephone wire (the thin ones) we use old discarded internet wire (our university has miles of it left over when they changed to fiberoptic). How do you punch a hole on the aluminum tape? A nail?  

One last question regarding the professional dymo, aluminum or stainless steal?  (hola Jorge!) 

Thank you all

Eric,

I have used plastic ties like plastic waterproof hanging tags or nursery labels for seedlings.  I used a paint marker to write the ID.  Sharpie's were subject to fading.  Heavy duty paint markers hold up for at least 5 years.  To reduce the number sequence, I would preference the number with the last 2 digits of the year (e.g., 15-XXXX).  I would number a sequence of tags in the lab were my team could work efficiency and not in the field.  I would carry blanks and a marker in order to replace damaged tags in subsequent years.  These tags are strong yellow plastic similar to ties for garbage bags but with only two notches and plenty of writing room. They were hard to find but worked very well.  Heat was not an issue for these. 

For herbaceous seedlings, I have used tags made from aluminum soda cans and a ballpoint pen to emboss and number them.  A nail would be punched through one side and stuck into the ground next to the seedling.  In temperate areas the nail has to be long enough to resiste frost heaving (~7 cm).

On saplings, I used heavy aluminum tags pre-stamped (and hole) (Forestry Suppliers) and grafting tape to loosely (usually 25-30 cm of tape) tie the tag to the sapling at about DBH height to facilitate re-finding the tag.  .  If the sapling made it to tree size, then the tag could be attached using a nail either at DBH height or near the base (in logging studies to avoid the chain saw cutting area and avoid damaging the log quality)

Hola Eric,

It is aluminum, not stainless steel. At least this is how they are labeled in the catalogue of Forestry Suppliers. The Dymo machine has a device to punch the holes in the label, which you can do just after printing the number. It takes very little time to make a label, much less than punching holes with a nail.

Jorge

Hello

The dymo can use either aluminium or stainless steel tape. The machine punches the hole and creates a round edge to avoid a nasty skin cut. I only use steel as sometimes we burn our plots, aluminum would be just as good if fire wasn't an issue. If you need a large number of tags the pre-made ones are much easier to work with.

Thank you

Ross Peacock

If you have a limited budget I recommend to use aluminum cans,  cut the tag the size you wish, write the information using a normal pen, it creates a permanent mark. I use them very often, the problem some times is how to attach them to a tree, I use aluminum nails, when trees are small I use electric cord (copper covered with plastic) a little expensive but it can last up to 5 years.

Good luck

Patricia

You could try these plastic binding combs. We got an engraving company to laser-engrave numbers on each ring, I think they charged us about USD 200 for 2000 numbers. 

Hi,

We have used these aluminum tags for about 5 years (picture). We use a wire to mark seedlings and a nail/wire to mark trees. Note that there is information printed on them but also a bar-code (which can make your life easier by having a bar-code scanner). After a few years you might need to clean them. The seedlings tags (laid on the forest floor) have been chewed by wild boars although it was not a major problem.