Not sure what to say. They are stakes, the merchant describes the coding for each length so you know what you are getting, which in this case are 3 foot stakes. They have a green dye coating them which rubs off onto your hands (or gloves), but i don't see as being harmful (although if somebody determines factually that they are, i would like to know)...otherwise, they stick in the ground and vines grow up their length. I did remove one star from the ranking because of their moderate lack of durability. You can bet on them snapping at some point. However, you'll probably make it through the majority of your growing season with most of them intact. I think twelve have broken as of now (presently Feb of 2012, 8 months after i wrote this initially).