How To Train Vines In or On an Arbor with Biodegradable Twine

I posted in the past week about how to  prune vines off an arbor even cutting through the thick vines. I also posted how to strengthen the arbor support the wood to make sure it is strong enough to hold the weight of the moving and growing vines.

I wanted to share today how I used twine to wind the vines around the twine and support them in growing in the direction I want for shade.

When I was cutting down the vines, the people who put it up used chicken wire and it was thick enough that it caught leaves and dirt causing a huge amount of debre on top and it made a nesting ground for rodents and birds.

It was also a problem when using the pruning blade on the reciprocating saw as it caught on the wire and pulled it into the mechanism so I wouldn't suggest using any type of wire to guide the vines as it can cause a problem for pruning later.

I gathered all the growing vines up and tied the twine around the support arbor beams to keep the vines growing up the beams and each other as I didn't want them growing outward blocking the sun. I tied them loosely so that it wouldn't kill or bind the growing vines and also loose enough my step-mother can put the new growing vines through and train them in an upward growth.

Once the vines were all lifted to the top of the support beams using the twine, I wove them through the support twine I had tied through the arbor top. I share next how I did that. 

I used jute twine and wrapped it around each support beam at the top of the arbor and then tied it tight with a knot after each beam so that if one of the tines break, it doesn't unwind all of the support twine. I made sure that the knots were tight and wouldn't come loose with wind and weather. 

In time, the twine will degrade and break but by then, I am hoping that the guiding and training of the early vines will give a good base to weave new growth and we can always add more rows of jute and twine to guide it in the desired direction. 

Hopefully in the video I made and in these pictures you can see how I did it but it is looking really good out there after a week on the twine and my step-mother is very happy with how it is looking. The vines bounced back quickly from the pruning and the new growth is green and healthy so I really think the vines are happy with the pruning even as harsh as it was. 

Feel free to ask any questions on how I did any of the steps on the vines and arbor. I am glad we can take that off the list. After that project, we started on the hedges! 

Have a Blessed Day!