Mounting a flood light on a tree!?

[rolyberkin]

Have a client who is asking for a floodlight to be mounted on a tree to light up a car park. The tree is well established. Having conflicting thoughts on this, has anyone done it and if so how.

 

[SparkyChick]

I've had a similar request some time ago, thankfully nothing ever came of it because I'm not sure how I would have gone about it.

The closest I came to a solution I would be happy with was to mount the light on a board with a couple of strips of timber at the top and bottom with a kind of crescent cut out so it could sit flat against the trunk. To secure it the solution I felt was best was to put a chain in hose pipe at the top and bottom and to then secure it with springs to allow for growth, leaving some excess on the chains for adjustment over time.

Anything else I felt presented a risk to the tree, especially in this day an age when we appear to be getting more fungus and diseases affecting the native species.

As for the cabling... I didn't really conclude anything, except perhaps to have it well clamped on the board for strain relief and to then have it hanging down. Possibly a rubber pond flex.

It's a tricky proposition and simply screwing it to the trunk and then clipping cable down the trunk just doesn't sit well with me.

 

[Pete999]

I've had a similar request some time ago, thankfully nothing ever came of it because I'm not sure how I would have gone about it.

The closest I came to a solution I would be happy with was to mount the light on a board with a couple of strips of timber at the top and bottom with a kind of crescent cut out so it could sit flat against the trunk. To secure it the solution I felt was best was to put a chain in hose pipe at the top and bottom and to then secure it with springs to allow for growth, leaving some excess on the chains for adjustment over time.

Anything else I felt presented a risk to the tree, especially in this day an age when we appear to be getting more fungus and diseases affecting the native species.

As for the cabling... I didn't really conclude anything, except perhaps to have it well clamped on the board for strain relief and to then have it hanging down. Possibly a rubber pond flex.

It's a tricky proposition and simply screwing it to the trunk and then clipping cable down the trunk just doesn't sit well with me.

Can I ask why SC

 

[SparkyChick]

Can I ask why SC

You can, but I must respond with 'Why what?'

 

[Pete999]

You can, but I must respond with 'Why what?'

Why fitting the light and cable to the tree doesn't sit well with you.

 

[buzzlightyear]

If it was me .then i would use bungy rope around the tree on to the timber allowing the tree to grow and it depends on how well the tree is well established.

 

[SparkyChick]

Why fitting the light and cable to the tree doesn't sit well with you.

In recent times we have had a number of diseases affecting native species (horse chestnut for example is under threat, as is the ash). As far as I know the majority of these diseases are fungal.

In securing the light/cable if you break the bark of a tree you run the risk of allowing disease to enter the tree. Depending on the species of tree and what gets in, it could be the end of it.

 

[mhar]

I would definitely avoid anything going around the tree. Cutting into the bark strangles the tree, water is transported behind the bark and removing a ring of bark will kill anything above.

How about four wooden dowels?

 

[Pete999]

In recent times we have had a number of diseases affecting native species (horse chestnut for example is under threat, as is the ash). As far as I know the majority of these diseases are fungal.

In securing the light/cable if you break the bark of a tree you run the risk of allowing disease to enter the tree. Depending on the species of tree and what gets in, it could be the end of it.

Thanks for this SC personally how screwing a light to a tree will cause any lasting harm, but I'm not a tree Surgeon, so I have no proof only a gut feeling.

 

[SparkyChick]

I would definitely avoid anything going around the tree. Cutting into the bark strangles the tree, water is transported behind the bark and removing a ring of bark will kill anything above.

How about four wooden dowels?

Which is why @buzzlightyear and I suggested methods of allowing the ring to expand to accommodate growth and allow for future adjustment.

If you're talking of putting wooden dowels into the tree, you're still putting the tree at risk as you'd be breaking the bark. To use a human analogy... it's like putting a screw into a bone in your body... the entry point is an open wound for the duration and is at a massively increased risk of infection.

 

[Pete999]

Which is why @buzzlightyear and I suggested methods of allowing the ring to expand to accommodate growth and allow for future adjustment.

If you're talking of putting wooden dowels into the tree, you're still putting the tree at risk as you'd be breaking the bark. To use a human analogy... it's like putting a screw into a bone in your body... the entry point is an open wound for the duration and is at a massively increased risk of infection.

Well I'll just have to disagree with both Buzz and yourself on this one SC.

 

[Octopus]

A mate of mine who does tree surgery told me once that if you fix a light directly to a tree, the bark will grow around the metal fixings - he recommended that a piece of wood be fixed to the tree first and have slack on the cable to allow for vertical growth ....

 

[Andy78]

SC is perfectly correct. My brother is an arborist (tree surgeon) and has imparted the same advice many times before about damage to the bark and infection control. I have worked with him many times and he is always very keen to make sure I avoid damage to trees that are not being felled. For example, if working on a tree to reduce branches, no arborist with any sort of basic knowledge would dream of using climbing spikes. Those would only be used on trees to be felled.

 

[SparkyChick]

All I can say is all the bird boxes etc. my parents put in their trees were secured in a similar fashion to what I described. None of their trees died as a result. They did however lose some a result of damage to the bark which allowed disease to enter, so make of that what you will.

I'm no arborist but my personal experiences support my view.

 

[Strima]

Roughly 15 years ago my mother in law had a builder fit some 100w lamps to illuminate a couple of trees in her garden, he screwed them directly to the trunk which I suggested at the time was wrong.

Five years ago she decided she wanted them swapped for LED so I bought some, made some 6" posts to mount them on, got the postcrete etc and dropped it all off at hers.

Mr builder called by on some other related job and she asked him to swap the lamps out as I wouldn't be able to do it for a couple of weeks.

Yes you guessed it, he screwed them to the tree again but when removing the old ones he damaged a lot of the bark where it had grown round the brackets.

Two months ago a tree surgeon recommended they be chopped down as they're dying and are right next to a main road.