what do you do with corn and sunflower stalks?

I used them to fill in a truck line that got stuck in my yard.

Hi Jen, I line my potato patch with sunflower stalks, which make great shelters for insects during the winter. They eventually break down and act as great dividers of beds. Best wishes, Gemma

How long is "too long to compost"? I get the treecutter people to dump wood chips on my place and they take five years. Five years later I have a large pile of good compost. Time does pass, funny that. I find sunflower and corn stalks compost in one year, and the allelopathic qualities of the sunflower stalks (and heads--I throw them on the same pile for this reason) dissipate after a year, so I just make sure they're all in the same pile, Also, with both (and sweet potato vines) I clip them into one foot lengths, not so much for slightly faster composting as because it makes turning the pile MUCH easier. I usually do that about twice, and the next fall the compost is ready to spread. Any of the other uses would be fine, except for the burn pile--THAT'S wasting good carbon.

For my cornstalks, I've simply laid them in between my rows as a non-muddy walking path.  After walking on them for a bit they crack & break down in contact with the top soil, further helping decomposition.  

I've done some basketry before, and have lately been thinking about weaving cage sidewalls for a compostable compost pile containment.  

Several have mentioned "allelopathic" sunflower stalks. What does that mean?  Is it good or not so good and for what purpose good/not good?

Why and How Allelopathy Occurs. Allelopathy is a survival mechanism that allows certain plants to compete with and often destroy nearby plants by inhibiting seed sprouting, root development, or nutrient uptake. 1 Other organisms, such as bacteria, viruses, and fungi, can also be allelopathic.

Some allelopathic plants, such as sunflower, walnut, and sorghum, are able to suppress the growth of a long list of other plants with their chemical powers.

Wow Barbara, that is so interesting. Thank you for explaining this about allelopathy. I guess that means you do not want to plant sunflowers near your other garden veggies but over by the fence or in another part of the yard??  Are there some plants that do well together with sunflowers?

We let a single black oil sunflower grow here and there in our veggie patch. Not right in the row but maybe 6 inches away. I haven't really noticed a difference, except that a little extra watering is required in that spot.

I would imagine that a big sunflower patch magnifies the effect.

I think maybe with allelopathic plants, much of the effect is the subsequent year, when you try to plant where sunflower seed hulls have been, or perhaps where you grew such a crop. If you grow rye as a winter cover crop, you're supposed to wait three weeks after eliminating it in spring to plant small seeds, though apparently transplanting into it is fine and apparently some like this effect for weed suppression around tomatoes.

I have been making walking sticks with the stalks.