Need advice for securing bamboo stakes into ground

[Matariki]

I put 8' bamboo poles (1 1/2 inch thick) into my garden to hold up my tomatoes. Was hoping to get them 1-2 feet into the ground but only could pound them about 6"-8".

Anyone have any clever ideas how to secure these or get them deeper in the ground.

I have 3 poles for 4 tomato plants and the plants are held by weaving thin bamboo poles every half foot or so - kind of like a florida weave. It's working well so far but I'm afraid when the plants get heavy the whole thing might tip over because the poles aren't deep enough in the ground.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[FloriTexan]

1. Can you use water

to soften the soil or maybe mix a little cement in the hole?

[hippywife]

2. I was going to suggest

using water to soften the ground, too. You may want to water the area heavily over several days so it will soak in but not be lost.

I'm having a hard time visualizing what the poles look like together but you might also consider cross-bracing them with each other so they are more stable, whether or not you get additional depth or not.

[Matariki]

4. Good idea FloriTexan & Hippywife

It hasn't rained here in a couple months. The ground is like rock. I didn't even think of that.

Don't want to put cement into my raised vegetable beds though - and the structure needs to be taken down and moved when I rotate the beds each year.

Thanks both for the advice.

[FloriTexan]

6. You could always wait for the cracks...

in the ground to get big enough and just use slide the pole right in with a little cement! LOL! The field behind our gets very cracked and people use the cracks as garbage cans for their plastic bottles and such. Its littering at its worst. You can step in the cracks sometimes they get so big. Just heard we're supposed to have 30% chance of rain Thursday-Monday with temps only reaching the mid 90's! I cannot wait! BTW, I'm here in Northeast Texas.

[lizziegrace]

3. I had an antique metal trellis that had short legs

and I wanted to train wysteria on it. I bought some 2' pieces of rebar (sp?) at Home Depot and pounded them in next to the legs. I wired the legs to the rebar. Also, I was thinking you could rig up tent stakes until the season's over and you can dig deeper holes.

[Matariki]

5. Thanks Lizziegrace

I was thinking of using rebar to tie the poles. Wysteria is pretty heavy - is that working out for you?

[lizziegrace]

7. I don't know

I had to move from the house I was renting when I was laid off. I gave the trellis and wysteria to a friend.

[conscious evolution]

8. Use water

to wet the area where you want to drive them helps.

To get the bammboo to last longer soak the poles in water for a week.This kills the bugs that live inside of bamboo.Without the bugs the bamboo will last for years.

[Matariki]

9. Does soaking the bamboo apply to store bought poles?

They don't look like they'd have bugs in them.