New guy starting mini trees.....LOL

[Don Johnson 10]

Long time lurker, first time poster. I made the plunge today and purchased the tomato cages. I realized when I got home that I got the 4' cages instead of the 3'. I think I may like that size though. How many lights would I use for that? Do you think the 100 count lights would still work? Anyone else put the green garland on the 4' trees? What length garland would be good?

Also, what are the pros and con's of putting on one color at a time vs wrapping all of the colors as one string?

I have learned a lot from this site... thanks everyone.

[bdeditch 2]

Thats about the only way people are doing it. Make sure you start at the top so when you wrap its going agianist the smaller wrap.

[peppers-palace 12]

Long time lurker, first time poster. I made the plunge today and purchased the tomato cages. I realized when I got home that I got the 4' cages instead of the 3'. I think I may like that size though. How many lights would I use for that? Do you think the 100 count lights would still work? Anyone else put the green garland on the 4' trees? What length garland would be good?

Also, what are the pros and con's of putting on one color at a time vs wrapping all of the colors as one string?

I have learned a lot from this site... thanks everyone.

Hello & Welcome to PC! Lots to learn & here are a few of my tips.

I have the 4' tomato cage trees.I like them better too. I used the walmart 60 count LED mini's on mine.Each of those have 300 lights. I took 1 1/2 cages per tree.Thats to give it more of a round look & you can make the bottom bigger.

This 1 you can see the frame better & the lazy susan to string it up.You might want to go that route to avoid dizzy spells LOL. I just took an old bar stool & made a wood top to hook it to.

Here it is again lit without any garland & the red tree is the same

Here I wrapped garland on them & probably had the same amount of lights

As for how much garland it takes I'm not sure but I found it lights better if the garland goes on 1st.Next to lights I will now be buying lots of garland after christmas.Got a case last year & know I need more LOL.I also found the 18' garland works better over the 9' 3 branch type.

I also do 1 color at a time when using 2 or 3 colors.Start from the top so any excess will be at the bottom & it won't look off.

Awhile back someone gave me the 3' cages & those look nice too.Instead of stacking 2 & make 1 tree I used chicken wire then did the garland & lights.

Good Luck & looking forward to seeing some pictures of yours!

[Don Johnson 10]

Thanks for the replies. I see we have some different views on starting the wrap at the bottom or the top. Not sure which way I should go. So peppers-palace, if I am understanding you correctly, you are using 5 strings of 60 count for a total of 300? Is that correct? Is that for one color?

I was going to use 2 cages per tree. Not sure I understand the advantage of 1 1/2 cages. Does the 1/2 go on the bottom or top?

[peppers-palace 12]

Thanks for the replies. I see we have some different views on starting the wrap at the bottom or the top. Not sure which way I should go. So peppers-palace, if I am understanding you correctly, you are using 5 strings of 60 count for a total of 300? Is that correct? Is that for one color?

I was going to use 2 cages per tree. Not sure I understand the advantage of 1 1/2 cages. Does the 1/2 go on the bottom or top?

Yes I used 5 60 count LED strings on mine. Double if using 2 colors.

Sorry I confused you on the 1 1/2 cage. Here is a link I used that will explain it better. I did mine with just 3 pieces versus all 4.His are much rounder though & may do that when I do more.

http://www.christmasinkent.com/howto/HowToMinis.htm

[Don Johnson 10]

Thanks for the link. It was helpful. I think I will be using incandescent lights. I keep changing my mind about the garland. Not sure if I am going to use it or not.

[peppers-palace 12]

Thanks for the link. It was helpful. I think I will be using incandescent lights. I keep changing my mind about the garland. Not sure if I am going to use it or not.

You are welcome!

The garland does make them look much nicer in the day time. I will be putting some in my back yard so that won't matter if it has garland.I hope to have enough garland for the trees I will have up front.

Good Luck with Yours!

[MinnesotaMike 10]

Crap...I thought I knew how I was going to make my minis this year, but now I have no idea!!! Wait, I mean I have a LOT of ideas!!

[christmas_nut 97]

the more I read through the PC site the more Ideas I get. I have boxes of garlang I havent used in 2 years, Home depot here I come.

Great looking trees. Thanks for the tips.

[Drum Christmas 11]

I use 1 string of 100ct minis (of each color) and they are fine.

Same here, 100ct per color, 3 colors and look great! Any more and TOO bright.

[Drum Christmas 11]

Long time lurker, first time poster. I made the plunge today and purchased the tomato cages. I realized when I got home that I got the 4' cages instead of the 3'. I think I may like that size though. How many lights would I use for that? Do you think the 100 count lights would still work? Anyone else put the green garland on the 4' trees? What length garland would be good?

Also, what are the pros and con's of putting on one color at a time vs wrapping all of the colors as one string?

I have learned a lot from this site... thanks everyone.

I have 8 of the 42" cages and 100ct minis work fine for me.

[Drum Christmas 11]

Also, what are the pros and con's of putting on one color at a time vs wrapping all of the colors as one string?

Some call them "Super Strings." Zip tying multiple strings together to make one big string. Very useful on the house if you have multiple colors or types of lights on one area (eve, gutter, windows, etc). I prefer to wrap my mini-trees one color at a time, that way I can wrap each color in a different pattern. One color I wrap round and round, next up and down, next zig-zag. Gives it a little more character and each color doesn't look the same. I find it makes the trees brighter when I light all 3 colors on the mini-trees.