Help with Ideas for Live Trees

[jim6918]

I have two live trees in my front yard that are so prominent that they almost HAVE to be a part of the display. See the pic below. I have always run lights up the branches of the Apricot tree that is closest to the house, 14 100 ct strings. That ladder work is bad enough (not great with heights), that I try to nurse two years out of a single installation. Usually most of the strings will still light the second year. Last year the poplar tree in front was the black hole in the LOR display because it had no lights. This year i broke down and am putting 12 strings in that tree. I was scared spitless on the ladder and dont even have the lights all the way up the branches. A local electrician with a bucket truck owes me a favor and will be here later in the week to finish running the strings up the branches all the way. No doubt it will look great, but I can't keep doing this every year. Short of cutting these trees down, does anybody have suggestions how I might incorporate the trees into the lighting scheme without having to go through so many pairs of underwear in one weekend. I was thinking about LED rope light, that could sort of grow with the tree, but am open to other ideas. Are these trees candidates for anything RGB????

Attached files

[JBullard]

jim6918 wrote:

Are these trees candidates for anything RGB????

UV deteriation from the sun is going to be the biggest obstacle to a "long term" installation, unless you spring for extermly high quality commercial products designed for installation on commercial buildings

What type of RGB were you thinking? Pixels, Strips, Ribbons ?

[csf]

What about just putting whole bunch of rgb flood lights around the tree?

That can make them pop in the show and stop you form having to use a latter, mostly, if not completely.

I put up most of my high lights using long painter / cleaning poles. Granted it may not give you the exact tight wrap you are looking for.

Honestly the last thing I would do is cut them down, tress if used right I fell can really make a display pop. If you really want to get creative maybe buy a few dmx yoke lights where you an control the effects / pattens that you can aim at the tree.

[Max-Paul]

I like and was going to suggest also the use of flood lights. RGB will give you so many more color options. Just put them at the base of the tree and use them to wash the truck and main branches. Otherwise you will need to back off some and then also light up the small branches.

[Guest guest]

Max-Paul wrote:

Just put them at the base of the tree and use them to wash the truck..."

No way!

Greg never even mentioned that feature when he sold me all my rainbow floods...:D:D

[jim6918]

DonFL wrote:

Max-Paul wrote:

Just put them at the base of the tree and use them to wash the truck..."

No way!

Greg never even mentioned that feature when he sold me all my rainbow floods...:D:D

Ha Ha Ha. That gave me a much needed laugh this morning.

[Guest Don Gillespie]

Jim6918 wrote

{A local electrician with a bucket truck owes me a favor and will be here later in the week to finish running the strings up the branches all the way}

The bucket truck is a great idea especially if your not comfortable on a ladder, I to have a large tree more hieght than width and this year I decided to to use my lift to decorate the tree in green, which I am going to leave on year round my thought is if I can bury the lights deep in the tree and around the branchs loosely so it won't constrict the growth the leaves should protect the lights from the UV rays, I really won't know for a couple of years but I think its worth a shot, also I heard Walmart has a sale on shorts if your interested. LOL (sorry couldn't resist)

[jjdurrant]

I am using rainbow floods on my larger yard trees. They look great!

[Dale W]

I have two trees that I put LEDs strands and leave them up. This will be the third year and I have not seen any UV deterioration. I put four sets of strands (red, blue, green and clear) in both trees that I chase.

Here is a crude map of how I did them. When I installed them, I did use a bucket truck.



1 1 1 1
1 1 1 1
1 1 1 1
1 1 1 1
1 1 1 1

_____

base of
tree

[Guest Don Gillespie]

Dale W wrote:

I have two trees that I put LEDs strands and leave them up. This will be the third year and I have not seen any UV deterioration. I put four sets of strands (red, blue, green and clear) in both trees that I chase.

Here is a crude map of how I did them. When I installed them, I did use a bucket truck.



1 1 1 1
1 1 1 1
1 1 1 1
1 1 1 1
1 1 1 1

_____

base of
tree

Glad you brought that up it now gives me more options when I hang them. I am going to have to make sure I allow some chase sequences

[jim6918]

Dale W wrote:

I have two trees that I put LEDs strands and leave them up. This will be the third year and I have not seen any UV deterioration. I put four sets of strands (red, blue, green and clear) in both trees that I chase.

Here is a crude map of how I did them. When I installed them, I did use a bucket truck.



1 1 1 1
1 1 1 1
1 1 1 1
1 1 1 1
1 1 1 1

_____

base of
tree

How do you guys attach the strings to the trees? No matter how careful I am the wires occasionally get broken, or pulled out of the socket base. I loose a lot more strings to broken wires than I do bulb fade or failure.

I use a fairly high-end electricians coax stapler with a half-moon clip to protect the wire. Is there a better way?

[Guest Don Gillespie]

jim6918 wrote:

Dale W wrote:

I have two trees that I put LEDs strands and leave them up. This will be the third year and I have not seen any UV deterioration. I put four sets of strands (red, blue, green and clear) in both trees that I chase.

Here is a crude map of how I did them. When I installed them, I did use a bucket truck.



1 1 1 1
1 1 1 1
1 1 1 1
1 1 1 1
1 1 1 1

_____

base of
tree

How do you guys attach the strings to the trees? No matter how careful I am the wires occasionally get broken, or pulled out of the socket base. I loose a lot more strings to broken wires than I do bulb fade or failure.

I use a fairly high-end electricians coax stapler with a half-moon clip to protect the wire. Is there a better way?

I just loop my strings around the branches seems to work well for me I have been doing that for about twenty years never had a string come off yet and we get some wicked blizzards in Alberta I don't staple them on the tree becuase I want the tree to continue to have room to expand and I am afraid that if I staple them to the tree the wire will become seperated from the cord which would be a nightmare to try and find and repair.