Base for Mega Tree

[CLD Kevin]

I been reading for hours and all though I found several good setups, maybe I should ask the experts. I’m looking at building a mega tree for 2009 and where I want to place it is not so even ground. Actually it in my slope/planter area for water run off. The bases I read up so far seem to need a flat ground for kind of tree I want…tree with a trunk which I think in my case would be better on an uneven ground. I only want the tree to be about 15ft. I’ve read how people are using SCH40, fence post, flag poles or black water pipe which all sounds good. I think I can figure out that part. My base in what I concern about. I can do a permanent job like digging down 3ft, place some type of sleeve and concrete in or build a base that is no permanent, but because of the uneven ground, it needs to be small. Have the trunk about 1 or 2ft then the tree. I don’t want to go cheap either. I want to be able to use these items over and over and not keep having problems. Breakdown is important too! I just installed a 12ft shed for all my xmas/Halloween stuff. I live in sunny so cal (well, its been raining) in a master track community where space in very limited. All the homes are compacted together where I can hand toilet paper to my neighbor.

Also, I like the topper christmaslightshow.com offers. Anyone use this?



Thanks

Attached files

[garyfunk]

I buried a three foot piece of square pipe in the ground and I slide my pole into this pipe. This year, I used 18 foot of pipe for the tree, which left 15 foot standing from the ground. I also put the 3D star from Daryl on top of the tree.

So far this year it has worked perfectly.

[iresq]

I just sat my mega tree in a Christmas tree stand. My ground is uneven. To keep it from kicking out, I used some heavy tent stakes to hold the stand in place. This method will require guy wiring.

[Richard Hamilton]

Those are good ideas. I have also seen where a couple of guys simply mounted a pole a few inches below the ground and used guide wires to support the pole and the lights by connecting the guide wire from top of pole and down to ground stakes.

[garyfunk]

I haven't had to use guide-wires even though there have been some very high winds coming down from the mountains. As long as they stay under 60 mph, I think I'll do fine.

[Push Eject]

Varied lengths of pvc might work for you:

[CLD Kevin]

I think what I will do is bury the pole about about 1ft and use the guy wires for support. Now if I use SCH40, how do you connect it to the pole? Or maybe better would be to use 1 1/2" water pipe. Still how to connect the guy wire to the pole?

[iresq]

I just ran two eyebolts through mine and used three wires for support.

[mwilliams]

I had the same problem in my yard. It's kind of like a bowl. So I just built a small "stage". I just used 2x4's and, aside from the cross beams, I left it open to allow rain/sun/snow(doubtful in ATL) to just fall through to the ground.

Also, I cut it into 3 sections that I can store under my house for next year. It bolts together with 6" mending plates at the connections. The corners serve as perfect tie-downs to keep the tree stable in the wind.

I have the 14' tree from christmaslightshow.com. Hope this helps.

[Push Eject]

Here's the topper on my pvc pole. Wires attach to it.



mwilliams, that's brilliant!

[Shubb]

I pounded a 2' piece of 2" galvanized pipe into the ground, then slide in the pole. After the season, just put a cap over the pole and it will be fine for many years.

Find out the length of lights your going to use, and how wide of a base you want, and adjust the height of the pole. The base will be flat, just not even to the ground.
And yes, install guy wires. I live in So Cal and I had a 18 footer crash last year. I used 3 guy wires and 1/4" aluminum turn buckles. The turnbuckles were too soft/small for the wind we got and it stripped out. This year I used 5/16" steel turnbuckles. It didn't even quiver with wind gusts over 50 mph.

I used 17' long light strings with a 30' base ring. (3-10' 1/2 pvc pipes) This keeps the lights about 6" off the ground with a 18' pole.

Good Luck,

Scott

[iresq]

MWilliams, that's very nice. I might borrow that concept for the years to come.

[Robin]

Ok you can do this on a smaller scale than mine, and since it is only going to be about 15 feet may not need guy wires.

Here is how I do mine. I have a 2" piece of steel pipe with two pieces of angle iron welded to each side. There are two identical holes. I have a stop welded to top of pipe and the angle iron extends about 2 feet above the top of the pipe. The angle iron is welded about two feet down the side of the pipe.

For my mega tree I use a 21 foot piece of steel pipe. On the bottom of the pipe there are two holes that match the holes in the angle iron. I attach the top hole to the angle iron with a bolt but do not tighten it completely. The end of the pipe sets on a sawhorse while I attached the lights. Then we just walk it up and put the other bolt in bottom hole and tighten. The stop on top of the base is important as it will stop pipe. Then we attach guy wires. When season is over just walk it back down and take off lights. Now here is the neat thing. Put sawhorse closer to the bottom of the pipe while it is still attached to base. Push down a couple of times on the pipe and the base will pop out of the ground. No need to look at it all year.

Here is a bad picture of the base, but you should get the idea.

[mwilliams]

I wish I could weld...without catch anything on fire.