Gtongoko 120 Pack Galvanized Landscape Staples Plant Cover Stakes 6 Inch 11 Gauge Lawn Staples Fence Stakes Ground Stakes for Landscaping Securing Weed Barrier Fabric, Decoration

A good landscape staple disappears after you drive it in—quietly doing its job for seasons without bending, backing out, or turning the soil orange. That’s what I was looking for when I put the Gtongoko landscape staples to work across a few projects: anchoring weed barrier and edging, pinning down 1/4-inch irrigation tubing, and keeping frost cloth in place during a windy cold snap. Over several weeks of use (and some hard rain), they proved to be the kind of no-drama hardware I like keeping in the shop.

What you’re getting

This is a 120-count box of U-shaped, hot-dip galvanized steel staples. Each stake is 6 inches long, made from 11-gauge (about 3 mm) wire, with a crown that measures roughly 1 inch at the top and flares a bit wider toward the legs. In practice, that geometry gives you a crown wide enough to straddle drip lines, low-voltage wire, or netting without pinching too aggressively, and legs stout enough to resist twisting in hard soil.

The box itself is sturdy enough to serve as a dispenser, which matters when you’re setting dozens at a time and don’t want a cardboard blowout on the way to the job.

Build and coating

The 11-gauge wire is the headline here. Most budget pins you’ll find locally are 14-gauge and tend to bend into sad pretzels when they meet roots or rocky clay. These feel substantially stiffer in the hand and, more importantly, under a mallet. The tips are sharply cut, almost chisel-like. They bite through landscape fabric without snagging threads and consistently penetrate turf and compacted beds without wandering.

Gtongoko uses a hot-dip galvanizing process. The coating looks and feels thicker than a light electroplating, and it’s evenly applied over the legs and crown. After installation and two weeks of weather (including several downpours and muddy conditions), I saw no orange leaching or staining at the insertion points. For a longer-term check, I left a set in continuously damp clay by a hose bib for a few months; the coating dulled, as zinc does, and I got a few tiny freckles at the freshly cut tips on a couple of stakes. That’s normal—the cut ends are where galvanizing is thinnest. Nothing approached structural corrosion.

If you care about reusability, the coating is a genuine benefit. I was able to pull used staples, brush off the soil, and toss them back in the box without worrying about flaking rust.

In the ground

Installation is straightforward. I used a rubber mallet for most of the work and a dead-blow hammer when I encountered small stones. The staples track straight and don’t twist off axis when they meet resistance, which is often where cheap pins fail. On hardpack or rooty zones, start them by hand to orient and then finish with the mallet; if you hit a rock, a slight angle change gets them home.

Once seated, they hold. Six inches is a sweet spot for most applications: long enough to resist uplift from wind or fabric memory, short enough that extraction later isn’t a wrestling match. For extremely loose sandy soils, you may want an 8-inch staple, but for clay, loam, and turf, these are plenty.

A nice touch: because the U can flex, you can pinch the legs inward slightly before driving to increase clamping pressure over thin materials (e.g., netting or plastic sheeting), or widen the crown a hair to sit over tubing without crimping it. That adjustability makes them more versatile than a rigid V-staple.

Versatility in use

I used these across a handful of tasks:

• Weed barrier and landscape fabric: At seams and edges, the staples keep fabric tight without tearing. The sharp tips don’t snag woven fabric the way blunt pins can.
• Edging bricks and paver restraints: The stiffer wire keeps restraints from creeping as you tamp adjacent bedding material.
• Irrigation: The 1-inch crown easily straddles 1/4-inch drip lines and holds them in wind without collapsing the tubing. For 1/2-inch mainline, seat the staple at a slight diagonal and don’t overdrive.
• Frost blankets and netting: Wide enough to capture fabric without cutting it. I found it helpful to pre-fold the edge to add bulk under the crown in gusty conditions.
• Hoses and light fencing: For garden hoses that tend to wander, a pair of staples every few feet keeps the line tidy along a bed edge. They’re also useful for temporary plastic fencing or plant cages.

Removal is equally painless. A flat pry bar, claw hammer, or even another staple hooked under the crown will lift them cleanly with minimal disturbance to the surrounding soil.

Ergonomics and safety

They are truly sharp. Wear gloves if you’re setting a large number—your fingers will thank you. The cut ends can catch skin if you slide your hand along the crown. Eye protection is wise if you’re hammering into rocky soil; a glancing blow off a hidden pebble can send grit flying.

Spacing and technique tips

• Fabric edges: 12–18 inches between staples, closer in windy areas or on slopes.
• Seams: Every 12 inches along the overlap, or tighter if the fabric has memory.
• Interior grid: 24–36 inches apart for general stabilization.
• Tubing: Every 2–3 feet on straights, plus one at each curve.

If the ground is baked, a quick hose-down or a pilot hole with a screwdriver makes driving easier and reduces bounce.

Durability and weathering

In my use, the coating has held up well without staining or significant rusting. Expect the surface to dull to a gray patina as the zinc passivates—that’s normal and protective. Where you’ll see the first signs of corrosion is at the cut tips, especially in constantly wet soil. That’s not unique to these staples; it’s a limitation of any cut galvanized wire. Practically, I don’t expect that to impact service life for typical seasonal or multi-year anchoring. If you plan to leave staples in the ground for many years in perpetually damp conditions, consider stainless options—but you’ll pay a hefty premium and lose some stiffness at the same gauge.

How they stack up

Compared with the common 6-inch, 14-gauge bare-steel pins from big-box stores, these are in a different league. They drive straighter, resist bending, and don’t leave rust halos around the insertion points. Against other 11-gauge galvanized pins, performance is right where it should be: stout, predictable, and reusable. You can find longer 8-inch staples and heavier 9-gauge options for special cases (deep mulch over sandy soil, high-wind fabric installations), but those are overkill for most garden and landscape tasks and add cost.

Value

Buying in a 120-pack makes sense. The count is generous enough to finish a medium project without rationing, and you’ll have leftovers for future odds and ends. Because they’re reusable, the effective cost per use goes down over time. Between the thicker gauge and the galvanizing, they feel more “pro” than their price suggests.

Limitations

• Not stainless: In permanently wet or saline environments, expect some surface spotting over time, especially at the cut ends.
• Length: Six inches covers most needs; for very loose sand or deep mulch, you may need longer pins.
• Sharpness: Great for penetration, but be mindful when handling a pile of them; the tips can nick skin.

None of these are deal-breakers; they’re simply the trade-offs you manage with any metal stake.

The bottom line

The Gtongoko staples do what good ground stakes should: go in cleanly, hold fast, and come back out in one piece when you’re done. The 11-gauge wire resists the bending that plagues cheaper pins, the hot-dip galvanizing keeps rust at bay, and the 6-inch length hits the right balance for most soil conditions. Add a wide, slightly flexible crown and you’ve got a small piece of hardware that adapts to a range of outdoor tasks—from fabric and edging to irrigation and seasonal coverings.

Recommendation: I recommend these staples to gardeners, landscapers, and DIYers who want a reliable, reusable anchor for fabric, tubing, and light fixtures. They strike a smart balance of stiffness, corrosion resistance, and price, and they simplify the kind of repetitive anchoring work that can turn frustrating with flimsy pins. If you routinely work in very loose sand or need permanent, years-long installations in saturated soil, look at longer or stainless alternatives; otherwise, this 120-pack is a dependable, no-fuss staple—literally and figuratively—for your outdoor toolkit.