Arnoldc Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 Well.... After me bugging my good old buddy Jim for what 3 years now about his accident with gravity. One of my mega trees have discovered this same law.. Lastnight, we had a storm blow through.. A 70 mph came through, and one of my mega trees having 4 guy wires.. one of which is in a "planter" area fell down.. The one guy wire that failed is the one in the planter.. and the anchor did not just pull out.. It took about a 12" dia ring of dirt with it.. It looked like a cork. I managed to get it back up this morning, but tonight I need to fix the lights...I am sadily now admitting that Arnold is now a member of the Jimswinder mega tree falling down club..sad day..Arnold Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dknahoolewa Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 I'll bet your not the only one from last night. I don't know how I wasn't apart of that. I will be adding more guy wires for next year. My tree is 28' with only 4 guys and some how it survived. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arnoldc Posted December 20, 2012 Author Share Posted December 20, 2012 My other one lived with no issues.. this one was I guess in bad dirt.. will be fixed tonight Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hdracer Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 I woke up this morning to my wife saying " You might wanna go check your mega tree" So I ran out with the robe on to see how the display was....All was fine, Thank God! We had some really high winds here too. Nothing budged an inch. But needless to say, it's not over yet for us Texans or others in the states....Supposibly weather should be quit windy for the next few days....HOPE everyone checks & rechecks all guy wires before it gets bad again. I know I have... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arnoldc Posted December 20, 2012 Author Share Posted December 20, 2012 I did before tree fell... and as far as structure nothing failed.. what failed was the ground.. the anchor pulled out a 12" dia by 18" deep clump of dirt! I did before tree fell... and as far as structure nothing failed.. what failed was the ground.. the anchor pulled out a 12" dia by 18" deep clump of dirt! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scubado Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 We're getting a crap load of heavy snow. My large corner bush is taking a beating from the weight and I can't get enough snow off of it. I have my incads on to maybe help. We.re supposed to have blizzard conditions this afternoon, uuuuugh! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffF Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 Boy that stinks. Good luck with fixing the lights tonight!Just curious, anybody else use the winch/pulley method for raising and lowering their trees?Anytime the wind tops out over 25MPH I just lower the tree down about 2/3rds the way and Velcro the remaining lights to the mast. The tree is ~23ft tall with 96 100ct strands. Takes all of 1.39 minutes to lower and 2.07 minutes to raise.I also do this to our ~15ft tree when the winds are over 30-35MPH. But for that tree I don't have a winch since it's only 48 100ct strands so it's not that heavy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
De Trommelslager Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 I am sadily now admitting that Arnold is now a member of the Jimswinder mega tree falling down club..Aren't there requirements for being included in the Jimswinder "timber!" club? Something like the tree has to fall in winds of less than 15 MPH? And isn't there a fall distance requirement of more than 6ft. below the pole base? Sorry Jim! I couldn't help myself!! Kidding aside, I was expecting to have some wind damage as well. This morning I looked and my display came through unscathed. My three guy wired mega tree is a measly 15 feet tall with 18" anchors. Hopefully those with damage will find it minor!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dknahoolewa Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 Boy that stinks. Good luck with fixing the lights tonight!Just curious, anybody else use the winch/pulley method for raising and lowering their trees?Anytime the wind tops out over 25MPH I just lower the tree down about 2/3rds the way and Velcro the remaining lights to the mast. The tree is ~23ft tall with 96 100ct strands. Takes all of 1.39 minutes to lower and 2.07 minutes to raise.I also do this to our ~15ft tree when the winds are over 30-35MPH. But for that tree I don't have a winch since it's only 48 100ct strands so it's not that heavy.I would have done that but my tree is suspened 10' in the air above my fence line. I haven't figure a way to do that yet with my setup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arnoldc Posted December 20, 2012 Author Share Posted December 20, 2012 Aren't there requirements for being included in the Jimswinder "timber!" club? Something like the tree has to fall in winds of less than 15 MPH? And isn't there a fall distance requirement of more than 6ft. below the pole base? Sorry Jim! I couldn't help myself!! Kidding aside, I was expecting to have some wind damage as well. This morning I looked and my display came through unscathed. My three guy wired mega tree is a measly 15 feet tall with 18" anchors.Hopefully those with damage will find it minor!!What is funny as heck is the mini trees and xs mini trees only being held in the ground by plant anchors did not move at all! I would of figured that I would have to fix those vs fixing mega tree.. 70mph wind is not fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
