How to Anchor the Wall Mounted Wire Trellis

After installing the wall mounted trellis in a previous entry, I realized how inadequate it was if I were to grow additional vines on it. And true enough, when I transferred the Mysore Clock vine (Thunbergia Mysorensis) cuttings, there may not be enough space.

The Mysore Clock vine is not an aggressive climber compared to the Princess Vine, but it has lush foliage. The Princess vine is a clinging vine while the Mysore Clock vine is a twining vine. The Princess vine grows fast and clambers and clings on to anything if not attended to. It can quickly overwhelm any other vine near it. For this reason, I decided to "extend" the currently installed trellis.



Extending the Present Trellis

The current trellis is closer to the wall and is occupied by the Princess Vine. The new extended trellis is shown on the right (photo above). It has a couple of metal wires running through bigger metal brackets.



The bigger metal brackets were mounted with longer concrete nails. The longer side of the metal brackets is 12 inches long. So the former 4-inch wide trellis is now 8 inches wider.

I added two metal wires and these will serve as the tracks dedicated for the Mysore Clock vine to grow on. Separating the two vines this way will make it easier for me to train the Mysore Clock vine on the two metal wires, while keeping the aggressive Princess vine at bay.


Problem with the Extended Trellis

Unlike the previous narrower trellis, the extended trellis proved to be less stable. The longer arms of the bracket became a risk to strong torque motions. The torque motions are depicted by the left and right arrows as shown in the picture below.


First of all, the structure itself will now carry a heavier weight because of the Mysore Clock vine. Second, the area occupied by the vines is now more than double the original.




The stability of the entire structure is compromised by strong winds brought about by the rainy season. This could slowly pull out the concrete nails and weaken the attachment of the metal brackets. The two metal brackets at both ends of the trellis are particularly vulnerable to this lateral stress.

The way to solve this problem is to prevent the lateral forces by securely anchoring these two metal brackets. This is the principle how guy wires are strung to anchor a pole, like the mast of an antenna.


How to Anchor the Wire Trellis

The materials you would need for this task are: concrete nail (1 1/2" to 2") and an appropriate-length metal wire (gauge 16 or 18).

Ensure that the long arm of the metal bracket has a drilled hole halfway its length. For a 12-inch long arm, that's a hole at 6 inches. You can actually use a hole at the end (at 12 inches) but the wire positioned this way may be a bit obtrusive.

Hammer the concrete nail into the wall at a distance of 6 to 8 inches from the base of the metal bracket's long arm. Loop and secure the metal wire in bracket's hole. String it towards the concrete nail and secure it there also.

Shown below is how the anchored metal bracket will look like.


The metal wire now forms a right triangle with the wall and the bracket with an angle of around 45 degrees. Be sure the metal wire is taut and isn't bent.

Shown below is a detail of the concrete nail and the metal wire.


Do the same for the metal bracket at the other end of the wall mounted trellis. Anchor the metal bracket to the opposite side. By securing both ends this way, you can minimize the probability that lateral forces will weaken the trellis structure.



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