Artos Trellis System
Johnston Vineyard’s first Artos trellis (manufactured in Germany and available from Shemogue Custom & Trellis Inc, NB) was installed in 2015 by Bob’s Fencing & Grape Field Trellis System, Canaan, NS (Artos information). An additional 7 acres was installed in 2016. The C line poles are made from galvanized steel with outside hooks to catch the tuck wires and to hold the fruiting wire (Fig 1).
The wires “clip” into the hooks with firm hand pressure. The tuck wires are easily dropped and held in place at a lower level until ready to use when they are raised up to hold the shoots in place on the trellis. Johnston Vineyards uses C 50 line poles that are of medium strength and 2500 mm in length; EP1 end posts are 2900 mm in length and contain 8 steel rods inserted into the core of the pole (Fig 2). These rods add strength and provide a place to hook the tuck wires.
The simplest (and most practical) method of wire arrangement is shown in the the image below (Fig 3). It consists of a loop at the end of each tuck wire with a chain on the end of the wire to adjust the wire tension. No Gripples are needed on the tuck wires. When the chain is not long enough to add required tension, it is much easier to tighten the tuck wires by shortening the loop than to tighten the Gripple. All wire should be 2,20 mm in diameter (about 12 gauge).
The other end of the row has tuck wires with loops and no gripples. Chains are optional (Fig 4).
The fruiting wire is held by a gripple on each end of the row (Fig 5). Leave a sizable loop so that there is no limitation to the amount it can be tightened.
