Monday, April 27, 2009

How to build trellis using homegrown cedar posts

I've talked here, here, and here about our love of cedar posts for our trellis. Here's a real tutorial. First you cut the cedar posts (see first link above) in the woods, sometimes split them if they are too wide, and then sharpen them. From there they get put on the wagon, usually a few at a time with the front end loader on the tractor.

wagon full of split cedar posts ready to go to the vineyard

Then Dad takes the post off the wagon, and carries it to it's spot in the row of grapes.

Then he holds the post, and lines it up straight with the vines, and other posts, and other rows while the tractor pushes it in the ground.


This is a picture of Dad motioning to push the cedar post into the ground.







This is the end result; rows and rows of new cedar posts out of our forest, ready to have wire attached and hold up vines.

4 comments:

Hồn nhiên said...

thank you :)

God bless you :)

Katie said...

This is a great tutorial! Your rows are so nice and straight too...well worth the effort!

Unknown said...

Hi Elaine,
Haven't dropped in to your blog for some time. Good to see you're still blogging. How long do the cedar posts last in relation to steel or pressure-treated wood? Is this an economic or environmental response?

Cheers1

Elaine said...

Hi Bradley,

The cedar posts last a long time. I can't say exactly their life span, but we have some in the ground over 20 years. I would say this is both economic and enviromental, leaning more on the enviromental side because getting the posts out of the woods and sharpened and set does cost a lot of labor, but it is better for our farm.

Thanks for checking in, good to hear from you.