Get you a stake of some kind and stake at least one leg of that teepee. Drive the stake as far into the ground as you can...Better if you can do two stakes...

I made some stand alone bamboo teepees for my pole beans. So I put horizontal braces at three different spots up along the bamboo stakes. So, if they do fall over, the whole thing will have to fall over together. We've actually had some pretty bad winds recently, and they didn't fall over. I think, especially, once the beans really start climbing, that should anchor the structures to the ground.

Try using a pipe clamp instead of tying the poles together at the top.

I ram the poles in the ground before I tie them together. If I think they won't hold I put a long one in the center. Then if I want, I wrap string around the poles at different heights.

If you put the poles in the ground first (not really vertical but almost) and then gather them at the top, you create a little tension that keeps the top tight.

Watch out for green bamboo as it might just root like willow and russian sage. (Both of which can look dead and not be.)

Here's a little toot for you. Maybe it'll help some. I have never figured this out, either. Good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: Lashing for Vegetable Supports

I know its probably too late for this year, but I use fence. Just some 3' poultry netting, I attach it to the posts about 1 ft off the ground. The beans start to climb, reach the fence and continue up.

Make sure the dirt is packed down really well around the base of each pole, and re-tie the tops so they're tight... that link about how to lash bamboo is a good one. If you can find some waxed twine, that's even better... it really grips well.

And once the beans start climbing the teepee, they will help to anchor it.

Indian teepees were anchored by a rope which ran straight down from the top, where it bound the sticks together, to a stake driven into the ground in the center of the floor. I would use a tent peg, a piece of rebar or a piece of pipe for that stake.

Jim

Oh, I hear your pain! My first teepee fell over halfway through the season! The central anchor sounds good to me, although I've never used one. Mostly I had success with digging a hole for each pole app. 8 inches deep, placing the teepee (already lashed), then filling the holes and stomping good on them. For that I did have to use 4 poles, not 3. Good luck!

Sunni

BTW, it does get worse as the beans grow and form a large, heavy, wind catching mass high up on the poles. I've had my share of blowovers late in the season. It's really difficult to set them back up at that stage.

Jim

I don't use any support at all for pole beans or peas either, for that matter. I just plant them fairly closely, and they grow like bush beans and use themselves for support.... I've grown pole and bush beans side by side this way, and really, the only way you can tell the difference is that pole beans are slightly longer and spread a little farther, but they all form the same roughly 10"-12" high mat. My veggies are on a hillside in terraced boxes, so this is a much easier way for me to deal with climbing plants.

Duck tape the top.Push poles in ground 6" to 8" stomp the dirt around them real good.

Never thought of duck tape.

Thanks everyone, there are some really good ideas here. Surely I can make this work.

Thanks to everyone for your suggestions and links.

Hi Sundrops,

Another idea would be to pound 3' rebar in the ground next to some of your stakes and tie them to the rebar. It's cheap and should work well with your current setup.

Personally, I pounded 2 rebar into the ground and put electrical conduit on top, then used a cheap nylon mesh netting for my polebeans. The bean plants are over 10 feet tall now and i'm just seeing my first flowers. Below picture of my polebeans is from 11 days ago

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Excellent suggestions above... the only items I might add is that the slip ties also work great to fasten support stakes like rebar to the bamboo poles. Secondly, one may not want to go too deep with rebar. I had great difficulty removing rebar stakes that I pounded a bit too deep into the soil.

The folks who said to stake the legs down real well are right. Without the stakes, the whole thing can blow over at any time in the future. The idea about horizontal bracing between the legs is also good. You could even use some more bamboo for the braces and lash it on real tight. Braces more rigid than bamboo would probably be best. You simply don't want the flimsy legs flopping around in the wind. I really like the idea about pulling the tension line down from the center. I'm just not sure how much tension on bamboo is good.

Ted