Blinded by the Lights; Dazed by the Holidays

December is a joyous time of the year, celebrating the closing of another great run around the sun, as well the many holidays with our friends and family. It’s a time to decorate your homes with charged enthusiasm, possibly from a spiked egg nog, though the holiday cheer may lead to doing so with great excess. Because of this, when it comes time to take everything down it becomes an insurmountable task that can be put off for months. Though it’s embarrassing for some to still have lights up a couple months after the new year, it can be much more than a shame for many reasons.

Leaving the lights on your house and in your home is sometimes a fun way to keep the nostalgia alive after the holidays, but leaving the lights in your trees can cause some serious issues. The tree is a growing organism that gets larger on both the trunk and branches, and it needs the ability to expand without restriction. Hanging holiday lights are typically wrapped snug against the trunk and on the limbs so that they don’t move or fall off. Some species grow so quickly that they can become embedded or even worse and girdle the tree in just a few seasons. The Holly tree in the picture shows what happens when an extension cord is left on for a few years. Though the tree still appears to be alive, there is decay throughout the stem of the tree that can lead to possible failure of the stem in the future.

Lights can also be hung from the branches and throughout the upper canopy that can lead to a number of other issues. Throughout the winter season the winds can cause a lot of movement in the branches that can tangle the lights into a large mass. If you were able to hang the lights from the ground or with a ladder, you may not be able to retrieve them if you wait too long to have lights turn into a spider web. The movement of the branches can also wear away the coating of the lights and cords, leading to a possible fire hazard. If you have any hesitation to remove the lights, you may want to consider calling a professional to have them removed.

Tree climbers sometimes get the chance to help with lights and can help with the process. True Timber Arborists has a few clients that we help with lights almost every year. Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens and a church in the Glenn Allen are annual clients that we are more than happy to give them a hand, both with installation and then the removal of the lights. The process is timely and takes a lot of planning to get right, but they can have spectacular results!