Online community for ornamental horticulture

waterproof signage

I was wondering what other operations are using for signage. I am interested in getting something that will print waterproof signs that will also hold up in the sun. I have Horticopia but I don't find that it is very user friendly. I have in the past also laminated after printing on card stock, but this is very time consuming. What has worked, what has not would be interesting to find out.
Thanks
Jim

Tags: signage

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Michael Pawelek on May 29, 2009 at 7:44pm: Over the years I have tried all kinds of signage from home made with a marking pen to the really expensive commercial signs and I always go back to my computer generated signs that I plasticize for weather proofing. This gives me the option to use my own graphics and jpegs. of plants I actually grow here plus some general advice on tolerance to my particular local weather. Yes they are time consuming to make but after being stored in the computer can be changed and printed in mere seconds. Many I take down and store from year to year after sales and just change the price tags on the outside of the plastic when necessary....
Michael Pawelek
Pecan Hill Nursery
www.pecanhillnursery.com; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Sherwood Botsford on May 30, 2009 at 9:39am: Avery, and the big discount label makers make polyester labels that go through a laser printer. I have used labels like this on core board/ tenplast (The stuff that resembles corregated cardboard made of plastic) The plastic starts to fall apart before the label fades. Try onlinelabels.com. I think they carry this stuff in everything from tiny spot labels to full 8.5 x 11 sheets.

Re coreplast: The red falls apart the quickest. At the end of a year it's crumbling. Different mix? Blue and yellow look unchanged after 2-3 years

For temp one-off signs, I use yellow coreplast as a paint pen. Paint pen is the only marker I've found that lasts longer than a few months in the weather. Tool stores and shippers supply stores. (Used for marking metal.) A 4x4 of coreplast, and half a coathanger run through two holes to mark a block of pots. (And one on each side, because the moose likes to sample bright coloured objects.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Sherwood Botsford on May 30, 2009 at 4:56pm: Color labels:

For laser labels I've no idea how colorfast the color ones are. Laser printers are getting cheap to buy, but the costs for color toner cartridges can be high. Spend some time with a spreadsheet and work out your options.

Ink jet printers are dirt cheap. The ink can cost the earth. In general pigment based inks stand up better than liquid inks under sunlight, however the colours aren't quite as good. Signage doesn't require art gallery colour.

The advantage of inkjet is that it's not a lot more expensive to get an 11" wide one, which allows tabloid sized prints.

