Christmas Lights in Taller Trees

[Industrial Toys]

I have a 35 or so foot pine tree I wish to put some Christmas Lights into.

I have this contraption that I pulled out of the scrap at a friends. It had been on the back of a snowmobile groomer for trimming branches. I added fork pockets and it adds a few feet to my eleven or so foot loader height. I have little issue using a chainsaw with this thing to trim trees. On the weekend, with a long telescopic pole and my (less then qualified) female friend at the controls, we tried to string lights, but I simply lost my nerve. I am not exactly terrified of heights, but certain conditions just make me say NO!




So looking on Youtube, I see many people using downspout for hanging lights in trees.

Has anybody done this? I can get 3X3 Aluminum or Vinyl. What is better? How many ten foot sections can you put together? My extending pole was like a fishing rod and all but useless! How do you attach sections? You can't use screws, as the lights are fed through the tube.

Appreciate any pointers on this. I would love to get those lights up.

And somewhat unrelated, I am curious what people think. I have, but chose not to use fall protection. I (think) I would sooner fall fifteen or so feet, then fall and be arrested and possibly smashed against something.

It would be most interesting to hear from someone that has experienced some kind of fall from height, or been arrested.

 

[flyerdan]

Could you make a wire hook on the end of a length of conduit and use it to drape lights over a branch? With an eleven foot bucket reach you should be able to reach up to 26 or 27 feet, maybe more if you can couple another section of conduit without it getting too wobbly.

Edit: nevermind, just saw the bit about the pole.

 

[Industrial Toys]

The downspout in the videos seem quite ridged although I only saw two connected and not sure what they were made of.

My telescopic pole a was maybe 15 feet and I added a ten foot piece of 2" ABS drain pipe, but I was just fighting a loosing battle. It was more like a whip!

 

[Code54]

How about he Alum. painting poles? They are telescoping, and have a treaded end on it so you could make whatever type of hook/attachment you want. They are fairly ridged since they are made for having a roller on the end.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I doubt they are thirty something feet, and I have pretty much decided to try and do this from the ground. Besides, a second person has to feed the lights into the downspout as you hang them in the branches going around the tree.

 

[Code54]

3-ft. OptiLoc 3 Section Tele-Poles UNG ED9

You can get a 30 ft one then just add a small section a gutter to the end for feeding , heck maybe with duct tape, and it would be stiff and could be used for other things in the future perhaps.

I use a slightly shorter one for cleaning our 2nd story windows from the ground.

 

[MossRoad]

Here's my 40 footer...
No, I don't lay it on its side...


About 20 years ago I started hanging lights on it when it was a wee 25 footer. I used a 23' Mr. Longarm pole. Made a springy fork out of a coat hangar wire and taped that to the end. I put about 4' of the end of the strand in the fork, lift the strand over the top of the tree, drape the 4' section over the other side, and pull back. That released the string of lights right on top of the tree. Then, I just take the strand in my hand, and give it a backhand flip up, and that throws a loop in the strand that just walks itself up the tree. Kinda like a back-hand lasso. I continue throwing loops up the tree as I walk around it. I use 300 light strings. I connect 3 together end-to-end and tape the connections heavily for strain relief. I make my way around the tree in a spiral until I get to the ground. Then you extension cords to get the end to the back of the tree at the ground.

Next, I put another strand over the top, but about 120 degrees from the first one. I repeat the toss the loop action around and around the tree, being careful to try and space it evenly, yet farther apart, as I go down the tree.

Third, I do one more strand 120 degrees off of that, so I basically end up with three strands candy-caned down the tree.

Three strands of 900 = 2700 lights.

That all sounds easy, and I could do it from the ground. However, THE TREE GREW!!!

I tried the downspout trick a couple years, but it was a pain in the arse. Also, I do this at night with the lights lit, so I can see where I'm putting them. So metal downspouts or metal ladders or metal poles with live electric wires just says NO NO NO to me! :laughing:

For the last 7-8 years I've been using a 12' fiberglass ladder and the Mr. Longarm pole to get the first one up. That worked OK until the tree hit about 38'.

12 foot ladder, means me about 10' up. Plus my 23' pole = 33 feet. Plus my 6' body = 39' plus a 2' reach = about 41'. Take into account I'm about 8' from the edge of the tree to see where the top is, so I only have about a 38' height. So, I resorted to taping a 1-2 oz fishing weight to the end of the strand and casting it over the top.

Anyhow, as it stands, at 40' its too dangerous to stand on a 12' ladder with a 23' pole casting live light strands over the top! :laughing:

Each year I tell everyone it's the last year, but I still do it. I need a man-lift or a longer ladder.

There's 3600 lights on that tree now.

 

[MossRoad]

3-ft. OptiLoc 3 Section Tele-Poles UNG ED9

You can get a 30 ft one then just add a small section a gutter to the end for feeding , heck maybe with duct tape, and it would be stiff and could be used for other things in the future perhaps.

I use a slightly shorter one for cleaning our 2nd story windows from the ground.

The only thing I don't like about that is its aluminum. But it would give me an additional 7' compared to my current system. I could leave the power off putting up the first strand, though. That might work. Thanks.

 

[MossRoad]

One more thing.... If you loop the lights around and around the tree, it looks great.

GOOD LUCK GETTING THEM DOWN! :laughing:

The wind blows them deeper into the tree, and although they go up easy, and the low ones come off easy, the higher up you go, the harder it is to coax them out of the tree. I'll bet I have 1000 lights stuck up in that tree that won't come out over the years.

I end up taking as many as I can off, but when the top ones hang, I just pull till the strand snaps and leave em. I loose at least 1-2 strings per year up there.

Really, the only way to do it safely at those heights is to rent a man-lift for the afternoon. Those can be towed behind your truck or SUV, and usually rent for about $250 for the day.

 

[MossRoad]

I doubt they are thirty something feet, and I have pretty much decided to try and do this from the ground. Besides, a second person has to feed the lights into the downspout as you hang them in the branches going around the tree.

I've done it wit 30' of downspout. I tried 40 and it was just too awkward to deal with. First off, you have to run a pull-string through the pipe to pull the lights through the pipe. Use a string with a rag and some sort of funnels on each end and a shop-vac is easiest. It works.

Also, be sure to orient the pipe so that the joints tuck IN THE DIRECTION OF FLOW of the wire. If you don't the bulbs will catch on the inside of the joints as you try to pull the wire through. So that means, orient the joints as if the water was flowing UP, not down. Make sense?

With 30' of pipe, plus your body lift, you whole get another 3' of length. 4' more will be pushing it, because you won't be able to get leverage on that length of pipe PLUS the weight of the wire inside it.

Find some sort of cushion or rubber lip or copious duct tape on the bottom of the pipe where the lights go IN, or you'll skin the insulation or worse, you'll pull a bulb out of a socket and not notice it until you try to light them up. That's why I like to do it with the lights lit, and why I don't like using metal pipe with lit lights. I never tried plastic gutter pipe. So can't help you there.