Live Stake Giveaway

New River Conservancy will be hosting a FREE LIVE STAKE giveaway on December 6 from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm at the Draper, Virginia office during the Holiday Open House.

Please complete the form  to register HERE

Live stakes are cuttings from dormant trees that can grow into new plants! In the winter, trees go into dormancy, a natural process where they conserve energy to survive the cold. This is the perfect time for planting live stakes, as the cuttings can focus on growing strong roots before the spring season arrives.

The live staking season typically runs from November to March, where you can plant hardy hardwood stakes that will establish their roots first. These roots stay steady, quietly working underground, and when spring arrives, the stakes burst into life, growing their branches and leaves.

But that’s not all—these tough roots play a crucial role in protecting stream banks from erosion, especially during high-flow events. By planting live stakes when trees are naturally conserving their energy, we help ensure a higher success rate for survival along riparian buffers.

If you have a stream bank and would like to restore vegetation along the bank, this is a great opportunity.

Live Staking is a method that can be used to add plant life back to the stream bank. This is something that can easily be done by landowners that involves planting stem cuttings taken from dormant trees (before bud break in the spring). The cuttings are called “live stakes”. These cuttings will establish a root network, preventing further soil loss.

Planting live stakes is simple, but will probably require you to work from the stream (wear waders or high boots). You can use something such as rebar approximately 2 feet long to create pilot holes. Place the stakes 2-3 feet apart in several rows, in a triangular pattern. The pilot hole should be at a 90-degree angle to the soil. Plant the stakes at a depth that ½ to 2/3 of the stake is in the soil. These are planted densely with the expectation that not all will survive. Only plant as high on the stream bank as the live stake will reach the water table (the cutting needs to be in contact with moist soil in order to root. During the first year don’t expect to see much above-ground growth as establishing root growth in the first year is most important. Wait until the second growing season before evaluating which stakes survived and which did not.

REGISTER HERE