Monofilament for catchwires?

[EdThrockmortin]

Hi. I'm in the process of rehabilitating an old vineyard that does not have a usable trellis. I can use the wooden endposts and metal fruiting wire, but I'm going to install new t-posts and I came across 2 two choices in “plastic” lines.

In my research both types, nylon (polyamide, Dura-line) and polyester (Deltex) monofilament lines SOUND great, and virtually identical in performance. However, the polyester line seems to be quite a bit lighter and cheaper at the same 3mm size and length and another site states that that polyester is better than nylon in performance??

I'm prepared to hear that metal is superior, but I have to rehab and manage 2500+ vines myself, on the weekends. No time for tightening lines each year. Also, budget, given this is a hobby for now and I do not know if these 45 year old vines will respond to the TLC they are about to receive.

Brian

 

[Johny99]

I tried a multi-strand polyester to save money and it certainly is easier to install. I found it didn't have the strength for the first two lower catch "wires". As the shoots grew longer it seemed to stretch and it all dropped. I've switched to 10ga ss wire. However, if I had to rehab 2500 vines worth of trellis on my own, I'd do it to get it done quick and cheap, then plan on swapping out some each year. Of course the mono may not stretch as much.

Good luck with it and let us know what you do and how it works.

 

[grapeman]

If you are worried about tightening the steel wire then you surely don't want the plastic. They are flimsy and stretch A LOT whereas the high tensile wire rarely needs any tightening especially for catch wires.

 

[spaniel]

Steel wire rarely needs tightening. My vineyard is about 8 years old and I installed WireVise tighteners. Perhaps twice I've gone around with vise grips and yanked things tights. But these are shorter runs of 10-20 vines, longer runs may require more robust tighteners requiring more effort.

Rehabilitating 2500 old vines? I'd think the best way is to bring up new shoots from the root and give up on the top of the plant...

 

[Charlietuna]

Not sure the pricing on the mono line you're looking at. But, I just bought 4000 ft of 12.5 gauge high tensile for $99 at tractor supply. I know you'll need a lot more wire than that. But if it's only 2 wire per trellis / 2500 vines, that's less than $2000. (Making a lot of assumptions on spacing)

 

[salcoco]

try midwestvineyardsupply.com. under products the offer Dura-line monofilament by Bayco. I used this for regular trllis wire . the 12 gauge(mm?) equal worked great for the fruiting wire. the 9 gauge equal was required for the cordon wire. I would suggest using this plastic for your filament wire. it is easy to install and stretch. it has memory so it can be coiled onto itself at the anchor end and then stretched by one person at the other end. if tightening required during the year just unwind one end and pull tight. I used this on over 10 acres of vineyard successfully.