I recently bought and hung a shade sail in my backyard. I had two anchor points, but the third was to a tree. The tree is my neighbor's, so I asked his permission to attach it there, which he gave me. Originally, I was thinking of putting an eye bolt in the tree, but decided to put a strap around it, so it wasn't permanent. The strap is made out of seat belt materialand loops through itself, so it cinches on itself. Now my neighbor wants to pay an arborist way too much money to find out if it's safe for the tree. I already told him that if he's worried about it, I'll take it down. I just wanted to know if this would harm the tree. Thanks
by TornadoIncognito
7 Comments
there are strap products made specifically to absorb weight from hammocks/slacklines. Look at them and compare, then tell your neighbor you’ll invest in a pad for the strap, here’s a 12-pack for your trouble.
It can harm the tree over the course of a year or years. It’s not a set-and-forget solution, but it will be fine if you’re inspecting and adjusting it regularly. To keep the peace, I’d offer to loosen and reset the strap up or down the trunk several inches every month during the growing season. You’ll mitigate the danger to practically zero, and IF there’s a problem, you’ll see it before it becomes permanent harm.
It’ll be fine if it isn’t permanent. If moved and adjusted yearly it shouldn’t ever really be an issue
Check and move the position a little bit once or twice a year and it’ll be fine. If you forget about it for a long time it could make a serious problem.
Set a calendar reminder on your phone so you don’t forget
It should be okay as long as it doesn’t stay in that spot for an extended period of time. If the tree starts to swell around it its been there way too long.
In case you want an alternate solution, these slings are bombproof and won’t girdle the tree.
https://www.wesspur.com/20kn-tree-guard-slings
As an arborist that has been managing trees in Los Angeles for 20 years- in a dense part of the city where everyone is trying to hang lights, swings, hammocks, pull up bars, holiday decorations, shade cloths, silk dancing silks, challenge course elements, zip lines, tree support cables and whatever else you can imagine, i can say this with a ton of confidence:
*the number of trees I have seem permanently damaged by straps is very high, while the number of trees I have damaged by a good eye bolt is approx zero.”
The straps are fine if you adjust them constantly. But they get forgotten. The bolt causes a very small amount of damage once when you drill the pilot hole, then never again.
If you were my neighbor I would likely offer to do the install at the spot of your choosing, and I would use a ¼ or ⅜ inch stainless steel lag eye bolt or a J-lag. And then I’d never think about it again.
Can you just put up a pole?