The following tips come from our own experience as well as that of our customers.

Traditional Write-On Tags:

Dry time for pens on markers.
Since Stainless Steel and Copper tags will not absorb the ink, you must allow the ink to completely dry before handling the marker. At normal room temperatures and humidity allow 1 hour. For wood and terracotta products, which are absorptive, very little dry time is required.

Tip for hand writing your tags.                                                                                               When hand writing, sometimes it's difficult to keep the text in a nice straight line. Try using a large post-it® note as a writing guide. Simply place the post-it® note on the tag and write your text. After you remove the post-it® note you can add any of the "tails" on the letters such as y's and g's.

To be sure the text fits across the marker without running off the edge. Write the plant name on a piece of paper (as shown in the picture on the right). Place the marker below the text on the paper. Then, when you write on the marker you will have a better idea of how to space the letters.

Pen Selection.
We strongly recommend you use our nursery pen 300-120 or 300-134,  however, other pens designed for outdoor use may also work. The Sharpie brand of pens have not proven to provide good results, and we would recommend you avoid using them for garden markings. See the results below, labels printed at the same time and subjected to same outside exposure.

"Sharpie" 8 months exposure


Orion Pen 300-120 same exposure as above

Cleaning Stainless and Copper markers.
Use a strong cleaning solvent (with proper precautions) such as paint thinner, to clean off marks on the Stainless Steel or Copper markers. Allow the solvent to completely dry before applying new marks.

Computer Imprintable Labels:

Printer selection.
While almost any laser or inkjet printer will work, here are a few points to consider:
1. It should have a straight feed path, on many printers this will cause the labels to exit out the back of the printer. The fewer bends the labels must make the better.
2. It must be able to handle paper sizes other than standard paper, i.e. envelopes.
3. Avoid LED type laser printers. They do not print well on the label materials.
4. Printers with single sheet feeds are more convenient. Often you do not need to remove the standard paper from the printer.

Re-Running partial printed sheets.
This must be done with caution, a label stuck inside your printer is not a pretty sight.   Orion Industries has purposely made the labels half size to reduce label waste. If possible try to print 5 labels at once or limit running the sheet through the printer to two times.

Use of practice sheet.
The label package comes with one practice sheet which allows you to confirm that the print will be positioned correctly and you on the correct side. You can copy this sheet, however do not make copies of copies as the dimensions will be distorted by the copier.

Color on inkjet Printers.
All desktop inkjet printers use a water based dye ink for the color ink. These inks do not hold up well long term in an outside environment. On the other hand, black which uses carbon black holds up very well. Our lab and field testing has shown that the Orion Sun Block Cover will extend color fast 5-10 times over non protected labels.

Computer Imprintable Labels on other tags.
With scissors and a little patience customers have used our labels and covers on the zinc and copper as well as multipurpose plastic markers. However we still recommend you use our stake 320-090GR.

Sun Block Covers:

The covers make the difference!
The most common complaint we hear is that the marks fade and can no longer be read. Orion's Sun Block covers reduce the amount of UV light that fades the mark. See the difference below. This marker with a Sun Block Cover has been outside, exposed to the elements for nearly 3 years. 

Office Labeler Software:

Using Office Labeler to print a different image on each label.
Many people want to have a different image printed on each label along with the data that is specific to that plant. By using the database feature of Office Labeler this is possible in the following way;
1. Refer to chapter 5 and chapter 11 if you are using the internal database in the Office Labeler manual. 
2. Set one of the fields in your database to hold the exact path to the image you want for each record. ie e:\blubs\isis\iris01.tif. The image file must be in a TIF, BMP, PCX or WMF format.
3. With the label design on the screen, Click Utilities-Set Merge File. Select your file and click 'Set'.
4. Place an image on the label at the size you want your imported images to be located. (see page 43 of the manual) This can be any image, this step is used to set the location and size for the merged image.
5. Double click on the image. Select the 'Properties' tab and then 'File'. Click the 'Merge' box. Now select the field name that holds the path to each image. Click 'OK', 'OK', and 'OK' again.
6. The image box should have the text 'Merge Picture' inside it. Now when you print each label will have the image you selected.

Embossing Tip:

Tip for embossing copper or aluminum tags. If you have problems getting your embossed tags looking neat and spaced evenly, try this. Using your computer, print a piece of paper with your text on it. Lay the paper over the tag to be sure the text fits. Cut the paper to a manageable size. Position the paper over the tag, and using a ball point pen, carefully trace over the text. Also, if you set the tag on several pieces of paper or cardboard while you emboss, it will make it easier to emboss.

Still need more answers or assistance?  Contact us at 928 282-1049 and we will be happy to help you.