LDiane

My bamboo stakes last for a long time. I have just checked back in my gardening diary, and
I had the bamboo bulldozed out in 1987. I am still using a lot of the poles each summer, and
keep them under some evergreens each winter so they are sheltered a bit from the rain.

When I was still growing bamboo, I would cut the mature canes to use for stakes and fencing,
and just keep the new ones growing.

For stakes, I would cut part of the side branches but leave part of them sticking out to give more space
for my plants to climb on. For fencing, I would remove the side branches completely.

I cut them in different lengths, depending on what I am going to grow on them. The full
height ones are for pole beans - they are way up over my head, but flexible enough that
I can just pull the poles down to harvest beans at the top.