Trellis system for Petite Pearl

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saddlebronze

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Just wanted to see if anyone has any experience with trellis systems for Petite Pearl. I am currently on 4 cane kniffen on everything, but I am going to concentrate on the pearl, so wanted to know your thoughts. Less than 100 vines so labor is not a factor. Thanks!
 
I use a high wire cordon for mine. That was how they wanted to grow. Mine are 5 year old and there is NOT a lot of growth. Will post a pic later
 
Just walked out to the grapes and took this shot. My 5 year old Petite Pearl. You can see where the deer are eating all the vines that hang low.

image.jpg
 
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Interesting. Yours looks like mid wire cordon. I have a wire that high, and I solved my deer problem with fencing. They were awful before that.
 
I have the cordons on the 3 wire ( counting from the bottom ) the fruiting is between wire 3 & 4. Vines go over wire 4 then start to drop down. The deer dont seem to eat anything from wire 3 and above, when the vines drop back down I really dont care if the deer eat the leaves, justing fatting them up for hunting season:ha
 
Saddlebronze I know this isn't what you are looking for, but these are how I am growing my Petite Pearl. They were planted at the end of April. Maybe some one else reading this thread might like this european style trellis.

Petite Pearl July 27th 2016 1st Year.jpg
 
Hey tony!
I got my petite pearl vines all growing nicely plus a surplus of 10 more in case some don't make it!
 
Best Trellis for Petite Pearl ?

I appreciated the comments here to date.
Has anyone tried VSP on Petite Pearl ?
Any approaches other than High Cordon Trellis that people have tried ?

I appreciate the advice!
 
Petite pearl has been grown on VSP by growers around here. But it does do well on a high wire as it has a tendency to grow downwards.
 
My petite pearl is on a single high wire, 8 ft between vines. I have never tried any other system with it, but the vines that I have grow downward in a beautifully cooperative manner. I spend quite of bit of time in a jungle of Frontenac, La Crescent, Edelweiss, and La Crosse vines trying to position shoots in the summer. Petite Pearl is the easiest of the bunch to manage by far.

My 9 vines yielded 131 lbs of grapes for an average of 16.5 lbs / vine. I probably overcropped it a bit (still figuring out some of that stuff). Must brix was 24.8 at a pH of 3.29. It was the last variety I harvested (9/12/17 in central Iowa).

H
 
My Petite Pearl also really grow downward and are easy to train either horizontally or vertically. Mine have been very vigorous growers. I think they would do well on GDC, I put one vine on GDC this year.
 
Just walked out to the grapes and took this shot. My 5 year old Petite Pearl. You can see where the deer are eating all the vines that hang low.

Grape-fed deer! Sounds delicious!! May I suggest a game cam and crossbow for unobtrusive harvesting this grape by-product?


:h
 

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