Mega Tree on Sloped Yard

[galgon]

I was wondering if anyone had a solution for putting a mega-tree on a sloped yard.  My front yard slopes down quite a bit toward the street.  I was thinking of using the portable hole as the base but have not thought of a good way to make the tree level and stable.  I do not want to do something that would not allow me the flexibility to move the tree in future years to an area that has a slightly different slope to it. 

For those with megatrees on uneven ground what have you done to level it out?

[TexasStingray]

For mine I did cement mine using 2" PVC to make it so I could pull it our with an end cap to close it up.

[keitha43]

Drive a fence post into the ground and slide pvc down over it.

[JoeFromOzarks]

I had one of these built.   (If the pictures are poor, let me know and I'll shoot others.)   The four "legs" couple into the base and tighten with "T" bolts.   The upright pole sits between two plates with a bolt.   I have three steel cables (guy wires) from the top for stability.    No matter which way the slope of the yard, just a slight twist of the four legs and some tweaking of the guy wires and it's square with the world.

joe

[smeighan]

My front yard has quite a slope. I raised a 3/4". Emt pipe off the ground and leveled it.

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Thanks

[jnealand]

I used the Monkman JUMP with his portable hole II.  I used shims to level the hole/pole and then screwed some pieces of 2x6 to the downhill sides to to give it a better base against the ground.  Once you put the big stakes in and tighten the turnbuckles that tree has not gone anywhere.  I've used it two years and feel like it would be stable enough to lean a ladder against the top.  I don't do that, but I have pushed pretty hard on the pole at shoulder level and it does not move.  I put 3 10 ft pieces of grey 1/2" pvc together to form a base to attach the lights to (using zip ties) and then drive some camping stakes in the ground and pull the pvc base down using bungee cords.  In a wind the pole never moves and lights only sway a little.

[duane.mosley]

i made an adjustable base for mine. it was 8' in diameter and it has a top ring and a lower ring. the lower ring anchors  to the ground and the top ring is adustable.  i used 6 adjustable legs so that i could raise the top ring to level.  my adjustable legs were 3/4 pvc with 1/2'' emt inside the 3/4. the 3/4 pvc legs are 24'' tall and i cut them in half, i cut the 1/2'' emt to 22'' and slid them into the 3/4 pvc.  i then used self tapers to secure the 3/4 to the emt once the top ring was level. i used 3/4 T's and cut 1/3 of the flat side off so that they could snap around the 3/4 pvc rings so that i could take everything apart. i used and inner ring base as well so that i had somewhere to attach my controllers and it kept the top and bottom outer  rings from moving.i had pictures  but now i can't find them. i'll see how hard it will be to get to the legs so you can see how i made them.

since this was my first year, i wasn't sure if my tree was going to stay in the same place. my yard is flat in some areas and sloped in others so this is the idea i came up with. hope it helps. i will try to get some pictures of the adjustable legs.



duane

[taybrynn]

I like sean's design where you just level a base and its riding on a few stakes. 

MY spiral megatree is a similar design where I just mount the base on 4-5 big stakes and level it.  Then the tree sets on the level base.  Its been very easy and it's always on a steep side of my neighbors year.

IN the past 4-5 years, on a traditional 18' megatree ... I didn't run the megatree down to the ground anyways, and used a PVC hoop on the bottom of the tree ... so being in a swale hasn't mattered much.  The strings of lights (once attached to the base ring) will largely support the bottom ring ... and it can hang off the ground as much as needed for your grade.  I then stake that bottom hoop with some rebar and bungies and it stays put ... or doesn't swing around in the wind.   I found the cheap dollar store bungies worked nice to attached the super strings to the hoop and as the string slacked a bit, the kept everything snug.

One big thing, esp. if you using new strings of lights is to get the twists out and stretch them in the sun for a day to remove the slack before hanging.  Once they have done this, they will hang with less slack change after hanging and attaching.  You can also let them hang for a few hours if the weather and wind permits.

[Dennis Cherry]

Fixed base mega trees will not give you the flexibility to move the tree in your display easily. I have for the last 4 years placed my mega tree in a new location and will do it again this year.

I like the ability to change my yard elements locations and not have to work around a fixed mega tree, so my choice was the JUMP tree, My yard has a slight slope and a few boards under the base in the low area was used to level the base/pole, but seen one JUMP tree made that had a platform made to level the slope and the JUMP tree base on top.

Its your choice, just weight the pros and cons of every ones ideas and try to fit it into your yard structure.

[duane.mosley]

here are a few pics i was able to find. i do plan on changing the center mast but you can see my idea of the adjustable legs. it worked great once everything was anchored properly. and the 4 legs in the center allowed me mount the express controllers.

[rm357]

My base is pretty flimsy - 3 foot 1x4 boards cut and doubled to make an x with a solid piece going each way and a little piece of plywood for the pipe flange to mount to... Just enough to keep the pole from sinking into the ground. My stability comes from the 4 guy wires and the anchors I use on the ends.

If I were putting it on a hill, I would try attaching a 2x4 block with a door hinge to the piece of plywood for the pipe flange.
... And stake it so that the base could not slide down the hill