I am interested, Bryan, if the brussels will be removed and eaten first before the walking stick is made. Lovely idea.

Hi, welcome to GoY, I had never heard of this, so I googled it, apparently years ago in the channel islands, cabbage and sprout stalks used to grow to 20ft high, and theydecided to make walking sticks out of them, apparently youhave to dry them, some can take up to 2 years to dry, smooth them, and then varnish them, personally I can't imagine a cabbage or sprout stalk growing to 20 ft, no matter how good the growing conditions are, but it's on Google, so it must be right eh,:-) Derek.

I brussel sprout stems would never be tall enough to make a walking stick from but it sounds like an interesting idea and Derek has obviously found some useful info. Welcome to GoY and good luck Bryan! Hopefully you will be posting up a photo in a year or so.

but how tall is your wife byran

20 foot sprouts must have been amazing. Fancy needing a ladder to collect your Christmas greens...

lol Stera, bit Jack and the Beanstalk'ish!

I would look at growing jersey kale (Brassica oleracea) also known as walking stick kale they grows to 6ft and were used to make waking sticks.
http://www.vegetablegardener.com/item/12690/walking-stick-kale-really-works

That's fascinating Steve.

who likes Brussel sprouts? they are distasteful but love the walking stick idea!
:D

Over a decade ago I grew the cabbage one, and it took a couple of years for it to get about 15 ft tall. It also required support against the wind and frequent spraying for cabbage worm. I didn't make a stick, but it was thick enough to do it. Good luck.

I love Brussel sprouts... when we had the land we grew a lot and sold them to the local greengrocer. Min you we did have 3 acres then :)

I like sprouts too but it is too windy here in winter and they blow over. Steve's Jersy Kale sounds just the job for a walking stick - hope it is successful - certainly a talking point anyway!

Seeds of "Tree Kale" from the Isle of Jersey are available online.

£1.50 for 5 seeds on eBay!

Bryan, you have a plan - please post photos of the actual walking stick :)