My trellis is starting to bow. See photo posted below. This picture was taken on 06/01 and the second year plants are now past the horizontal support. I don’t want to do anything this year, but tell me if my logic is flawed for next year. After harvest when I drop the supports I am thinking of drilling a hole at the top of each support. Drive in ribar at an angle and run my support line from anchor through the supports to the anchor. I’m not an engineer, but would this not relieve some of the stress on the upright support? Please advise Thanks.
Did you use treated 4x4s for the supports? If so, it’s possible that they are bowing simply from drying out (this happened to me on a fence, very frustrating).
Going from anchor to anchor will not keep them from bowing in - as the weight on the lines increases it will put tension on the support wire, pulling it down in the middle which will pull the supports towards the middle as well. Would be better to connect the anchors to the supports and using two anchors per side would help to keep the supports from flexing when it’s windy.
When you drop the poles, put an eye bolt thru the top of each pole with the eye to the outside. Then tie a rope or cable and create a guy wire, similar to a telephone pole. You might want two on each one to give more stability.
Dropped it down and added the extra support without destroying the bines. Last year drought this year rain every I other day. Picture following was taken on the 15th. The bines are now 2’ past the horizontal rope and growing 8" to a foot a day. Holy Schnikey’s! Fascinating plants. Next year the horizontal line will be the Vinyl coated wire that people use for a dog run, and binder twine (Used in hay bales) for the uprights, hopefully less stretch.
Use high tensile strength wire or it will stretch too. 12 or 14 gauge should work. Vineyards use 12 gauge. You can buy this at the farm store, they sell it for electric fencing.
