Tomato Cage Wrapping

[chad.pacey]

Does everyone wrap their tomato cages around?

Does anone wrap their cages from top to bottom? I'm worried of not wrapping with enough consistency going around and around and around, and think that maybe going from top to bottom will allow me to more easily get a uniform coverage.

Thanks,

[peppers-palace]

I did some & wrapped around starting from the top.That way it was more uniform & it didn't really show as much if I had extra at the bottom.

[NH - Dave]

I start at the top and wind down. Don't forget to leave about 2" at the bottom bare. There are issues with wet ground and light if you go all the way to the bottom.

[Mwhite7097]

I attach from top to bottom. This way I can cover about 3/4 of the cage and get more lights facing the audience. I zip tie the top of the tomato cages about 2" from the very top and bend the remaining legs to use as hooks for the top. I never saw the need to wrap the entire cage. I would rather have the lights cover where yoou can see them better.

[JackStevens]

I do a double-spiral or triple-spiral wrap using multiple strings, starting at the bottom. Each string is inter-leaved and evenly spaced. If I have a string go out for some reason, it's just less dense and not a segment out.

[Crazy Tech]

I also go from bottom to top, including the row on the ground, until snow comes you get a great effect, and the waterproofing I do has held up very well, we had major wet winter and while I had some other areas that were not done the same way cause issues, none of my tomato cages had any issues, the total effect was great.

I work my way up with 1/2 inch spacing, I use 4 colors per tree - looks great and if a bulb goes no big deal, I do use commerical grade lights which are sealed they cost more, but what a huge difference in dimming, color and weather proofing it makes.

[danj]

Crazy Tech--if you have a few minutes sometime maybe as you unload your trees to set them up or something, could you please post some pics? I just built my first three mini trees (will finish up #4 tonight) and I started at very bottom spiraling up at 1" spacing between strings. These are all solid color (2 white 2 red). I am just getting started on all this so I figured I would start out "simple" with my initial trees. I would like to see how you put your four colors on the tree without "covering up" any other lights/colors. Thanks in advance!!

[santabob]

Started on my mini trees and I have a few tips to pass along from my tree build. I use a chair to spin the tree on. I use an old office chair but a bar stool could work as well. I also use a belt to hold the tree from falling over. I can quickly put the lights on like this.

[mikejxms]

neat idea with the chair and belt

Mike E

[Glenn Barber]

Bob, what a neat idea with the Chair - i have done the turn table thing and it just doesn't get it done very well - we have plenty of broken old chairs around here at work I can get.  As far as wrapping - I found it best to cut off the bottom (Lg) ring and leave the three wires on the Tree to stick in the ground - this keeps the lights about 4" off the ground - I have had lots of problems in the past letting lights touch the ground - I always zip tie my lights to the wires going up and down first and at the bottom ring and then start wrapping them around the cage and zip tying as I go - the lights seem to hold better on the wrap around - I use lots of zip ties - I normally use 3 100 lt strings for my Mini Trees - I am fixing to start my LED conversion on them from my regular lights - I may have to cut back to 2 strings - depends on what it looks like - I hope to be ALL LED within 3 years.  I have good start on it now.

[NH - Dave]

Another thing we do, well the wife thought of it, is we wrap garland on the cage too.  thins looks great during the day and really does not obscura the lights.

[Glenn Barber]

The wife is right - it would look great during the day - good idea

[LangfordDave]

I prefer wrapping vertically over horizontally as it keeps the shape of the cage better. I don't wrap top to bottom, though, I do it in sections because the wider bottom needs more lights than the narrower top. I also like lots of options for tie-down points, so I added some thin bamboo stakes as additional uprights and some resin rings as additional horizontal supports. This way I can also use longer stakes to make taller trees, so I have 2 different sizes for my display. Once my frame is ready I wrap the bottom half up and down, then move to the upper half (for the taller trees I divide into 3 sections). The very top I wrap around. I repeat with my second colour (my display is strictly blue and pure white LEDs) then wrap the whole thing in garland as per NH - Dave's wife. Wrapping up and down also allows you to put all the lights at the front so as not to waste any (however the wife wants a full wrap so she can admire them from the house).

[LangfordDave]

Here is a pic of a completed regular height mini tree, and a frame for my taller version beside it for comparison.

Edited November 3, 2013 by LangfordDave

[Missieod]

I don't remember where I found the how to (I like to give credit to other for their ideas) but I now use 2 tomato cages per tree. Just cut the rings on o e and slide it over the other one so there are six evenly spaced legs. It makes stacking and wrapping much easier. The. I wrap with garland and lights starting at the bottom and run it horizontally. It only took a little trial and error to get the lights evenly spaced

[Python]

I use the small cages, double stacked like Missieod describes above, and wrap using 200 lights. They could probably use another 100 lights but in the interest of time and money, 200 will do. I don't use zip ties but maybe an occasional twisty here and there. I find the lights stay put just fine. This year I'll have a toal of 17 in my display.

[Crimson Lane Lights Etown]

I go Vertical, two strands of 70 count each color led, 4" zip ties, 54" cage.  24 units in this years display.  No garland.  They stack off season well.  I pin them to the ground with yellow plastic tent stakes, one each side.  Very bright and they get the WOW! for the effort.

[JeffL]

32 restrung this year.  12 strings per tree.  Bottom to top.  Zip tie the first two strings so things stay uniform. Check that of my bucket list.  What a PIT...

Edited November 7, 2013 by JeffL

[juicedss]

I decided to re wrap mine.  I figured they'd show more light without the garland.  I wrapped from top to bottom and added 1 more string.  Each of mine have 300 red, 300 white and 300 green incans.  They are considerably brighter now.  

[Crimson Lane Lights Etown]

Looks good and bright!  I see the inspiration for the tree shape in the background photo!   Remember to stake it to the ground so it doesn't blow over!

[LangfordDave]

That's awfully bright! I actually prefer the one on the right...

[juicedss]

That's awfully bright! I actually prefer the one on the right...

I think they'll look good when they get in the yard.  They are 70ft. from the street so I can use the brightness.

[chartrand]

I replaced mine this year with Holiday Coro RGB trees. Way nicer and a lot lighter. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD