VSP systems are also very efficient for training Grape Vine Trellis Systems vines, as they can Vune easily attached VVine the wire or cable. In addition, the strength of the vertical post used in the anchored assembly varies in proportion to how deep the post is augered into the soil. The two most common materials employed for line posts are landscape timbers or steel T post.

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How to prune and grow grapes (vine) on a pergola and arbor.

Grape Vine Trellis Systems -

Warm, interior valleys and some coastal valleys that experience several hot spells per year might be better off with a single-wire system than with a more modern shoot-positioned system.

It is important to manage the water and nutrition of these vines so that they do not venture into the classic California Sprawl territory. The T-trellis was and is still used to lift the foliage up and away from the fruit zone.

For this system, the shoots will need to be tucked between the catch wires, which usually requires more than one pass through the vineyard.

Shoot-positioned trellis systems are the current state of the art and are found in most high-end coastal vineyards. Shoots are positioned vertically upwards as they grow, using movable wires to lift the shoots. The vertically-shoot positioned VSP system allows for rows to be positioned more closely together, thus increasing productivity per acre.

Fruit is generally located in a single linear band, which promotes uniformity of quality and ripening. That is why winemakers generally favor this system over most others. Generally speaking, little or no leaf removal is necessary in VSP systems although some leafing is often practiced, especially in tight-clustered varieties 2.

The VSP trellis may not be the best solution in interior valleys as fruit may be under-protected from sunlight and may be damaged during heat events.

Another downside to the VSP is that it does not perform well in high-vigor situations. Some of the vigor may be toned down through wider spacing of the vines, which allows for a greater amount of wood dormant buds to be retained per vine.

However, on high-vigor sites, foliage may become too dense, and leaves become scrunched up within the tight space between the wires, creating a leaf canopy that does not collect sunlight efficiently.

Furthermore, vigorous vineyards will require repeated passes with a cane-cutter in order to maintain the hedgerow shape that is sought after. Multiple cane-cuttings per season an unacceptable situation in my mind is a sign that the vineyard was poorly designed from the beginning. There are other variations on the undivided fruit zone theme, including splitting the foliage into two curtains Wye trellis that alleviates some of the foliage bunching that occurs in the VSP.

More commonly, positioning wires may be spaced out wider so that the foliage is not as compressed. Divided fruit zone or divided canopy trellis systems all have two fruit zones.

They can be horizontally or vertically divided, though the horizontally divided trellis systems are by far the most common. While some winemakers may be convinced that the divided trellis is simply a way for growers to satisfy their greed, most often it is a way to deal with a vigorous site that cannot be trained to a single fruit zone without excessive vegetative growth.

Most of these systems will have two parallel fruit zones, spaced about two to three feet apart. Vines may also be trained to a head and cane-pruned to four canes. There are many variations on this theme, but the most common is probably the Open Lyre trellis system.

In the Geneva Double Curtain GDC system, developed in New York, the cordons are trained high up and shoots are encouraged to droop downward. The GDC system is not appropriate for warm growing regions as the fruit tends to be overexposed to sunlight.

Horizontally divided systems have two fruit zones that overlay one another in a vertically oriented plane. They are all very similar to the VSP in that they are usually shoot-positioned.

However, the upper tier in such systems is similarly trained to a VSP while the lower tier is inverted and the shoots are positioned downward so that the lower tier does not shade out the upper. There are several variations on the horizontally divided theme.

The terminologies seem to keep getting mixed up and I am always frustrated in trying to figure out exactly which name goes with each training system. Nonetheless, Scott Henry , an Oregon winegrower and winemaker, developed the original system of this kind.

He laid out four canes per vine and trained each pair to a different fruiting wire. The lower canes were rolled over and positioned downward, thus leaving two fruit zones open. There have been variations, including the use of cordon-trained vines and alternating up- and down-trained vines within the row 3.

In my experience, vertically divided trellis systems are appropriate only for cool-climate viticultural regions. In warm and hot climates the fruit zones tend to be far too exposed to direct sunlight and the fruit is often damaged by excessive heat, especially in the lower tier, which is closer to the warm soil.

For the same reason, they will not ripen simultaneously; and if care is not taken to harvest them individually, wine quality is unlikely to attain the same levels of quality as a single-canopy system. With that said, I understand that there are numerous vineyard sites where a single fruit zone canopy may simply become a green monster; therefore creating a divided canopy will be completely appropriate for those locations.

And so, what is the best trellis system for winegrapes? One might as well ask, what is the best variety of winegrapes? Tassie and M. Volume 2 Practices.

