[stixman]

For those of you, who maybe haven't seen curled sticks growing here is a short video.

 

[Rad]

Interesting -- I have been developing similar results by twisting a copper wire around a young sapling.

 

[stixman]

Do the sticks that you wrap with copper wire produce a good curle?

How do you remove the wire?

Thanks,

 

[cobalt]

interesting seems to be growing in a lot of places do you start the vines of on the tree or is it just natural..People use sevral things for producing the curl from wire to rope or even use clematis flowers to do it .Some vine growing plants will in the end choke the plant .Not often see them growing naturaly But they are prized shanks here.

 

[Rad]

Do the sticks that you wrap with copper wire produce a good curle?

How do you remove the wire?

Thanks,

They have thus far-- I havn't harvested any yet, but I have been surprised at how well they are curling!

 

[cobalt]

people use domestic cable for wiring around a stick its not as good as the natural thing but as its plastic coated it dosnt do to much damage to the stick ,It takes some time for this to work and you have to start when the saplings are strong and tall enough to take it .start to early it will most likely kill the sapling then you have to wrap it round as it grows so i am told. Some i understand start when the sapling is small near the top and have known people say they change the wire diameter as it grows. the problem i think is attaching the cable in the 1st place some use duct tape . you just have to be careful not to damage the plant.

Probably better just to grow clematis up it in the 1st place its more natural but it will smother the plant if your not careful just use a slow growing variety .

 

[Fordj]

This Vine is Kudzu? I've only been to the South East US on a few work related short trips in the late '90s. The Kudzu was rampant then. Don't hear much about it anymore out in the upper midwest. Is it under control now, or just the new normal? If not Kudzu, what is this vine?

 

[stixman]

The vine that grows around the sticks is honey suckle.

 

[stixman]

The viine grows natural around the tree.

The curled sticks I find are located in very dense thickets of vines.

 

[cobalt]

Somtimes honsuckle grows around hazel over here gives a nice looking stick if your lucky enough to find one.There a nice find i hve never seen one but then not much hazel here that i know of

 

[gdenby]

Most of the honeysuckle I see around here is bush honeysuckle, which is considered invasive in Indiana, and there is a general recommendation to destroy it when found. I have some vine honeysuckle in my garden, which is also considered invasive, but somewhat less problematic. I am hesitant to destroy mine, because it attracts humming birds. But it is starting to become uncontrollable, and is overgrowing my climbing rose bush. I don't believe I've seen any in the wild, so curled sticks are very uncommon around here. Typically, just one or two turns, and the grooves are small, as if the tree overwhelmed what had twined around it.

 

[Fordj]

Honeysuckle vine does that curling. Wow. Not many vines in North Dakota. Those sticks are really good looking, I just won't find any.

 

[Ole Man Dan]

This Vine is Kudzu? I've only been to the South East US on a few work related short trips in the late '90s. The Kudzu was rampant then. Don't hear much about it anymore out in the upper midwest. Is it under control now, or just the new normal? If not Kudzu, what is this vine?

Kudzu has taken over in rural Alabama. Kills nearly everything in it's path.

Some of it grows 6" to a foot a day. IMO: Too agressive to use on walking sticks.

 

[Fordj]

I was just curious about what vine could twist a youg sapling like the Stixman carves. Kudzu I know as a problem vine in the South. Didn't know Honeysuckle was a vine.

Don't want to make a stick of kudzu!

 

[cobalt]

There are a few plants that will give a curl in a stick,there not all vines a lot of flowers will do it as long as its a climber.

A flowering clematis does a good job of it and it looks good as long as you get the right variety of plant .Most climbs will go woody when there a couple of years old and prevent the sticks from expanding where the vine wraps around the stick it normally chokes it eventualy. Have never seen so many sticks like the stixman has tho..Agood source if you can find one but i dont think any stickmaker would tell you where they are .if they knew.There useually planning a head with shanks like that

 

[Fordj]

I really haven't researched vines in North Dakota, but I do grow Hop bines, for my home brew. Hops grow wild here, so I always watch for them growing along little creeks.

There is a tree killing vine here, Wild Cucumber, that I do know where it is growing. It's in a corner of a ranchers feedlot, on an oxbow of a local creek he uses to water his cattle. To go see if it has curled any sticks, I'll have to be escorted by him, as his cattle are always there.

Now I'm curious, as it has killed two of his trees there already. Standing deadwood can make a beautiful stick.

I just cut my 3rd Stick, a standing deadwood branch of my apple tree, 59" long, for a staff. It's already lost about half its bark, and is light, yet stiff.