Grapevine Supports

Out on the 5 acres I’m renting, I came across an area where it looks like someone once had planted grapevines. The weird thing was, there were holes nearby where posts must have once stood, but now all that’s left are these healthy vines growing on the ground waiting for whoever it was that planted them to come back and support them. I drove to the nearest hardware and lumber supply store to purchase posts, wire and eye hooks. I decided not to use recycled posts like the lumber I used for the garden boxes. These will need to be strong, treated and at least 10’ in length. The wire can be a recycled satellite cable, telephone cable or a medium gauge wire depending on, if you have it on hand or need to go out and purchase it. The large size eye hooks, well you’ll see how that works. My Mother has used cattle fencing and chicken wire, but I find that its awkward, heavy and doesn’t always stand as straight under the weight of the vine like it should. I placed my posts 2’ deep and 6-8’ apart. Across the top I nail in a 2’ x 4’  x 8’ for added support. Approximately 2’ from the ground on both posts, I tap in the hooks with a hammer to get it started and then handscrew the eye hooks in partway facing each other. I repeat this 2’ up from them and then 2’ above the second pair. So you should have three eye hooks 2’ apart on both posts, facing each other. Then I string my wire across from one hook to the other as tight as I can, making a straight line of wire between posts. There should be three wires across when you are done. After that I grab a long handled screwdriver, insert it in the eye hooks and turn it until each hook is fully into the post. That’s my simple secret for tightening the wire when you are the only one there to do it. After that, I use the little wire ties that come with the bread I buy at the store to tie the vines in place on the wire. Save those ties, they come in real handy for all kinds of vines; tomato, grapes, peas, you name it. They’re handy and free so don’t throw them out.