Monday, May 12, 2014

How to build a grapevine trellis

It's supposed to be a really windy weekend, and I looked outside and sure enough the small 6ft steaks i've been using to "trellis" my grapevines are blowing all over the place in the wind.  It's been this way for a few days, but what can I say i'm lazy :).

Well today I finally decided to not be lazy, and I finally put together my grapevine trellis, and I must say it's working great.

Steps:

Step 1 - is to go to your local "buy all your home goods" store (lowes), and buy

  • 4x4 outdoor post 6ft tall - you need 2 of these, one for each side.
  • 4 eye screws (they're basically just screws with loops on the end)
  • 200 feet of bailing wire (or multi-purpose wire), I got 16 gauge stuff, and 200 feet isn't important, just so long as you have "enough"
  • 2 of These bad boys (these were where I was being lazy, and i'm really really happy it did) - If you don't get these, then get 9ft or 10ft tall posts above, and a shovel, and a strong back :).
  • Turnbuckles - I found these at lowes and just bought the biggest ones they had.  These help tighten up the wires
Step 2 - hammer in "those bad boys".  Give your plant at least 3 or 4 feet and hammer the posts in, try and get it straight up and down.  I would recommend getting a 6 inch piece of 4x4 wood so that you can sledge hammer it in easier.

Step 3 - Put the posts in, and screw them in.

Step 4 - Now it's time to use the eye screws, I used 4 so I could make 2 lines of wire, but you could easily do 3 lines, up to u (i might even add another one myself, it's pretty easy).  If you do 3 lines, make sure to get 3 turnbuckles.

Step 5 - Add the wire, and the turnbuckles.  I made the turnbuckles near one of the posts, but i'm sure it doesn't actually matter.

Step 6 - Tie the grapevines to the trellis, I used small pieces of bailing wire, and didn't make them very tight.  The 16 gauge is thick enough that I'm not too worried about them digging into the vines, but I also made them pretty loose.

Step 7 - Enjoy :), though if you're like me the next step is to find a good way to add netting to protect against birds.


Best Pictures I could take:
Notice the loops if you can see them.  Also see that I kept the
old posts I had and just tied them to the wire.

Other post on the other side. 

This grapevine is much happier now (or I am anyway)
Notice that i found the best vines to train along the wires, these will grow the
full length.  Also, you'll notice a little on the right the turnbuckles that I got.

All in all I have to say, for a couple hours of work this was much easier than I was afraid of.  Especially with the e-z post guards.

UPDATE:
If I had to do this again, which I'm sure someday I will, I'd have used one way anchor vices instead of the turnbuckles and eye holes.  Would have made things a lot easier.

If you're interested in growing grapes, This video series is simply amazing (dry :), but amazing)

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