Tie Vines To A Grape Trellis
By Mary G. Holland
May 9, 2015
Grape Trellis Milestone
A few days ago it was time to tie up to the new grape vine trellis. Woo Hoo!!! This is a major milestone. It made me so happy, I smiled the whole time! It means this tiny vineyard is over the first major hump of getting established, and has a chance of success.
Thought I’d share some tips that others might find helpful.
Cheap and Effective Ties
It may seem a bit crude, but when my underwear and sweats wear out, I wash them one last time then cut off the elastic and hems and use the strips to tie up plants. Voila! Free plant tie-ups.
Avoid Vine Damage
Another concern when tying up a plant or vine to a wire trellis, is damaging plant tissue or stems by abrasion against the support structure, or of a metal wire heating up in the sun and scalding the plant. To cushion the grape vine, I wrapped the strip a few times around the trellis wire. Then I loosely tied the vine to the cushioned wire. Here’s a picture.
Have you any similar tips you’ve found helpful? Please share!
Update 5/16/15 – Two La Crescent grapes had several 1/4″ trunks that I trimmed back to two stems, then pruned those. These were the ones that kept bleeding slightly even with tourniquets. They both have budded out at the base and only one stem has a second bud leafing out at the tip. The other stems are self-pruning back several nodes. I’m convinced that it’s worthwhile trying to apply the tourniquets in late winter and letting the branch die back before pruning, possibly after buds break and I can see what is actually dead.
I also am going to ensure there are no extra base stems growing in fall. Been keeping buds at the base lopped off most vines that have leafed out along the main trunks.