Coombe and P. Dry, editors. September and M. Sunlight into Wine. December Main Photo Turley Zinfandel Hayne Vineyard: — May : Vinous — Explore All Things Wine. King, C. Trellis Management at Atwater Vineyards in the Finger Lakes of New York.

Your email address will not be published. Check here to Subscribe to notifications for new posts. Advanced Viticulture, Inc. Use of high tensile, gage steel wire is a must.

Lighter weight wire such as that used for electric fencing is not recommended. Breakage during a heavy crop load is almost impossible to repair, and requires significant extra labor, cost and may result in serious crop loss. Additional hardware needed include springs, ratchets, earth anchors, cross arms, wire fasteners and wire splicers.

Some of these are optional while some are a must. Tools requisite for trellis construction are fence pliers, spinning jenny, posthole digger, tamper, shovel and saw.

The spinning jenny is a must. You can either dig the holes for the post or have them driven in the ground with a driver.

In some vineyards posts driven into the ground have proven to be more stable than posts whose ends are placed in holes and tamped into the soil.

In Nebraska, cultivars of three major grape types are being grown: American; French-American hybrids, and newer hybrids of varying parentage; and European, or V. The matching of a trellis system to a cultivar is dependent on the cultivar being grown. Most American and many French-American hybrid cultivars tend to have a downward, or procumbent growth habit.

This type of growth habit is best trained on a trellis with a high renewal zone. Such trellis systems employ training the grape plant on to the top wire, at least 5 to 6 ft above the ground. This allows plenty of room for the vines to curtain downward and just reach the ground by the end of the growing season.

Downward shoot positioning will then be necessary to reorient horizontal shoots and to prevent shading of the renewal zones along the top wire. European, or V. vinfera cultivars on the other hand have for the most part an upright growth habit. This growth habit is best managed with an upward vertical shoot positioning.

The shoots originate from a mid or low wire cordon or cane and are positioned vertically upward through a set of catch wires. When determining trellis choice predicted vigor must also be considered. Site-specific characteristics that influence vine vigor include soil structure and climatic conditions.

A well-designed and properly constructed trellis will produce a large canopy surface area and relatively low canopy density.

A good trellis system with a good canopy management system should produce a canopy that has layers of leaves and minimal shading. This should result in a top quality crop with high sugar content. What is the vine vigor potential of a given site?

That can be difficult to determine if no previous history is available for the site. But if prior cropping history exists for the site then this could be relative easy. Whether a "track record" for the site is or is not available, it is recommended that soil samples be taken.

Test results not only will provide guidance for future fertilizer practice, but also should give a rough idea of the vine vigor potential for the site. If the potential vigor is overestimated and vines are spaced too far apart, yield per acre is generally reduced. If underestimated and inadequate trellis space is provided, shading and its associated problems will occur.

Making the correct choice in the first place is easier than making the corrections later on. There are basically two different types of pruning: cane pruning and spur pruning.

These differ only in the amount of fruiting wood you retain. Cane pruning requires that long, node fruiting canes be retained for fruiting. Spur pruning utilizes short, node canes for fruiting.

The reason for this short overview is that training systems differ in the type of pruning required, and reference will be made to either type of pruning when explaining the different types of trellis available. Cane or spur pruning will perform well with most cultivars.

Some trellis systems will employ both types of pruning e. Other cultivars perform better when cane pruned because the buds that are 4 to 12 nodes from the base of the cane are more fruitful than the first 2 or 3 nodes.

Some cultivars will have a tendency to push many secondary and tertiary buds from canes and latent buds from cordons e. Short spur two node pruning seems to stimulate this problem whereas long spur 6 node , or cane pruning seems to reduce this tendency.

Whether you utilize cane pruning or spur pruning, the training system must effectively display the renewal zone and fruiting wood. The Umbrella Kniffin System maybe the most popular cane pruning system in the Midwest.

This system utilizes long canes buds each that originate from renewal spurs at or near the top of the trunk e. Four to six canes are retained, bent over the top trellis wire and tied securely to the mid wire.

Pruning and tying must be finished before bud swell begins to avoid damage to the tender buds during the tying process. Additional drawbacks of cane-pruned systems include the extra time and effort for tying, and difficulty in leaving extra buds to protect against damage from late spring frosts resulting in double pruning.

This additional, cane pruning cannot be easily mechanized resulting in higher labor cost. High bilateral Cordon and Geneva Double Curtain GDC are the most commonly used spur pruning systems in the Midwest. In many respects spur pruning systems are more efficient than cane pruned systems. Selection of fruiting wood is simplified and there is no laborious tying of canes.

