Ground erosion, wind, vandalism and grass cutting all destroy young trees each year with most trees less than five years of age being vulnerable to such damage. To protect trees for these threats various arrangements of tree ties, straps, cushions and spacers can be used along with various types of stakes.
Buckle Tree Ties
The original Rainbow Buckle Tree Tie dates back to the 1960's and is still the most widely used type of tree tie due to their simplicity, ease of use and reliability. The Rainbow Buckle is uniquely strong, manufactured in unbreakable Polycarbonate, which is needed to withstand the incredibly high loads that winds can apply to the middle of the buckle. This tree tie comes with a collar that fits between the tree and stake to prevent the tree rubbing against the stake and also allows some stretch to give the tree some movement which helps it develop its own resistance to wind. This stretch also reduces the amount of maintenance needed with this type of tree tie to less than every two years, but we do recommend inspections at these intervals to prevent the risk of tree bulging damage. This product also offers a very long life performance and will last well in excess of ten years allowing them to be reused if required.
The range starts with a small Rose and Shrub Tie, Standard ties at 38, 45 and 60cm lengths and a Semi- Mature Tree size.
Softee Tree Ties
A one piece soft plastic tree tie which is available in 4 different sizes for trees from 2cm tree girths up to 8cm tree girths. These ties need adjusting on an annual basis to prevent tree bulging and complete removal after four growing seasons.
Black Strapping
This is our most economical range and is a simple yet very effective plain plastic strap that will last over 10 years in outdoor conditions. The Plastic offers some stretch capability which is of benefit to the tree but also offers a great deal of strength. Strapping is normally used with either the low priced hoop collar, a simple rubber cushion or a heavier rubber block placed between the stake and tree and held to the fixing stake with two flat headed galvanised nails. Normally the 25 mm size is used for trees of 16cm girth and less and the 38 mm size strap for trees up to 24cm girth.
Easy Fix with Spacers
This is our most popular range of tree strapping used widely across most of Europe and is over 40% stronger than our standard strapping. Easy Fix recognises that in most applications it is nailed to the fixing stake and it is around this holding nail that the weakest point of the tree strap becomes. We therefore reinforce the strap in this area where the nails are inserted as well as pre forming the nail holes which prevents the nail doing further weakening damage to the strap. Easy Fix is supplied with matching Hoop Collars at one per every 33cm of strap and like the other straps is very long life but allows some stretch to aid the trees own development. As the strap is firmly nailed to the stake we recommend an annual inspection of the tree to prevent any damage occurring. The higher strength of this design allows trees of up to 32cm girth to be accommodated by this type of strap.
Hoop Collars
These are available in 12, 25 and 38mm size and are the simplest way of holding any type of tree tie or strap together between a tree and a stake to prevent them rubbing together.
This is a more Environmentally Friendly strap using a form of Rubber to manufacture this strap. This material also has the added advantage that it allows much more stretch than plastic straps which is of great benefit to young trees in allowing them to develop their own resistance to wind loads. This more flexible strap also needs less maintenance with inspections only required every three years however it is more expensive than plastic or reinforced rubber straps as we need a very high performance rubber to get to the minimum required levels of tensile strength which will offer at least 8 years of external serviceable life.
Reinforced Rubber Strapping
This strapping has the environmental benefits of using a rubber based strap rather than a plastic one and can use a lower specification, and lower price, rubber as it uses reinforcing strands to get to the required levels of tensile strength. This rubber still offers a service life of over 8 years and is fixed to the stake by the usual flat headed galvanised nails. These straps need to be inspected at least once per year as the stretch capability of the rubber which is so beneficial to the tree is largely lost with the reinforcing which are nylon strands with little stretch capabilities. Other reinforced straps can be reinforced with fabric which has even less stretch than the nylon and for this reason we do not recommend its use.
Vandal Proof Rubber Strapping
Many of our customers have regular problems with vandals cutting tree ties and straps from park and street applications with the subsequent loss of the young trees on a regular basis. We have developed a rubber strap with the environmental benefits of using rubber but with the reinforcing hidden deep inside the strap being high tensile steel. This prevents the strap from being cut by the typical blades that vandals use for such damage and is saving many young trees in such areas. These straps are simply nailed to the stake as with other straps and checked more frequently to prevent tree bulging damage as the strap has very minimal stretch capability.
Rubber Tree Cushions
These soft rubber tree cushions are environmentally friendly and offer a very soft and bouncy support between the tree and stake allowing maximum movement to the benefit of the young developing tree. These Cushions can be used with any of our strapping range with two preformed slots allowing a good strong assembly to be made using a long life rubber in either 25 or 38mm size.
Rubber Blocks
These blocks are manufactured in 100% recycled material but offering a long life capability in outdoor conditions. They have two concave surfaces to allow a very snug fit between the tree and stake should you not require much movement of the tree and allow any of our straps to feed through the two preformed slots.
Rubber Jumbo Spacers
We supply these in either 1 meter lengths for cutting to required length on site or in pre cut lengths of 25 and 30cms. These allow stakes to be positioned much further from the tree to allow more tree movement to aid its development and prevent possible damage to the root ball. The rubber material is soft to the tree so is unlikely to damage it should the stake design allow for the tree to be blown into the spacer under storm conditions.
Chainlock
Rainbow developed this very simple and versatile tree tying medium back in the 1960's and it is now used very widely for all sorts of tying and tree support needs. We offer several different sizes and material types to suit all applications to make this easily adjustable and reusable tree and plant strapping ideal for jobs all around the world.
