Horizontal Cordons

The horizontal cordon used to be very common for wall and house vines. The leaves and fruit grow from one or two horizontal, strictly trained arms. One-sided angles and T-shapes are possible. The vertical main trunk usually remains foliage-free.

History

This cordon method was passed down as "Thomery-Cordon" from its French village namesake near Fontainebleau / Paris. Exceptional table grapes were grown in this way from quality (Gutedel/Chasselas) grapevines. The photos shown here were taken mostly in the east German region of Saale-Unstrut.

Spatial Requirements

For a Thomery cordon, you will need a horizontal strip 70 to 120 cm high. For thinner, higher bands of greenery, refer to our section on garlands. The optimal length for a cordon arm is 1.2 m, or 2.4 m for a bilateral cordon (T-shape), perhaps longer with today's vigorous grapevine varieties. If the field to cover is very wide, you'll want to plant several vines. For good sap distribution in the T-shape, the two arms should be of equal length. The trellis should be at least 0.5 metres from the ground, but heights of 5-6 m are also possible.

Trellising

Wire rope systems and wooden espaliers are both fitting here. As a rule, a single vertical wire rope to guide the vine upwards with 2 - 4 horizontal wire ropes (spaced 25 - 35 cm apart) is sufficient. The arms are tied to the lowest wire rope, from where the shoots then grow each year into several new tiers, one above the other, and interlock with their tendrils. If not all the shoots hook on themselves, they can be tucked behind the wires or tied.

Training and Pruning

For the training procedure, refer to the illustrations below. On the horizontal arms (cordons), branches are developed at intervals of 15-20 cm. If these branches are developed *only* on the upper part of a single side (via buds every 2 to 4 eyes - 'cordon cut'), the whole arm will be more productive, robust, and longer-living, since the flow of sap will only be slowed down in the upper half of the arm. The canes later undergo pruning, usually spur pruning or, if some fail,rod pruning; for some special varieties and for very high yields- also cane pruning. If necessary, additional summer pruning.

Grapevine as cordon — Unilateral and bilateral cordons on horizontally tensioned wire ropes

Cordon trained grapevine — Medium size cordon

Horizontal cordon — A handsome cordon in July

Trellis with vine — A cordon after summer pruning and tying can look this tidy!

Cordon on the base of a house — Cordon trained along the base of a house, spur pruned

Cordon pruning — Cordons before winter pruning (foreground) and afterwards

Cane pruning, vine — A rare case but very high-yielding: predominantly cane-pruned cordon and fruiting canes tied to wire rope

Vine Cordon — Wide cordon grown from just one vine

Historic cordons — Cordons before spur pruning, historic illustration: Each tier is made up of a separate vine -- this is a particularly reliable and secure variation, which prevents the lower areas from becoming bare.

Cordon training — Spur pruned cordon, on 3 wire ropes similar to cable system 1060

Cordons — Training 2 tiers of cordons from one grapevine is also possible.

Vine as cordon — Espalier band with bilateral and unilateral cordons. For more photos, go to winter pruning.

House vine on a trellis — Several cordons on a wooden espalier

Grapevine on a wall — Cordons on a natural stone wall

Village forge with grapevine — Two unilateral cordons on the wall of a blacksmith's workshop

Terrace with vine — Horizontal cordon on a balustrade

Training

1st / 2nd Year

Grapevine trained as cordon — Diagram 02: Careful bending and tying of cane onto lowest trellis wire