Thank you very much bboy and saltcedar for the identification. I am going to chop that tree out of my garden over the weekend. I have no room for invasive species in my garden.

I was thinking scale too...hard to tell with the poor focus. Black aphids. No matter, if the grapes are past season you could just let them have their fill pooping out what will eventually dry up anyway. This would also feed the predators bound to show up. Alternatively, hit them with a hose to dislodge. Follow up if they return (or if a stream of water fails to dislodge them which would be diagnostic) in a couple of weeks with insecticidal soap. edit: If this (these) are first year grape vines then it is worth battling for them. With first year you want as much sugars made as possible to help establish those roots, so removing feeders makes sense. Grape are so good at establishing that after a year the vine should be able to withstand a large amount of predation and I generally wouldn't bother. This post was edited by Fascist_Nation on Wed, Jul 23, 14 at 17:34

Hi Wes, I do not have an answer for you, but you should try over on the Fruit forum. There is also a Winery forum (forget the name). Those people will probably be able to answer your questions. Renee Here is a link that might be useful: Fruit Forum

I grow grapes (muscadines) here in south Florida on factory made steel trellis that are powder coated against the weather. Down here wood (even PT) and galvanized steel aren't an option due to rust and rot... so much water here :-) Up in New York my Dad used powder coated steel fence posts made for wire fences but used stainless wire strung between the posts. I don't think in the 20+ odd years I was visiting there he had a rust or support problem.