Mega Tree Question

[jediknight2]

I am going to add a 10-14 foot tree this year, but since I have made the move to pixels AND have a family vacation planned next month...I can't expand channels for it. I have 6 total channels for my tree and am looking for suggestions on the best way to string it. My thoughts are to use 3 for white and 3 for color. There are two ways to string it though...bottom to top then back down to bottom on the opposite side, then back up, etc filling a third OR bottom to top,top bottom, etc on the same side to fill a third..one would allow for a spinning type of effect as lights would be lit on both sides, the other would allow me to spin in thirds around the three...I am thinking it would be more dramatic to have a spinning type of effect...

My plan on the structure is to wash in a PVC sleeve about 4' with a cap at the bottom to have something to drop the pole in. I was looking at conduit today and 3/4" rigid would work, as well as 1" EMT. I guess my question on that is how best to join two pieces to get a total of 18', 4' of which would be in ground....just want to make sure it doesn't buckle.


Thoughts/suggestions...

 

[penguineer]

Just set my post up for a slightly smaller tree - using a 80mm(~3 1/4") CCA trated post in a 90mm(~3 3/4") piece of stormwater conduit buried about 500mm(~2') into the ground. The post is about 3m(10') long so should be easy to rig using a freestanding ladder.

The bottom of the conduit has a few handfuls of gravel in it for drainage - I wouldn't put a cap on the bottom as any water in there would never go away, but there will be a cap for the top for the rest of the year to stop dirt/sticks from falling in....

I'm using eight channels, four colours, single stranded(ie top to base only) in a half-tree setup. Playing around with this in the sequencer suggests that the tree will wipe from side to side and can also give the impression of spinning with the right sequence.....

Cheers!