Over the last week I have re-potted 32 citrus trees that had been in the same containers and medium for two years, into new containers with all new growth medium. I took a tip from Joe Real, and labeled all the containers using "engraved" aluminum labels (from aluminum pie pans) showing the variety name, and date re-potted.- Millet

Wow, 32 trees! That must have taken a long time, not to mention the expense for new pots and potting material. It must feel good to have it done though.

How are these trees going millet? I like perlite a lot,used with my potting mix.
You been busy! cheers

Wow! I am very curious how you guys mix up your soil for such a large replanting. Do you have a mixer? A large area to store in a big pile or something? I repot on a much smaller scale and doing the soil is always the biggest pain. Any tips for making this easier and more efficient would be greatly appreciated.

After seeing nice aluminum tags from a grower friend of mine in SoCal and asking about it, he showed me what the Dymo labeler looked like when we visited George Emerich's collection (pioneer rarefruiter). George used stainless steel tags and I bought a label maker on eBay (I think it was Dymo model 803). It came with 20 rolls of stainless steel labels but I found it impossible to make a good label so I traded them for a small fee to another eBay seller for aluminum ones. It may take about a minute to make a label but they look much nicer (and easier to read) than anything I can do by hand. My total cost was about $120 and it should last me a long time.

I found an even nicer source of Aluminum tags.

I used to cut aluminum soda cans, but it has the label of the soda manufacturer on the other side. And it is quite awkward or harder to cut these because of their extreme curvature. I often nick myself when I make tags out of them.

Now, I have been using aluminum pans, like those used when baking turkey. It is even better. They are softer, flatter, easier to cut than the auminum soda cans, and much better to etch on, using just ball point pen. You can make about a hundred tags per pan, depending on size of aluminum pan. You can get these pans from CostCo and they're very cheap. After using them for dinner, simply wash it clean and cut up into tags.

I then use a paper hole puncher on one end of the tag and use a garden tie through the hole so that it can be secured where you want the tags to be.

Very cheap, as in free, only the garden tie would be my main cost. And that's just $1.99 plus tax. Most of all, it frees up some space in the landfill where the spent aluminum pan would have been.

Joe, great minds think alike. I used aluminum pans that a pie is baked in. I also used a ball point pen to emboss the label. Finally I used a leather punch to make a hole so I could attach the tag to the container. - Millet

I read a tip in one of the posts about using old narrow blinds for tags. I make labels on a Brother label maker. I punch a hole with a hole punch. So far in 4 months there is no fading




.

Helix

Joe, save your money on the garden ties--use copper wire from old electrical cords and wires.

I guess I just haven't got that far--thanks for the heads up.

How are these trees going millet? I like perlite a lot,used with my potting mix.
You been busy! cheers

Every tree, except one, has done well following re-potting. One tree had a little transplant shock, which will slow it grow a little, but should be fine. Of course it was the Meyer Lemon. - Millet