Black Magic Marker and I write name near top on stem end.

Dave

Never thought of it. Do you mean by taking pictures ? I would write the name on piece paper, on them.

A SAMPLE TRY

Similar to Dave...for tomatoes I write the initials on the top near the stem end, so Black Krim would be BK, Cherokee Purple = CP, etc. I usually only do this for the ones that I'm saving for seeds.

I use masking tape with the name or abbreviated name. It gets transferred to the little glass that I use for fermenting and then to the plate upon which they are dried.

Linda

Thanks so much!
I do have masking tape too as well as marker, duh...
I am planning to save only from seeds I potentially might not have source for later. I like suporting small companies with my orders, it is all for good cause. However, some seeds are quite rare and may or may not be grown and offered. For example tomato Mikhalych seems to be not offered anywhere else and it is fantastic one. First red tomato I am willing to pick over dark one.

Here is a link that might be useful: Mikhalych

Isn't that nice that the name means "old friend?"

A lovely name for a beloved heirloom!

The trouble is that I don't know how to pronounce it!

Linda

I just find that paper labels too easily get lost or separated and I want to know the name of what I am eating (as well as the seeds I'm saving).

Someone posted several years back about making up a numbered code sheet, assigning a number to each variety, and then just writing the number of the variety on the fruit with the marker. I'd misplace the code sheet so just went with writing the name right on the fruit itself.

Dave

Years ago I started using those round white stickers to label the fruits I was going to process for seeds, but that was a disaster since most fell off just with the AM dew or just b/c they were programmed to fall off.

Then I switched to tape, masking tape or those other colored tapes, and they were useless as well.

Remember that when I first started growing my own tomatoes on the family farm after I moved back from Denver where I was teaching med students, and that in 1982, that there were No good message sites where I could ask anyone anything. And that went for diseases as well, even though we had some on the acres of tomatoes we grew on the farm.

So I had to learn by myself.

Back on topic now. Yes, I used to label all of the fruits, as I picked them, with either a magic marker or a Sharpie, as was mentioned above, and continued to do that for all the subsequent years that I was growing my own tomatoes.

Carolyn

Wonder if you can buy "blank" versions of the labels supermarkets use for produce??
They are small but seem to stay on.

I was thinking that too. Those supermarket stickers don't even break down in the compost!

I find that the masking tape works for me, but then I'm only a small-scale grower. Another idea that works is to have small containers with the name on (which I keep on my kitchen counter), and I just add varieties to the bowls as I pick them. The fruit flies are going to have a ball this year!!!!

Linda

To me the subject becomes an issue when I want to process and save seeds. Otherwise I know every single variety (19 varieties). I even know the exact location they are planted and are growing. Though everyone of them is tagged. Most of them have distinct fruits (in terms of color, shape, size). I find only 2 of them very similar : So I do not need to label the fruits. But for seeds, I just use stick on type labeling paper used to stick on envelopes etc. That is if I store the seeds in plastic bags. But if I use a paper envelope, I just mark them with Sharpi.

So we all have ways to do it. That is fine as long as it works for you.