# Trellis Anchoring



## Bobp (Oct 12, 2016)

Im looking for trellis advice. 
I have an acre of Blackberries that the primocanes have gotten pretty heavy on. 
I used 6' T posts driven a foot deep. I braced to the inside with another T post at roughly 45deg. Line posts are 50' apart.

What are you using for anchoing your trellis end posts?

Have you ever used earth anchors? 

I have several 200' + rows that are pulling the end T post out over the brace post on the upper end of the feild 

I planted an additional 26 230-250' rows in april. I have already put my trellis posts in for this feild too. The first years growth was fenominal so we're going to tie them up to the wire to prevent mowing damage. And to make harvesting much easier. 

Id like to have my anchor issues worked out so i dont have rows falling down again.


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## Johny99 (Oct 12, 2016)

I've used earth anchors, 3 and 4 foot. They work great, I've seen them on >500 ft rows. However, they don't screw in well with rocks.


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## hounddawg (Oct 13, 2016)

I've seen people using a auger to drill a 3 feet deep hole putting in a 5x5 x8 foot treated poles then fill the holes with sac's of cement using 2 to 3 bags pre holr
Dawg


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## VillaVino (Oct 16, 2016)

*Earth anchors*

I have earth anchors on each of my rows. They're about 2' long. I first take an iron rod about 5' long and 1/2" wide (old barbell from a weight set) and pound it into the ground by hand as far as it will go. I start the earth anchor with a couple turns by hand and finish it with a heavy duty drill with a modified bit. The bit is just a big eye bolt opened up enough to get the eye of the anchor in. I then grind down each side of the eye bolt so it does not slip in the drill. Works fine. If you can't make this, just put the steel rod through the eye of the anchor and start turning. Kids are great at this one.


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## Bobp (Nov 6, 2016)

Has anyone used the drive in anchors?


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## Bobp (Sep 3, 2017)

We ended up cutting 6' T posts in half, drilling a 3/8" hole, (they're hard to drill by the way) and bolting gripple cables to them. 2 cables each, and drove them all the way down hurried then pulled the end post back tight and tightened the cables. They're holding up well so far.


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## berrycrush (Sep 4, 2017)

I drive tpost 4 ft deep as an anchor. Works great


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## Bobp (Sep 10, 2017)

I sure never dreamed that the Blackberries would have needed anchor posts... But the weight they have will surprise you... Lessons learned the hard way... Try getting the wifey and kids and tractor to pick up a row you said was trellised good enough.... Yup lessons learned while saving a dollar... Not always cheaper.


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## Stressbaby (Sep 10, 2017)

Bobp said:


> I sure never dreamed that the Blackberries would have needed anchor posts... But the weight they have will surprise you... Lessons learned the hard way... Try getting the wifey and kids and tractor to pick up a row you said was trellised good enough.... Yup lessons learned while saving a dollar... Not always cheaper.



Good to know, I'm getting ready to build a blackberry trellis.


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## garymc (Sep 15, 2017)

I used T posts for my line posts, but I got 7 and 8 foot posts. Mine don't so much bear weight, but keep the wind from blowing the plants over. I have an outward leaning T post and an earth anchor at the ends. But I don't think my wire is even very tight. And my line posts are much closer together, like 20 feet. I'm talking blackberries here.


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## TOMMARIANI22 (Nov 25, 2017)

berrycrush said:


> I drive tpost 4 ft deep as an anchor. Works great


Could you post a picture I really like the sound of this idea


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## Applegrower (Dec 4, 2017)

Not sure what an earth anchor is but mobile home anchors work well. A T post may not have enough backbone to support a 200' row, you might want to consider yanking them and using 6-8" treated posts set 36-48".


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## shrewsbury (Dec 11, 2017)

https://www.orchardvalleysupply.com...rs/products/earth-anchors?variant=15121898694


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