Sturdy and Sustainable: Sunflower Stalks as Teepee Supports!

Using all of the sunflower plant is a great way to practice sustainability in the garden. Today I'll show you how to use dried sunflower stalks to make garden teepees and grow vertical vines on them like peas and beans.

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Hi, I'm Kalem, and this channel features all sorts of unusual and exotic fruiting plants with tips of how to successfully grow them. I'm interested in all things gardening and love growing my own food and all types of edible plants.
I live on a 2 acre piece of land in New Zealand where we are turning a grass paddock into and abundant, edible paradise and food forest! So come along on this journey with me as I experiment with growing, and try to push the limits of what I can grow. I'll share with you my successes and failures so hopefully you'll learn from them and have a go yourself! Come learn with me and Subscribe to join this awesome community :)

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[monicas]

I didn’t even know sunflower stalks can get that thick!
Plants are amazing!!!

[TristanL]

When I was like 7, I planted some sunflower seeds in my mums flower bed thinking it would never grow, but this bad boy got to like 5/6 feet! Didn’t think it would grow in the good old British sunshine (or lack of it) Literally cried when it snapped in a storm!

[Splitbythestars]

Sunflowers are some of the sturdiest plants Ive seen, those stalks mean BUSINESS. Thought I could hand pull some dead ones one year and learned my lesson 😅

[sebsational]

Imagine a wizard with a dried sunflower stem as their magic staff

[aloidias]

As someone who had to clear out old sunflower stalks, facts! They were dried out or close to what you had them at when they were still standing. Toughest bastards I clipped and of course couldn't snap them over my knees if they were too thick😅

[seraphal]

These are the perfect sticks I've been looking for my entire life

[midnightwritrix]

As a kid I loved to pull up the dried sunflowers that the preschoolers grew. Cut the top off and wash off the root bundle and you have a really strong awesome looking wizard staff

[LitoGeorge]

The sunflower heads are excellent to use as a dye for yellow fabric :)

[Charlie-shdu]

Sunflowers can take heavy metals out of the soil! Amazing and useful plants!

[yoni-in-BHAM]

WOW! We had sunflowers in our backyard when I was a kid. I didn't know that you could do that with the stems! Great idea! 👍

[kathybrandt]

I love growing those monsters sunflowers. Between the bees and the birds and the praying mantises it was like it’s own little jungle right there with the sunflowers. Thank you for a wonderful memory for me.

[alberttitosa]

Very beautifull how nature is always reusable. I know nothing about farming but im impressed. Nothing left to waste

[augustjschroeder]

Gonna show this to my dad, he's growing some sunflowers and other things, might be useful!

[StormlightArchives]

Reminds me of how my family uses bamboo! We have a very plentiful patch in our backyard, and it’s great for structures just like these

[urbanagmike]

What a solid idea. Sunflowers are so versatile it's nuts.

[morbid_muppet]

I use them for kindling too, works really well.

[davidclingerman]

They are fantastic for stakes. To make a trellis and even to use as a bo staff however I have noticed that they get really soft and sometimes will bend and break if they're out in heavy rains

[colleenriordan]

I grew a bunch of giant sunflowers when I was about ten years old. Some of them were well over ten feet at their tallest, and I was VERY proud of all of my hard work.😂 I dried the stalks out to keep them after they died. I then cut one of the tallest in half and made two walking sticks out of it. 🌻👩🏻‍🌾⚕️

My kids and I still use them when we hike sometimes, and I'm now in my mid thirties. I should grow some more with my kids this year, so that they can have their own someday too. They really are extremely sturdy and useful.🌻💛🙋🏻‍♀️👩‍🎨👨🏻‍🦲👦🏻💚🌻

[shelldub]

I am so gutted that I didn’t see this 3 weeks ago! I’ve just buried all mine in the garden for compost and I need stakes for my peas 🤦‍♀️

[bluebulls]

Been growing them several years now.
Never thought of that. Great advice