All the stores around here are getting Christmas trees in. The grocery stores, the Christmas tree stands that pop up in vacant lots, and the landscaping shops all have them. I’ve always been told that a Christmas tree will last maybe 3 weeks, if you’re lucky and remember to water it every day, before it will dry out and turn brown.
So what’s with the people who buy it NOW? Do they set it up and let it go brown by Christmas? Is there some special way of keeping them alive that I don’t know about?
Well, Christmas keeps starting earlier and earlier. Actually it doesn’t make too much difference when you buy the tree since most of the trees being sold for this Christmas season have already been harvested. The main benefit of waiting is that if it is cold outside the tree will stay fresh longer. Bringing the tree into your house this early might require you to keep adding lots of water and probably some tree preservative (basically liquid fertilizer). Even then (depending on the tree species) it might be shedding pretty heavily by the end of December.
It was always my family’s tradition to get a Christmas tree not long after Thanksgiving, and to keep it up through part of January. Guess we just really liked Christmas.
I do not, however, like to see all the Christmas crap in the stores that early – the tree is more of a family activity thing, and isn’t as strongly related to Christmas Day.
Well, I always went the artifical route myself (waits for the shouts of “heathen” and “heretic” to subide) but my wife is big on getting a real tree. We went out this past weekend for ours.
She is big on getting hers early so she can get one before all the “good trees” get taken.
My family would go christmas tree hunting the day after Thanksgiving. We’d meet up with some summer friends of ours at a christmas tree farm in the hills above Santa Cruz, have lunch, go find some trees, and then head off to one person’s house for a big potluck post-Thanksgiving dinner. The tree would live in a bucket, tied up in plastic fishnet bondage, until mid-December when it would be decanted, set up, and decorated.
Now I was thinking the other way. Getting it early means you get it into the water earlier, and it is therefore less likely to die before Christmas. I wouldn’t want one that’s been sitting on a tree lot somewhere with no water for three weeks. (Or more, depending on how far it was shipped)
We always cut an additional 2 or 3 inches off the trunk before we put it in the stand to ensure the tree can get plenty of water.
Just my 2¢.
When I still lived with my mom and dad, we got a tree the day after Thanksgiving every year. Took it home, decorated it, and LOVED it until New Years Day when we took it down.
This year (my first Christmas with my husband) we went out on November 17th and cut one down. The BIGGEST most PERFECT tree I’ve ever had in my whole life. It’s over 10 feet tall, at the bottom, it’s about 6 foot accross! It’s WONDERFUL!
ANYWAY–back to the main point–
I was always under the impression that a tree would stay really healthy as long as you keep it watered really well!
We always get our tree the day after Thanksgiving. It’s been a family tradition for as long as I can remember.
Here are some great tips for keeping our tree green until at least New Years:
Cut off 1-2 inches from the bottom of the trunk when you get it ready to put in the stand. Sap will have started to form on the bottom by that point and you’ll want to eliminate that.
Drill 2-3 small holes in the bottom of the trunk (on the bottom flat part - not the side) to allow less sap to form and the tree can drink more water.
ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS water with hot, boiling water. Again, the sap thing. Disintegrates any sap that’s there and softens the bottom of the trunk to allow more water to absorb.
Add water when you dip your hand in the stand and only feel a few inches of water at the bottom. The first few days to a week the tree will drink like crazy then it will gradually taper off.
We have followed this without fail every year and barely lose a needle until the week after Christmas.
Unless you cut the tree yourself, most trees were cut in October anyway. (or so I’ve heard)
This actually is BETTER than cutting it at the last minute, because it stops the moisure draining into the roots or something. (again I’ve only heard this, I dont have a cite)
I assume the optimal cutting time depends on when the first hard frost happens, the wetness of the fall, etc.
