Anyone know where online to get 6ft or 7ft sturdy garden stakes for a decent price?

General Fruit Growing
21

coppicing willow will do that for you. I started cutting some willow I had in the wrong places, by the next year it grew into a bunch of straight long branches. Dry willow makes strong sticks. If you have a strong base you could harvest them yearly or every other year.

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22

Check Craigslist of Facebook for people selling bamboo poles. I sell a few hundred a year from the bamboo grove in my backyard. I cut them to whatever length people want and get $1 a piece. The ones I sell are strong enough to hold my 200 lbs in the air. The only downside is that bamboo doesn’t last. You get two years or so and that’s if you don’t bury them. Any part that gets buried rots in a few months.

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23

I second Alan’s recommendation. I learned about using electrical conduit (EMT) in a Master Gardening class 10 years ago. They’re cheap and can be bought pre-cut in 5 and 10’ lengths at Home Depot and Lowes, and any place you can buy electrical supplies. They can easily be cut by anyone using an inexpensive pipe cutter or hacksaw. Diameters range from .5", .75" to 1". Obviously, larger diameters offer more strength. Fortunately, my figs are self-supporting. Specialty connectors are available for EMT to allow the construction of large and stable 2 and 3 dimensional trellis structures. (Search for canopy fittings and greenhouse fittings.) I use the connectors to build box frames to net my blueberries and my figs. E

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24

I had a whole bunch of wild cherry saplings that I cut down and made stakes out of. It was funny, some of them grew even the ones I drove upside down.

25

Or local co-op has them for about a dollar each. 5 6 7 foot and very sturdy with large caliper.

26

There are many kinds of bamboo. A friend gave me some from his yard and I’ve been using them for several years with no rot. The ones I use are thick.

27

I might take you up on that @benthegirl I’m in brownsburg VA. I have really big bamboo cut from a neighbor’s that I use for horizontal supports. Probably third year of use but they don’t sit in the ground. Mine is starting to degrade and break up.

We are considering going to Elkins for a caving convention going on now.

I love all the ideas for bamboo. I used smaller ones to cut short for native bee boxes. Some of the bigger ones I slid into pvc t connectors. I could use some for limb supports where I didn’t thin apples enough. Yeah that I have enough apples I actually need to consider that!

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