Need some help with a "MEGA" Tree

[arw01]

My wife grew up in the home we live in now, as we bought it after the last renters trashed the place.  It has been her dream since she was a little girl to light up this big tree:




This is a typical bull pine tree that has split a few feet off the ground into multiple trunks running up 45' higher.    This complicates things greatly up top for some sort of attachment point up there.



My initial thoughts had been some sort of aluminum ring with channels in it for the attachment of pulleys in about a 270 degree arrangement.  Those pulleys would have a sheathed steel cable and not allow the cable to be able to jump the pulley.

On the end of the cable would be a 5 to 10'b fishing weight that could fall down along the trunk of the tree.  It might take a few tugs, but a lead ball weight would eventually make it's way down.  The other end of the cable would go basically to the bottom of the canopy on the outside.

The problem with that arrangement is possibly loosing control of a cable and it being too far up the tree to retrieve.  So some sort of stop has to be on the table as the maximum amount that can fall through, or to make the cable a loop so it can always be retrieved.

However that split may make that not work.

I had figured that if I could get 4 strands or so on a pulley, then I could attach a guide wire and pull them out away from the tree branches as they are hoisted up or lowered down.

Anyways, crazy ideas welcome, I will have access to a bucket truck one time to get the basics in place and need to figure out how to do it, and what to light it with.

Initially thinking about a dozen pixabulbs and another dozen dumb led strands in single colors.  The pixabulbs controlled from an ssc with 50 nodes and about 50' long at the edge of the canopy.  The regular LED's by just a lynx radiating out from the tree trunks.  That I hoped would give at least a little effect to the tree for the first year of lighting it and then if I get the mechanics proper at the top, I can add on a few more strands every year.




Thoughts, well wishes?  Crazy ideas that you saw someone else try?

[UncleBuck]

Use an air gun like they use at basketball games to shot tee shirts into the stands. With the air gun lob your light strings over the top. Good luck when it comes to tear down. 

[arw01]

I saw a potato gun used for that with bare leaf trees and large "balls" of chicken wire and lights on them. They would shoot a half potato with compressed air out of pvc with a pull string and use that to bring the balls up into the bare branches.

Alan

[jnealand]

I think this is a man lift project.  And a big one at that.  I have a couple of trees in my yard that I used to just hang lights straight down from as high as I could reach, and that was close to the top then.  But the dang thing kept growing on me.  Now it is unlit.

[taybrynn]

If your going to light it up, you almost need a crane or a massive sized lift.    If you bought spt2 wire and put on custom spaced c9 bulbs at maybe 3-4' spacing this could be cool.   IMHO the tree is way too big and this project would be huge and costly.     Another option might be to just go crazy with snowfall tubes, like the inexpensive ones you can get on eBay and and get like - ton of them and hang them from the lower canopy and it would have an amazing effect without taking on the entire tree per se.

[drlucas]

Mine is similar. Here is a view from the second floor during the recent ice storm. I'm glad it didn't fall down and force me to replace it with a 12' ABS megatree

I tried three years or so ago to wrap the trunk with minis. I got 2/3rds the way up to the top and then it was too much for me as the sucker was swaying back and forth so i gave up.

A cherry picker or something is needed for sure. A local tree pruner or utility guy on a good day may want some free advertising so maybe talk to them about borrowing the lift  on a weekend. Once that issue is solved i still really don't think minis would be enough to really light it. C9s maybe. Net lights on each branch maybe.

The other option is just hang decorations from the branches. Like big disco ball type globes.

[WWNF911]

Ever wonder how they light up Cinderella's Castle at WDW? Your friend in this project may cost you but you need a mega cool projector.   


Leon 

[Gary]

Instead of using light strings on the outside of the tree, how about lighting it up from the inside?

10 seconds into this video, you can see how this person used flood lights and strobes in the tree.
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Looking in the comments area, the owner said "There are 20 curtain strobes on a vertical string, 12 more in a horizontal ring, two 500 watt halogens aimed up to fill the branches and a Proton Star, 2,000 watt DMX strobe to flash fill the house. Overkill? Probably, but it looks a lot better in person!"

[tbone321]

That's the strangest Christmas display that I have ever seen.

[Gary]

I assume you're being tongue in cheek there. Even though it's from 2008, it still sticks in my mind with what the owner did with that huge tree that would otherwise be a big black hole.

[arw01]

Yes, it is a good source of additional thoughts.  I had wanted to toss a Aether II or so on the bottom of the tree, maybe I should think about a couple further up the tree to get some color out of it up there.  And if I can talk my neighbor into helping to trim it up, that might open it up a bit to show some more of the color.

Keep the ideas coming, filling them away to work on them.

[onesmoothhead]

I flood my pines with Aether IIs and they look amazing.  I just started testing yesterday.  I have been wanting to light them up, but have the same issue as they are huge.


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[combustionmark]

How about a couple of these
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You don't have to climb the tree to light it, these will project the lights on the tree.

[arw01]

How about a couple of these
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You don't have to climb the tree to light it, these will project the lights on the tree.

Certainly cheap enough to try the first one and see what it would look like up there!.  Maybe put in a cg1500 box and mount to the chimney to shine on the roof if it doesn't work so well on the tree.  Use a lynx channel with just on and off set up to pop it one for an effect once in a while.

Going to watch craigslist for a while on a projector, that might be a great way to incorporate some video on the tree for halloween and fourth of july etc.

[meman]

Lasers, Aethers or dust it with something fluorescent and use a blacklight flood. I would not attempt to light this tree with LEDs, you will not get the coverage you are expecting without spending thousands.

IF you have the bucket and there is sufficient trunk up high to support it at a level angle, you may be able to create a kind of platform with eight or so arms that have pulleys on the ends. The pulleys would have to be rigged all year long, but would allow you to pull up 8 separate lengths of LED rope light pretty smoothly. It would look more like a huge mega-tree though. 

I have also decorated tall objects with light strings using long painters pole, and walking round and round with a 8' helium weather balloon & pulley to finish off the top strings. But I could never take them back down. And back to point #1, I didn't get anything near the light coverage I had hoped for....just a spiral outline. 

But I did continue to use the balloon as a prop for a couple of years on windless nights.

Mike E.