North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["William C. Garthright" <billg@inebraska.com>]

> I have a few young grape vines that are currently grown on the 
> neighbor's chain fence. I'm looking to add a simple trellis that will 
> be higher than the fence, around 4'-6'.


I almost hate to post this, because it will demonstrate just how lazy I 
am. But it seems to work for me. I am certainly not going to pretend 
this is the best way to do it, but then, I don't have a vineyard. I just 
wanted to grow some grapes in my backyard. (I had more than I could eat 
last year,... so I'm planting more this spring. Go figure!)

I just drove 8 ft. steel fence posts (t-posts) along the inside of my 
chainlink fence and then ran clothesline cable (easy to work with, dirt 
cheap, and 34 lb. load limit) between them, one at the very top (about 5 
1/2 ft. high or so, I guess) and one halfway to the top of the fence.

My biggest concern was the wind, which gets very strong here on the 
Great Plains. You do need to find some way to brace it, so the whole 
thing doesn't blow over sideways. But here is my experience, so far:

1. The clothesline cable seems to work fine. It sags just a little (I 
only pulled it hand tight), but I can't see why that's a problem. I just 
want a scaffold for the grapevine to grow. I don't know how long it will 
last, but it's real cheap and easy to work with. I can always replace 
it, if necessary (especially since grapes are pruned back so drastically 
every spring).

2. I didn't know that steel t-posts came in 8 ft. lengths when I first 
tried this, so I tried regular 8 ft. garden poles (aluminum, with a 
hollow center). For the most part, they held up better than I should 
have expected, but a few bent too far and are now creased. Once that 
happens, they don't have any horizontal strength at all. It didn't 
really hurt anything last year (I had to run a temporary brace), but I'm 
replacing them all with steel t-posts this year. And I'm going to place 
the posts only 4 ft. apart along the fence, much closer than I had the 
garden poles.

3. The top sways in the wind, which is just fine with me. I just didn't 
want it to blow over. Our normal winds are from the west, and I put the 
posts on the east side of my chainlink fence. And I did connect the 
posts to the fence, loosely. You have to be careful of this, because you 
can easily pull your fence to one side, at least in the middle - and 
especially where there's a gate. I wouldn't rely on the chainlink fence 
to hold this up, not entirely, anyway (it will help, though).

But I've got a lot of fruit trees on both sides, and I'm using steel 
t-posts to keep them upright, too. So I'm running one line of 
clothesline cable from the top of those, too, on both sides of the 
fence. What I'm trying to do is have a network of support. The whole 
thing should sway wildly in the wind, but I'm expecting it to be broad 
enough to keep everything from leaning too far. And there's enough give 
to it all that no one point should have too much of the load. Well, 
that's the idea, anyway.

I didn't have this part set up last year (as I say, I'm expanding the 
whole thing with more grapevines this year), but I'm pretty confident it 
will work. Even without that, and using flimsy poles for the whole 
thing, it worked pretty well. And if it doesn't,... well, it was cheap 
and very easy and I'll just have to think of something else then.

Another advantage is that my grapes take up almost no room at all. I can 
grow all the grapes I can possibly eat, and still have room for dwarf 
fruit trees. The chainlink fence (which runs north-south) was there 
already, after all, and I own both sides of it. (However, in your case, 
if it's your neighbor's fence, I don't suppose you'll be able to run 
cable from his side to brace it - or to fasten to the fence itself. 
You'll have to work out a different set of bracing. Can't help you there.)

I just thought this might give you some ideas. As I say, I'm sure it's 
not the BEST system, but I wouldn't ever build something like that. This 
is cheap and easy and gives me plenty of grapes, so far. And it doesn't 
take up much room - any room, really - so I can go wild planting other 
fruit everywhere else. Heh, heh. I have to admit, though, that my grapes 
have been the easiest thing to grow and the easiest thing to pick - they 
seem to take almost no work at all. And after eating my grapes, I can't 
handle the grocery store varieties. There's just no comparison.

Good luck,

Bill
Lincoln, NE

--
Where it is a duty to worship the sun, it is pretty sure to be a crime 
to examine the laws of heat. - John Morley