Spur pruning also allows for additional buds to help avoid late spring frost. These systems are also more readily adaptable to mechanization. Cynthiana Norton on a High Cordon. In the High Cordon system cordons extend along the top wire of the trellis in both directions.

The cordons then remain as semi-permanent extensions of the trunk, though they may need replacement every few years.

Either spur pruning or cane pruning can be utilized. Fruiting spurs of 2 to 6 nodes long are spaced along this cordon with shorter renewal spurs left to provide fruiting wood for the next season.

Cordons from adjacent vines extend to meet each other half way between vines so that the canopy is continuous. Down ward shoot position is employed. A High cordon system is for less aggressive vines and low vigor sites. This system is readily adaptable to mechanization.

The Geneva Double Curtain GDC system employs a horizontally divided canopy that is separated into two distinct canopies or "curtains". Cordon support wires are separated by cross arms that are usually 4 feet wide.

Vines are generally trained as in Bilateral Cordon system with cordons of adjacent vine, providing twice as much trellis space for each vine. Occasionally each vine is trained quadrilaterally to occupy both sides of the trellis rather than alternating vines.

Geneva Double Curtain GDC. European Vitis vinifera cultivars have an upright habit. They need a system that can accommodate this along with their lack of winter hardiness.

One that both allows easy removal and replacement of trunks in case of winter injury and provides room for vertical training of shoots. Low-wire and mid-wire systems allow for easy implementation of both these requirements.

Trunks can be trained on to a wire anywhere from 6 to 42 inches above the ground with cordons or canes extending along this wire.

Then the upward growing shoots are then trained between pairs of catch wires on either side of the post to the top of the trellis. This system is commonly called vertical shoot positioning VSP.

After the shoots reach the top of the trellis they then can be trimmed off. This will help prevent shading of the fruit and renewal zone. If the main wire the cordons or canes are trained to is over 42 inches above the ground the trellis system maybe modified with post extensions to accommodate an adequate amount of leaf canopy to allow for proper fruit development.

Extensions can also reduce labor by eliminating the amount of trimming needed when the vines reach the top of the trellis. A word of caution, if shoot trimming is done too early lateral shoot growth maybe promoted causing excessive and undesirable shading of the fruit and renewal zone. Mid-wire vertical shoot positioning VSP.

This type of system can be labor intensive in the positioning of the shoots between the catch wires but does lend itself to mechanical harvesting.

Also the use of a gas powered hedge trimmer can be utilized in the control of the vertical shoots above the trellis and in the dormant pruning. The Fan system or multiple trunks is often used when working with cold tender cultivars.

Several trunks are retained and trained on a multiple wire trellis. Older trunks tend to be more prone to winter injury than young trunks, but are also more fruitful. So the practice is to keep several trunks 3 to 5 of varying years for a continuous renewal of fruiting wood.

It is not recommended to keep any trunk more than five years, with replacement trunks of four, three, two and one years old. Either spur pruning or cane pruning can be employed depending on the degree of winter injury the plant has sustained.

Systrms are several options available Systemz a backyard grape grower when considering which trellis Vnie and which training Grape Vine Trellis Systems Supercharged antioxidant veggies use. I have a favorite Grape Vine Trellis Systems for a backyard trellis. I will give you my perspective on which one and why later. Grapes naturally grow up towards the sun, competing with and using fellow plants and trees to elbow their way up to the sunlight. A grapevine is perfectly happy hanging around a treetop, stealing the available sunlight, and producing sweet grapes up high. Vineyards are not natural systems. If a grapevine had Natural weight loss drinks way, it would: a Treklis be grafted onto some strange rootstock Grape Vine Trellis Systems a Syetems species mix, b not Syatems grown on some shattered Tdellis hillside nor Trelliis the middle Grape Vine Trellis Systems Grapr desert, c have Treplis fruit Ggape by birds or deer rather than being shipped across the Vihe or state to some processing plant, and d rather grow up the side of a tree than up a steel stake and thin wire. Over the years, there have been countless variations on trellis system designs. Coupled with numerous training and pruning styles most generally divided into either cane or spur-pruning, or hybrids of boththe number of permutations of trellis, training and pruning systems is mind-boggling. Many of the trellis systems developed in the last few decades have come from universities and growers in cool-climate grape growing regions e. The goal of much trellis development has been to maximize the leaf area to capture more sun energy and increase productivity in regions that experience short seasons due to late spring and early fall frosts.