Real Christmas Tree Care

It is part of the life cycle of the conifer tree that it sheds needles and they will accelerate that shedding particularly if they dry out. Some trees do so more quickly than others. The best way to ensure satisfaction is to care for the tree while it is in your home. A tree should be treated like any plant being brought into a warm, dry atmosphere.

If you are opting for a real tree, use these tips to keep your tree safe, alive with a fresh pine scent and providing beauty throughout the Christmas season:

Try and buy your tree from a reliable UK source thereby guaranteeing it is recently harvested.
After you have bought your tree it should be kept outside in a cool shaded place, preferably standing in water, until it is required indoors. Mount it in a water-holding stand or wedge it in a bucket with pebbles, small stones or screwed up newspaper, and place it away from direct heat. Keep the container topped up with water every day; you will be surprised how much it needs.
The stand you use should hold enough water for every inch diameter of the trunk after the tree is in the stand.
Keep the tree’s stand full of water at all times, checking the water level daily.
Don’t add anything to the tree’s water. Research has shown that plain tap water is by far the best. Some commercial additives and home concoctions can actually be detrimental to a tree’s moisture retention and increase needle loss.
Place the Christmas tree well away from heat registers, space heaters, fire places, wood stoves, televisions, computer monitors and other heat sources. These will speed up evaporation and moisture loss of the tree.

Real Christmas trees are a benefit to the environment from the time they are planted until after the holiday season when they can be recycled.

While they're growing, real Christmas trees support life by absorbing carbon dioxide and other gases and emitting fresh oxygen. This helps prevent the earth-warming greenhouse effect.

Every acre of Christmas trees grown produces the daily oxygen requirement for 18 people.

The farms that grow Christmas trees stabilise soil, protect water supplies, and provide refuge for wildlife while creating scenic green belts. Often, Christmas trees are grown on soil that doesn't support other crops.

Real Christmas trees are easily reused and recycled.

Christmas trees are biodegradable - the trunk and branches can be used as mulch for gardens, parks or in animal stalls. The mulch provides a protect barrier for the roots of other plants and vegetation while preventing weeds from growing. The mulch then decomposes, providing the nutrients plants need to thrive.
Mulching programmes are a fast-growing trend in some communities.
Christmas trees are used to make effective sand and soil erosion barriers, especially at beaches and on river beds. Sunk into private fish ponds trees make excellent refuge and feeding area for fish.
Before recycling, Christmas trees can be used to make bird feeders, adding colour and excitement to the winter garden. Utilise orange slices, suet, and seed to attract the birds. They will come for the food and stay for the shelter in the branches.