Grape Arbor?

[grundle]

Anyone grow their own grapes? I am planning on building my own "grape arbor" this year and start a few vines going up it. I have a potted vine starting its 3rd season this year and have decided that I ought to get serious about it.

I found some nice plans at http://www.buildeazy.com/arbor.html

Has anyone else done anything like this? Do you have any pictures, advice or improvement ideas?

[crashdive123]

A few of my customers have grapes growing in their yards. The all have used single strands of wire stretched between posts. Seems to work pretty good.

[grundle]

A few of my customers have grapes growing in their yards. The all have used single strands of wire stretched between posts. Seems to work pretty good.

Yea that is the traditional "trellis" method that wineries use. I don't like the way they look, since it will kind of give my yard a tacky look. With an arbor the vine will be allowed to have more growth potential, and will end up serving as a great shade provider.

Generally on a trellis they put one vine per post and heavily prune them to always keep them about that size.

[MMonette]

our grape climb the side of the porch,we had chicken wire up then the just kinda took over......... but an arbor i don't know about.

[Rick]

"When pruning, keep in mind that fruit is produced on the current season’s growth, that in turn grows from last season’s wood. Heavy pruning provides the best fruit. Light pruning result in large yields of poor-quality fruit; very heavy pruning produces too much vegetative growth and very little or no fruit."

http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/horticulture/DG1103.html

[canid]

yeah crash, and after a certain point, the grapes do an incredible job of holding up the posts and wire.

the arbor would probably turn out great. a good supply of grapes and a nice spot of shade in the yard. just remember that they will end up going wherever you let them.

[Sam Reeves]

"When pruning, keep in mind that fruit is produced on the current season’s growth, that in turn grows from last season’s wood. Heavy pruning provides the best fruit. Light pruning result in large yields of poor-quality fruit; very heavy pruning produces too much vegetative growth and very little or no fruit."Ooops.

Well, there is always next year. :o

[smitty]

I have started to build a trellis. It is made of 8) 8' x 4" x 4" black locust posts buried to the height of 5', with a 4' 2" x 4" attached at the top of each post with 3/8" bolts.--resembling a telephone pole. There will be two wires-- one on either side of the crosspieces. The poles are 10' apart, with an entire span of 80'. There are 7 grape plants total.

My question is how do I secure the wire to the trellis? Will staples work? What is the deal with making it taut enough? What kind of anchoring systems for the wire are needed? I have read a lot on the internet, but most of the information is on systems much larger.

Thanks for any replies!
Smitty

[crashdive123]

I have not installed a grape arbor, but you should be able to use screw eyes or bolts with the final eye being twisted to apply tension.

[crashdive123]

You could also just drill holes in the piece of wood and run the wire trough it. For the length of your arbor you could probably tighten by hand at each post/cross-member and secure it before moving to the next post.

[smitty]

Yes, that makes sense. Unfortunately that locust is reaally hard-- I almost started a fire when I drilled the holes for the bolts. Anyway I do it I'll have to put some kind of hole in the locust. What do you mean by hand tighten? This is my first project like this.
Thank you.
Smitty

[crashdive123]

Again, I haven't made one - but what I mean is pulling the shorter lengths tight between post and then taking a couple of turns around a nail. This way you are not trying to tighten an 80 foot length of wire. There are a few folks here that have made them. Maybe they can offer better advice than I have given.

[Winnie]

This any good?
http://gardening-guides.com/pdf-library/grapes.pdf

[Rick]

There are a couple of devices you can use to tighten the wire. One is a "wire tensioner" that looks like:

http://www.fatcow.com.au/odin/images/233406/Fence-Straining-Tools-From-Farmerswarehouse-233406.jpg


They are typically used on electric fences and you should be able to find them at any farm supply store.

The other type is a guy wire tensioner that looks like:

http://www.dastv.co.uk/images/pht/th_s/630_DAS0398_Guy_Wire_Turnbuckle_Tensioner.jpg

You should be able to find that at any hardware store.

Just remember that you need to anchor the end posts or all you'll succeed in doing is pulling the posts over when you tension the wire.

If you look at the picture below, you can see the end posts are braced to prevent the fence from pulling it over. You can also place anchors on the outside of the post similar to the down guys you see on utility poles. That's exactly why they are there.

http://www.valleyfence.net/vfpics/barbed%20wire%2004.jpg

Otherwise you'll be tightening away and wondering why your wire isn't getting tighter. When you look at the end post you'll find your just pulled it right over.

[Chris]

There are earth anchors you bury to provide an anchor for the wire. There are also wire vises that hold the wire tight as it is pulled through, if you have a short length of trellis it can be good enough.

[Terri]

We have grape vines that were planted about 60 years ago, (by my husbands grandparents) that climb up a windmill. Its sturdy enough but its hard to get the ones on top! : )

Just be careful when choosing the spot to plant them that there is enough sun. Our neighbor planted grapes about 15 years ago and has never really gotten any significant amount of fruit because it was too shady.

[Chris]

full sun is best, on a south western slope on the eastern shore of a large body of water if you can swing it.