De Trommelslager Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 What is funny as heck is the mini trees and xs mini trees only being held in the ground by plant anchors did not move at all! I would of figured that I would have to fix those vs fixing mega tree.. 70mph wind is not fun!You have to keep in mind that a mega tree is going to collect a lot more wind than a mini tree on the ground. Yeah it is just wires sticking out there, but they do have considerable drag in the wind, and with the elevation, weight and resulting leverage at an anchor point we are talking about a large amount of force concentrating on an anchor or two. Especially in 70 MPH winds like we saw last night!And yep, the wind 'twas not fun! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scubado Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 I've been shoveling heavy snow all day, plus trying to keep snow off some of the elements. Almost lost my fan, saved it just in time. I piped some Christmas music out on my speakers, helped take some of the fustration away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
De Trommelslager Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 Were you playing "Let it Snow" by chance? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark J. M. Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 Well, I must admit my 15' Mega tree was blown over this year. It really wasn't from only wind. We have been having heavy rain storms in Oregon and the combination of more than 6 inches of rain followed by strong winds from the latest storm blew the tree over and pulled out three of the four guy wire stakes holding it in place. Considering the ground is now like a bog I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I am fortunate that when it fell it missed all of my wife's prized plantings. Sleeping with the tree is not something I think I would enjoy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
indi Posted December 20, 2012 Share Posted December 20, 2012 This is my first year putting on a show with LOR. My mega tree is only 10' tall this year. I used a 2" black pvc pipe over a #5 rebar that is 4' tall. I used a galv. nipple 8" long and screwed a flange to that and put the nipple in the pvc and used 3 guide lines on it. We had a big wind here too. IMy wife looked out the window and told me that the star on top of the tree was almost on the ground. I looked out and the wind was blow the pvc alost to the ground. Ran out and put anpther guide on it and it worked. I didn't need to use a ladder to get the new guide on. The strings of lights on the upwind side had pulled my guide ring up in the air as the pvc bent. I was lucky. It was an easy fix. HA!!!!! You gotta love it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max-Paul Posted December 21, 2012 Share Posted December 21, 2012 Well the mast has not bent over. But the skirt ring has been pulling out the stakes that holds it still. And I tried to do something to make it easy to install the strings to the skirt ring. All of my strings are wire tied to a small plastic covered cable. And made a loop at the bottom with an "S" hook. On the skirt ring I installed wire ties with the anchor hole. I put the "S" hook into the hole. Well either the S hook is coming out or the wire tie is not strong enough to endure the pulling. So half of my strings are swing around loose (about 12 of them). So, maybe this does not really meet the requirements to win the award. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scubado Posted December 21, 2012 Share Posted December 21, 2012 Were you playing "Let it Snow" by chance? Not playing Let It Snow, but do have a sign in the yard! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trafficman Posted December 21, 2012 Share Posted December 21, 2012 Guess that is why I use a small tower. Framed it with wood at the top and half the mega tree feel a couple weeks ago. Now I have metal brackets bolted to the tower at the top.. LOLJeff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjnitto Posted December 21, 2012 Share Posted December 21, 2012 We are expecting that wind storm tonight, so I checked all my re-bars, guy wires, and anchors. My 20' Mega has four guys at topside and four more at the ten foot level plus the circular ring holding the light strings is anchored with re-bars. Here's hoping it all holds together.I keep a log of dates and donations and last year on this very Thursday a tornado passed by. What's this weather coming to? Good luck to everyone expecting bad weather, and quick & easy repairs for those who have already endured the storm.Richard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arnoldc Posted December 21, 2012 Author Share Posted December 21, 2012 After 3 hours. I got the tree fixed.. I only lost 2 stands of lights. One is easily fixed.. the other is on my 3d star. That will half to wait til teardown. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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