Tips on equipment and trellis

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Domenickvde

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Hi there,

My name is Domenick, 25 years of age and living in the southwest of the Netherlands in a coastal area.

I have a question regarding the trellis line heights. I want to have some ranks (some guyot and some cordon) but I an not sure to which hight I shall let the stems grow before bending.

Anyone can share their trellis setup and hights?

Thank you
 
Welcome, Domenick. I think the height of your fruiting wire (where you will establish your cordons or canes) is largely up to you and what you think will be most convenient to work on. I set the fruiting wire for my first vines at around 4 feet (120cm). This is a nice height for spraying and harvesting the grapes as I don’t have to bend over or squat as much, but it can take some vines longer to reach that height plus the overall trellis needs to be taller to accommodate the seasonal growth of the shoots every year. On my more recent plantings, I reduced the fruiting wire down to around 1 meter, which I think will be a good compromise.
 
My rows have the fruiting wire ( lowest heavy wire ) set at approximately 1 meter high, along with a tandem 'hedge' wire ( lighter gauge wire ) to contain the vines growth about 0.5 meters above the fruiting wire. I use one more heavy wire about 1.8 meters high ( height from the ground ) This keeps the fruit at a nice height for me, and the overall height of the row is not too tall for later pruning/trimming.
 
welcome to Wine Making Talk

As noted height is really for your convenience. The varieties which I can grow either have genetics for growing upward or growing down. That said grapes are hard to maintain and pick if they get over 2 meters. I try to put my fruiting zone at 1.5 to 1.75 meters.
 
Last edited:
I have a question regarding the trellis line heights. I want to have some ranks (some guyot and some cordon) but I an not sure to which hight I shall let the stems grow before bending.
What grape varietals do you want to grow?

Different varietals do better on different types of trellis systems. And you have to consider your management efforts as well.

For example, I grow Vinifera. Mostly whites. Vertical trellis. Mostly cane training.

Most of my vines are on a 2 meter tall wire trellis. 4 wires. At a bottom wire of 80 cm. This gives them at least 1 meter of leaf after leaf pull to ripen the grapes. A 2 meter trellis is easy to spray with backpack sprayers (my land is too steep for tractors). The vines are hedged as needed to keep them at the 2 meter trellis height.

So again, how you want to manage your vines will dictate how you set up your vineyard. Some vineyards here grow their grapes on a 45° angle to the ground. Allowing longer vine growth per vine even they are also on a 2 meter tall trellis.

In short, what do other grape growers in your area do? They will really be the best ones to give advice for local conditions.

Hope this helps.
 
Hi there,

My name is Domenick, 25 years of age and living in the southwest of the Netherlands in a coastal area.

I have a question regarding the trellis line heights. I want to have some ranks (some guyot and some cordon) but I an not sure to which hight I shall let the stems grow before bending.

Anyone can share their trellis setup and hights?

Thank you
Bend at 60 t0 75 centimetres for single Guyot with pairs of wires to 2 metre total height and rows 2 metres apart
 

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rows 2 metres apart
Not wishing to add petrol to the row distance debate, but 2 metres is a more common North American distance. In Europe, vines rows are often much closer spaced. But it varies depending on local conditions. Which is why better to go out and about and see and ask what other locals are doing in the Netherlands, as the local practices probably know better what to use. But in the end, one decides to plant as they wish and are responsible for that decision. :cool:
 

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