If you are going to laminate, get a machine. If you are in a small town, look into sharing one with the local school. We had a deal where we bought a roll of film each year, and got to use their machine. If you are in large city, some of the copy centers will do laminations. You can decide after testing whether it's worth getting your own.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Michael Pawelek on May 31, 2009 at 9:07am: The amount and quality of color one uses for signage and advertising should depend on what you are selling and your target customer. The vast majority of my customers are women (97%) and they are acutly aware of what colors they want in their house, yards and patios. At the start of my Spring sales every year I grow 150-170 different varieties of plants and some are not in bloom opening week and if I did not have full color signage on the benches many plants just would not sell. This has been proven here at my nursery many times where beautiful high quality plants sit and sit until they start to bloom then literally shoot out the door. Due to this I keep my signage as colorful as possible with pictures of every plant in full bloom. In reality I sell "color". The same is true of my advertising. My Poinsettia brochures and ordering cover letters are chocked full of full color pictures of past crops. The more color in the advertising and signs the better they sell from my standpoint. There is nothing more boring than a nursery that has plain signs all over the place. Color, color and more color!
Michael Pawelek
Pecan Hill Nursery
www.pecanhillnursery.com; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jim Lastrapes on May 31, 2009 at 10:06am: This is all great info. We also use paint pens, called painters, put out by elmer's. I use them to identify crape myrtles and other plants that are hard to i.d. when not in bloom. Silver holds up real good on black nursery pots. These are avl from Wal-mart, Hobby Lobby or any other craft place.
Is there software that is very user friendly and easy to print 1offs at a time? What about the vinyl weatherproof labels that you mention from onlinelabels.com Has anyone tried the inkjet labels? What about the weatherproof polyester labels used with a laser printer? A printer that would allow you to print 1 label at a time coming off a spool of labels seems like a very easy way to go. Haven't come across any yet.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Lloyd Traven on June 3, 2009 at 9:11am: There is a company doing exactly this---contact Clarity Connect (Timothy Howard). They have an excellent software/hardware package for producing your own signs on plastic stock in full color, incredibly cheaply once you buy the hardware component. You don't have to make too many of your own signs versus purchasing them from a printer to pay off the system, and this system works GREAT.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jon on June 3, 2009 at 4:05pm: We have a B&W tag printer that we use to make tray tags, but our machine will also take a 4x6" index card sized tag material. We use these for bench tags and greenhouse tags. 10 years ago it was an expensive investment, but we use it daily. You'll also have to buy tag printing software. Check around on prices. I bought a used printer (same model # as the one I have) as a backup off ebay for $40.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jim Lastrapes on June 5, 2009 at 12:26pm: What is the model of the printer, B&W? I'm not familiar with these type tag printers. Does it do color or is that what you're meaning by a B&W(Black and white) printer. Any software recommendations?; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Terri Pinder on June 9, 2009 at 10:11am: I have had very good success with the printable labels available through Gardenware. I was not so satisfied with the plant data base offered by Gardenware, simply because it was written for the Pacific North West, and I am in South East, Sub-tropical Florida. But for most others it would work. The rest of the Gardenware system is DOS based and not as intuitive to use as other label making programs. But I do order the stickers from them and run them through my laser printer (they melted to the fuser module of my Xerox --$$$ repair!). Ink jet is a no go as the ink will run with any moisture.

The peel-n-stick labels come in a variety of sizes. We use one for barcode/pricing, another to make 5x7 signs and another for 8x11 signs. They stick in wet/dirty conditions and hold up in moisture and intense UV exposure for a long time. We peel the stickers and fix them to Parker-Davis corrugated plastic board and metal sign holders. Because they are light weight, they don't make the pots fall over.

But still, you have to have staff who are willing to get the signs out--that has been my biggest problem.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jon on June 9, 2009 at 10:39am: My tag printer is a TEC 472 thermal transfer printer. I probably run 100k tags a year through it, have to replace the print head ($200) about once a year. It uses a thermal transfer ribbon, which is around $40, but one ribbon lasts a really long time. I think my tags costs me like $90/20k. The index card material is significantly more, but I don't print nearly as many of those.

Then there's the tag printing software. We're using a server edition of Bartender ($700) with support for multiple printers. SO we also use it for our shipping labels. Just built a simple Access database of customers and bam, shipping labels. I use a Zebra LP 2844 thermal printer for shipping labels. Since it's direct thermal, there's no ribbon, and the 4x6 labels are dirt cheap on a 400 label roll, even cheaper on a 2000 label roll (but you have to buy or make your own label spooler). The 4x6 thermal labels work great for shipping and would work fine for temporary plant labels, but they don't last very long otherwise. The printing doesn't run, but with heat, the image fades, and the stick'um isn't completely waterproof. You might poke around and see if someone makes a more weatherproof direct thermal sticker that would work better for you.

Send me a private message and I'll give you the name of the printer/tag dealer I work with.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by ken yorko on June 12, 2009 at 4:24pm: Docuprint is another great source you can check out. They have the software you can use as well as the indoor/outdoor stock to print on. They have everything available from shelf strips to large signage. You can call them at 847-622-1313 or email the rep George Breust at Docuprint-George@hotmail.com

Thanks! Ken; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jennifer Youngquest on June 19, 2009 at 1:04pm: We use a plastic paper called Solutions II. It's 5 mil and holds up outside very well. We run it through a Laser Printer, Xerox Phaser 7400. Contact Todd Williams from Ascent Solutions 248-348-3662 or 248-207-2324 (cell phone). Mention English Gardens. We have some quantity discounts you'd be able to share.
Jennifer Youngquest; ▶ Reply to This