Need opinions on trellis hardware

[Snafflebit]

Orchard Valley Supply has a great selection. That is probably where I will shop although I wish I could find a place in California as well.

I need to replace the wire vises on many of the cordon wires and the irrigation wires of an existing vineyard. I see so few wire vises that last longer than 10 years. It is irritating.
This is what I want to replace them with:


But I have wooden end posts and it is not recommended for them. I think I could put a fender washer between the wood and the gripple and it would be fine. Any opinions on that idea?


As for the catch wires, which type of clips are better? the black clips leave 2" between wires. I think the red clips will work better but that is my uninformed opinion.

 

[VillaVino]

I’m going on 11 years with my wire vices. The only ones I lost were in the first year. We’ll when I get back in the vineyard. As for the catch wires, I have mine spread out more like 4-6”. Unless you have really disciplined vines, it may be hard to get them between 2”.

 

[Snafflebit]

I think after including the slack in the catch wires, there will be more than 2" in places. I have a feeling that the catch wire system was not designed correctly. The catch wire placement is fixed on the end posts and only can be repositioned on the middle posts. This leaves slack. Anyway it is not my trellis so I am not going to redesign. But the gripples will help me tremendously keeping cordon and irrigation tight. I think the cordons placed a lot of weight on the wires and ruined the wire vises. Or they are just crappy. I dunno.

Also I found a supplier for vineyard supplies in Napa A&J Vineyard Supply | Shop Quality Vineyard Supplies & Equipment
They are good, but none of the places around here have online stores, it is all will-call and used to dealing with BIG orders. But they were nice and helpful for my small requirements

 

[VillaVino]

Try Midwest vineyard supply. Been ordering from them for years.
https://www.midwestvineyardsupply.com/

 

[Snafflebit]

This is one way to fix a bad wire vise. it works for me.

 

[Snafflebit]

And in regards to the wire vises being bad--I found that a number of them still work. Now that I am using a wire tensioning tool, they will grip the wire. It seems that the wire vises require a certain amount of force applied forward before they will grip the wire and my hand pulling was not enough.

Still I am finding bad wire vises and the Gripple GP1 works great as a replacement

 

[David Violante]

A colleague of mine uses the Gripple with wooden posts. Loves them. He loops the wire behind the post and uses a wire staple on the back side of the post so that the cable doesn’t slide. I imagine using a fender washer would work just fine In your scenario though.

 

[balatonwine]

Personally, I use a ratchet wire tensioners. I am still using the ones that came with the vineyard when I bought the property 20 years ago. They are more often used for fencing, but are also great for trellis wire, and seem to last a long time. And to tighten the wire, one only needs a small wrench. And, yes, they also work with the high tensile wire I have used** (a bit more difficult to use, but they work).

Side note: I do not go over 50 meters before installing another tensioner. For many reasons.

** Which may be different than what others use. So try a few out before buying in bulk.