Recycled Plastic Plant Labels

  

I start a lot of my plants from seed and grow them inside with my light system until the weather warms enough to plant them outside.  I reuse the little cells they sell seedling in as well as small yogurt cups to hold the seed starter medium. One thing I am always short on is labels.  You can buy them, but 10 cents for a small piece of plastic seems kind of high, especially when you need a lot of them.

Plastic containers from dairy products are a good source of material to make your own labels.  Different size containers provide different size labels. The big sour cream containers make larger labels and the small yogurt cups make small ones. Cottage cheese and vegetable dip containers are in between.  Just wash them out and cut into strips. Use a permanent marker to write the plant type. 

The labels can be used outside. UV light will make them brittle so only plan on using them one season. The light will also make the marking fade, so I orient them so the writing is to the north. This keeps the information out of the direct light. I also use these containers to make labels for my tomato cages.  I punch a hole at one end and use a tie-wrap to secure it to the top of the cage. It is nice to be able read the variety without having to bend over.

Rather than buying new plant labels, recycle your food containers!

  

Plastic label tie-wrapped to a tomato cage

Cut up used plastic food containers to make plant labels for the garden and seed starting.

© 2009 - 2022 Gary C. Sutcliffe

  

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