On Sat, 17 Apr 2004 01:00:03 GMT, "Bob"
wrote:

Am looking to grow grapes and was considering constructing a trellis out of
1 1/4" galvanized pipe. I was planning on driving the vertical runs about 3
feet below grade(frost line here) and running 1 1/4" horizontal piping runs
about 7 feet high off them. A few concerns came to mind.....the horizontal
runs will be about 10 feet long....is that long enough? The vines will be
trained along the piping. Due to the size of the piping will it tend to get
too hot for the vines as the direct sun shines on them, thus burning the
vines and leaves? I'm in the northeast. Thanks in advance.


First.. I'm compelled to say, if you live in the city limits, check
with zoning folks to see if there are any rules as to the height of
your grape support. I'm in the process at the moment (just called the
code enforcement people this morning) with dealing with the issue that
my posts are too tall, over 6' , because the jerk next door that the
woman who lives there married recently, complained that they were too
tall. They've been there for 10 years, and as soon as he saw a friend
out there putting up braces to support the corners he was out there
saying "you can't do that! You can't do that it's against the code"
*sigh* He's taken it upon himself to complain about everything he can
since he moved in.. hates me for some reason. Dun no if it's that I'm
fat, or he took what I had said about trimming the trees growing into
the phone lines as a threat. Just said I didn't know if they phone
company could charge him for trimming if the lines caused an outage.
Dun no, but he didn't trim them and I had an outage because of it.

Anyway, I'm likely to have to cut them to 6' because of the twit.

My father used to be the water master for a geothermal heating
company, and often had to replace water lines where there were still
chunks of pipe that was still sturdy, so he used 3 pipes to support
the grapes on the west side of the back yard (those are going to be a
joy to cut). One was just replaced as it had rotted off at ground
level after 22 years or so. The exterior of the pipes was corroded
with calcifications and such. So you might be able to roughen them
and put some mixed up cement or plaster if it's really bothering you,
but unless your sun beats down harder than this zone 6 high desert
area does, I don't figure it's going to get too hot to bother grape
vines.

However, how long of a span are you planning to run these horizontal
pipes before you put in another vertical support? Some of the grape
varieties are VERY vigorous and it's amazing how much growth they can
produce over the course of a summer! I have Himrods, a seedless green
grape, that regularly puts out 20 to 30 feet of vine over the course
of a year, and the weight load can get pretty amazing too when they
bear heavily, particularly if you are like me, and don't get them
pruned when you should ;-)

Himrods can put out a lot of vine by the third year and start cropping
then and every year after that. Himrods have long loose clusters,
others like Mars and Venus have tight large clusters, Canadice have
LOTS of tight clusters with medium sized berries. They too are
vigorous vines. Their skins can get pretty tough if they don't get
adequate water but they're pretty sweet. Concords and Ontario would
be vigorous heavy producers. Interlaken often freeze to the ground as
do thompson seedless grapes in my area zone 6. Some folks who live on
the top of a hillside manage to grow them, as the cold flows down the
hill away from them. But not here, the one year they produced
anything they were smaller than baby peas. I dug them out.

I used 10 gauge black wire for supporting the grapes run through
redwood posts. Wire works well in that it does give a little if the
grapes decide to hunker down and pull on it. I can cut the vines
loose in the winter or spring .. stretch them a little, and they're
good to go. They *might* pull down a more rigid support. I can't
visualize the pipe size ..I know I know.. you told me but I gotta see
it .. to SEE it ;-) Grapes are tenacious things that can surprise
you with how much they can grow and how many grapes they can make.
One season I think I gave away a pickup bed full..long standard pickup
bed!

I have one that is my favorite I started from cuttings from a friend's
vine. In their yard it had seeds. In mine, it's been seedless ..
except for the years when the growing conditions gave all the seedless
grapes little soft seeds. That particular grape is soooo good that it
floods the *entire* mouth, cheeks, roof of the mouth, and tongue with
so much flavor it's just amazing. I gotta get some others started
because the jerk that's complaining about the height of the posts
supporting the grapes, is letting a black walnut grow right next to
the fence where that grape is, jugulone put out by the roots could
kill it.

Good luck with your grapes, but check those city/county codes!

Janice