Safely fixing lights to trees?

[Tegid]

Hi all. I'm new to the world of trees, as I've just bought a house that has a TPO covering the whole garden (16 trees including mature oaks, pines, copper beech, limes).

 

I'd like to attach string / festoon lights to the trees (at night the garden is very dark, as my rather swollen ankle will attest...), but because of past crown lifts, all (or almost all) of the trunks are very straight up to 5m+, so there's nothing to just hang the lights over.  I'm considering some kind of strapping round the trunk, and I'm wondering if there's a best practice for how to do this?  I don't want to drill anything in, and I don't want to restrict growth rings, but I'd also like something at least relatively long-lasting.

[Dan Maynard]

I think you can use a rope, the most important thing is what you tie. I see a lot of washing lines where the cord is around the stem several times and then tied off so there is no room to expand, better to use a running bowline or similar and it will just slide as the tree expands.

[GarethM]

What about using something such as an elastic bungee cord, gives a bit of stretch whilst the tree grows for a couple of years, just remember to attach and reattach once a year to ensure its not cutting into the bark. As Dan says we've all seen trees with washing line embedded within the trunk.

 

Depending on what lights your using it might be better attaching them onto a washing line or rope when you put them up as even with a good quality set of lights, you don't really want to be putting too much tension on the electrical cable.