My patio string lights came down at 3 AM and took out the tomato trellis

Last Tuesday we had that surprise wind gust, the kind that hits right after you finally fall asleep. I heard this loud snap and then a crash. Ran out in my boxers and there was the whole mess, 40 feet of lights wrapped around 6 tomato plants, two of the stakes snapped clean off. The lights were up for 8 months with zip ties and cup hooks, thought they were solid. I used those cheap plastic clip hooks from the hardware store, probably should have gone with the screw-in eyelets instead. Rebuilt the trellis with some old cedar fence pickles I had lying around and put the lights back up with rope, not zip ties. Has anyone else had a backyard setup fail in a way that took out something totally unrelated? What did you switch to that actually held?

2 comments

2 Comments

sandra_moore304d ago

Figure out what the real weak point is and you're halfway there. Cheap plastic clips are the classic case of saving two bucks on the front end, then paying for it with a midnight wreck. It's funny how the same pattern shows up everywhere, like the crappy hook on the shower curtain that rips out the drywall, or the flimsy shelf bracket that dumps the whole canned goods collection. We always trust the thing we haven't double checked, and then the universe reminds us that convenience isn't the same as strong. Good call using the cedar fence pickets, that rebuild is probably tougher than the original setup. The rope move sounds right too, since it can give a little instead of snapping clean like that brittle plastic.

paige_bell813d ago

The rope trick is genius, it flexes and lasts way longer than any hard clip.