Most people who want a tree swing don't have the tree for it. They have the wrong kind of tree, which is to say a perfectly healthy one with every branch forty feet up.
The branch a swing actually needs is unusual. It has to be eight inches thick or more, roughly horizontal, high enough for a swing to move but low enough to reach, and clear of everything underneath. Mature trees in most yards either grew straight up with no low limbs, or had the low limbs taken off years ago because they were in the way of a mower.
You can still hang a swing. You just hang it off the trunk instead of a branch.
What a tree swing support does
A swing support is a steel arm that mounts to the trunk and sticks out sideways, giving you the horizontal attachment point the tree never grew. The swing hangs from the end of the arm.
Two things make it work. The arm has to extend far enough out that a swinging kid clears the trunk, and the mount has to grip the trunk hard enough to take the load without damaging the tree. Straps do the gripping, which is why a good one uses wide ratchet straps rather than anything that bites into bark.
Done right, it turns any straight, healthy trunk into a swing spot. No branch involved.
Measure your trunk first, because this is where it goes wrong
This is the step people skip, and it's the one that decides whether the thing you ordered fits.
Measure diameter, not circumference. Diameter is straight across the trunk at roughly chest height. If you only have a tape measure and can't get it through the tree, measure around the trunk and divide by 3.14.
For reference: a 20 inch diameter trunk is about 63 inches around.
Check the trunk is straight where the mount goes. A slight lean is fine. A trunk that curves or forks at mounting height is not, because the bracket needs flat contact on both sides.
Look at what's around it. A swing needs a clear arc. Walk the circle the swing will travel and check for fences, other trunks, a shed corner, and low limbs you'd forgotten about.
If your tree does happen to have a usable branch after all, you do not need any of this. The best tree swing kit for large trees is the cheaper starting point.
What size tree you need
Standard swing supports are built for a middle range of trunk sizes, and ours covers 12 to 20 inches in diameter, which is 30 to 50 cm. That is a mature but not enormous tree. A trunk under 12 inches usually isn't substantial enough to take the leverage a swing arm puts on it.
If your trunk is bigger than 20 inches, that's good news for strength and it means you need a larger bracket. We make one, and it's a separate part rather than a different product, so you keep everything else.
What you still need
A swing support is the mount. It is not the swing.
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The swing itself. A saucer, a board, a disc, a baby seat. Anything rated for the hanging height.
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Tree protectors. These sit between the strap and the bark. Over a season, a strap under tension will wear into a trunk without them, and a wound on a trunk is a route in for disease.
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A step ladder, around six feet, to reach the mounting height.
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Nothing else. No drilling, no bolts into living wood, no tools beyond what comes in the box.
Where this won't work
Being straight about the limits.
A dead or declining tree. No mount makes a dying tree safe. If there's no canopy in summer, fungus at the base, or soft wood anywhere you press, the answer is an arborist, not a swing.
A trunk that's too small. Under 12 inches, the leverage is a problem no bracket solves.
Over a hard surface. Grass is fine, mulch is better, a patio or exposed roots are not. Whatever is under the swing is what a kid lands on.
A tree you don't own. Worth saying out loud for anyone eyeing the one on the easement.
The weight rating matters more than you think
A swing's load isn't the weight of the kid. It's the weight of the kid multiplied by the forces of a moving swing, plus the inevitable afternoon when three of them pile on at once, plus the adult who tries it.
Look for a rating with real headroom. Ours is rated to 500 pounds on a powder-coated solid steel frame, which is well past what a swing actually sees. That margin is the point.
Check it twice a year
Straps under constant tension in sun and rain lose a little grip over time, and trees grow.
In spring, before the season starts, retension the straps and check the pads haven't shifted. A strap that's slipped half an inch is doing a different job than the one you installed.
In autumn, when it comes down or goes quiet for winter, look at the bark under the pads. You want no indentation and no broken bark. If you find either, move the mount a few inches up or down next season and give that spot a year.
Every few years, remeasure the trunk. A tree that was 19 inches when you bought the standard bracket will eventually need the larger one, which is a good problem.
What we make
The SkyStand Swing Support is a solid steel, powder-coated arm that mounts to the trunk and extends far enough out to give clearance for swings up to 40 inches across. It's rated to 500 pounds and fits trunks 12 to 20 inches in diameter.
For a bigger tree, the Large Bracket Upgrade adapts it to trunks over 20 inches, which is about 63 inches around. It's two brackets on their own, so you'll still need the SkyStand, straps, hardware and a swing.
If you're starting from nothing, the Skystand and Dreamcatcher Swing Bundle puts the support, a 40 inch saucer swing, and the tree protector pads together, which is everything the job needs in one box.
Measure the trunk before you order. Everything else about this is easy!
