https://www.amazon.com/CRESCENT-SOLID-A ... r=8-1&th=1

I use this solid auger drill bit with my cordless drill to install 1/2-5/8 inch thick bamboo stakes for my tomato plants. I used to beat them down into the soil and break a few here and there, but now its fast and easy. The drill bit is 18 bucks and worth every penny, at least to me it is. For the 5/8 inch thick poles I just wobble out the hole a bit by moving the bit around some in a circle after digging down. The 1/2inch poles drop right down in. I put in a hyper link at the bottom of the picture to where I bought it on amazon in case anyone was thinking of getting one or was tired of smashing poles.

The drill bit is 17 inches long but you can go a lil deeper by taking a shovel and taking a scoop out before using it. I sink my bamboo poles 2 ft into the ground with no problems.

You can also buy a ship auger extension as well.
Like the one on your picture shows 1/2 inch buy the extension that says 1/2 inch.

Humm, my soil is loose enough to just mash the bamboo in, but I’m not going in two feet deep either. I do generally wait until just after a good rain to put the bamboo in.

But, the auger drill is a good idea. I can’t imagine gardening without bamboo, I’m completely addicted to using bamboo for everything that needs support.

karstopography wrote: ↑Thu Mar 28, 2024 8:56 pm Humm, my soil is loose enough to just mash the bamboo in, but I’m not going in two feet deep either. I do generally wait until just after a good rain to put the bamboo in.

But, the auger drill is a good idea. I can’t imagine gardening without bamboo, I’m completely addicted to using bamboo for everything that needs support.

Last year I moved to a new place. I lost my old garden that I put years of work into conditioning the soil. The new place has a more sandy soil with a hard pan. It's going to take awhile to get to the point where I can simply push the bamboo stakes in by hand. I went through the same process with my old garden using a drill and auger bit until I got the soil amended well enough.

Before I started using the auger bit I was breaking poles by beating them into the ground and wondered if there was a better way. So I hopped online and started searching for a way to do it better and thats when I ran into using a auger bit and drill. God I love the internet.

The new garden is coming along and I dont know if I ever will get it the way I want hehe. By the way home depot has decent 6 foot 1/2 5/8 poles for sale. If you buy the 150 pack for 124 bucks so thats a lil less than 1 dollar per pole.

What about pounding in a length of 1/2" rebar to make a pilot hole, inserting bamboo and firming the stakes in after putting them in after insertion? I've done that now and then when deciding to use bamboo for something.

We grow timber bamboo.When selected poles are culled at about 20 ft we dry them out wrapped to keep them straight.When cured the bottoms are cut at about a 60 degree angle at the nodes so as to seal the bottom.Then we spray the pruning seal up about 2foot.We match th the node segments at the top and cut across past the top node about half inch.Some pruning seal(Spectricide spray) ,this seals the top..Extends the bamboo usage,before we were trimming them down when they rotted out.

GoDawgs wrote: ↑Fri Mar 29, 2024 7:45 am What about pounding in a length of 1/2" rebar to make a pilot hole, inserting bamboo and firming the stakes in after putting them in after insertion? I've done that now and then when deciding to use bamboo for something.

Actually the concrete guys use the auger bit to drill the hole for the rebar sometimes.
The ground is pretty hard here in places and they use a masonry bit.
Sometimes solid rock.
Where I'm at right now out west of Austin it slabs of limestone.

I cut new bamboo every year. I prefer already dead bamboo with the radiating side branches still intact. We have a species of Bambusa type growing between our lots that gets ~30’ tall and maybe 2” in diameter, but I like the more slender pieces, the runts maybe 1” in diameter. The supply of bamboo for my little garden is inexhaustible and the bamboo needs some thinning anyway so it all works out.

The radiating side branches help anchor tomato, cucumber and bean vines and give the beans and cucumbers some additional climbing footholds.

The best thing is that the carpenter bees come into the newly installed bamboo and make a home. Outstanding pollinators they are and more reliable than honey bees that are fickle about blooms and will leave for a better flowering tree or plant.


It’s taken me a few years to figure out the best pieces of bamboo and how to use it, but I’m very happy to have it available.

@karstopography
I'm surprised you haven't gotten into making bamboo fishing rods.

worth1 wrote: ↑Fri Mar 29, 2024 10:21 am @karstopography
I'm surprised you haven't gotten into making bamboo fishing rods.

Inspite of enjoying fishing as much as I do and enjoying tying flies, I am not very into the gear side of things. I’m pretty hard on gear in general and knowing this I tend to buy or use low cost models that won’t make me cry when I inevitably break them. I don’t really know how to “baby” stuff, it isn’t in my DNA. As proof my dad has said more than once that I could break an anvil. Fiberglass rods have been my saving grace as they are way tougher than carbon fiber. If I ever made a bamboo rod, I’d have to just hang it on the wall, no way would I incur the very real likelihood I break it on the first outing.

worth1 wrote: ↑Fri Mar 29, 2024 10:21 am @karstopography
I'm surprised you haven't gotten into making bamboo fishing rods.

Not to impede in the conversation,we do split cane poles,up to 8 ft.lot of work,but long reach.We have some with fly reels,classic old school.

Kurt wrote: ↑Fri Mar 29, 2024 8:04 pm

worth1 wrote: ↑Fri Mar 29, 2024 10:21 am @karstopography
I'm surprised you haven't gotten into making bamboo fishing rods.

Not to impede in the conversation,we do split cane poles,up to 8 ft.lot of work,but long reach.We have some with fly reels,classic old school.

I used to use a hand made split bamboo fishing rod as a kid all the way up until I left home.
Not the hillbilly type many people think of but a work of art.
It was given to my father by the guy that made them because it had a flaw in the handle section.