I had all this info of seedling crosses recorded and once I planted out the plants I marked them too. Someone told me to use old venetian blind tags. Then winter and spring came along and ffffffffftttt! there went any possibility of id'ing the seedlings . First what tags didnt blow away had the markings on most faded from the sun .
FYI Not all permanent markers are permanent . Do yourself a favour and use pencil to write on your tag ...it doesnt fade assuming your tags stick around . I grow in heavy heavy clay so with the freeze and thaw , most of my markers are somewhere down the road . Freeze and thaw cycles heaved the tags .....the wind did the rest .
So then i resorted to my recorded info . Even with written records there is no guarantee that the cross you think you planted in that spot is that cross . Some seedlings die , so lets say from the leading edge of your garden you had 10 seedlings planted and two died ....if they are not planted far enough apart (as mine weren't ) then you dont know if you are counting a seedling from the original cross or one from the next planted cross . So I would recommend to plant not too close together and figure out a way to mark those crosses so that they dont get heaved out of the ground and blown away and make sure to use pencil . I cant say this often enough ......do not trust permanent markers to keep your seedling accurately marked ....they just dont stand up to the UV from the sun.
