How to Build a Strong Grape Trellis for Heavy Grapevines

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Building a Grape Trellis DIY

When we bought our house, it came with several fruit trees and a few grape vines. The problem was the grape vines were just laying on the ground with no grape trellis to support them.

With the vines on the ground, the grapes didn’t produce well and the fruit was hard to find or harvest. We wanted to enjoy fresh grapes and make things like homemade grape jelly, so we decided it was time to build a grape trellis.

Project grape trellis DIY would allow the ability to make grape juice and jelly. The grape vines would love the trellis and start to produce a large amount of grapes.

How to Build a Grape Trellis

Materials Needed to Build a Grape Trellis

3 round posts (6-inch posts work well)
Post hole digger
Horse fencing or strong wire fencing
Screws
Lag bolts
Drill and drill bit
Hammer
Fence staples
Plant ties (optional)

base of grape vines — properly growing vines

Why Do I Need a Trellis?

Grapevines grow quickly and can become very heavy once they begin producing fruit. A strong grape trellis keeps the vines off the ground, improves airflow, and makes harvesting grapes much easier.

Build Around A Grapevine

Since our grape vine was already in the ground, we measured away from the plant and dug the holes for the posts on either side of the vine. We also made sure that the vines were in the center of the fencing.

Dig holes about 2–3 feet deep so the posts are sturdy enough to support heavy grape vines.

You will want to dig the holes on the ends of the fencing. Place the posts into the holes and put the dirt back around them, securing them.

Bring the fencing over and put it into place between the posts.

fence staple trellis — Hammer the staples to keep the fencing attached to the posts.

Use those hard staples and hammer them into the vertical poles, making sure they are level.

bolts in trellis — The lag bolts will secure the fence posts together and give structure for the fencing to be stapled to.

The 3rd pole should be cut to length to fit between the fence posts and on top of the fencing. It should rest so that the top can drive staples on all 3 sides to secure the fence.

Drill pilot holes on the ends of the vertical posts for the bolts to go through. Put the lag bolts in to secure the top and sides.

Hammer those staples into to keep the fencing up and connected to the poles.

How to Train Grapevines on a Trellis

Once the trellis is built, gently weave the grape vines through the fencing to help train them. As the vines grow, they will naturally grab onto the trellis and continue climbing.

We made two of these for both of our grape vines and look forward to all the grapes we are going to easily find this year on the vines. Where needed, we tied the grape vine in until it grew enough to not fall out.

After it was trained, we removed the ties. As the vines grow, the grape support held the vines and they took over the trellis.