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Visiting a choose-and-cut Christmas tree farm or any of the corner lots or nurseries filled with already chopped cedars, pines and firs this weekend, in search of the perfect holiday tree? Here are some tips from the Michigan State University Cooperative Extension Departments of Horticulture and Forestry to keep your December living room centerpiece intact through the holidays:
• You may cringe at this first tip, but it is one of the most important if you plan to keep the tree in the house for longer than two weeks: Keep the tree in a cool, sheltered location until a few days before Christmas, such as an unheated garage or carport. Otherwise, the warm, dry air of your living room or den can hasten needle drop. Storing it in an environment that more resembles a forest as long as possible will keep the branches more pliable. Take off a half inch to an inch from the base of the tree and keep it in a large bucket of water.
• Before bringing the tree indoors, shake it vigorously to dislodge any loose needles or hitchhiking bugs. Check for ants, too.
• Before you set up your Christmas tree, make a fresh, straight cut across the base of the tree and place the tree in a stand that holds a gallon of water or more. The end should be re-cut each day before it is placed in the stand. Make a straight cut across the trunk, removing a half inch or more from the bottom.
• Cut Christmas trees will absorb a surprising amount of water, particularly during the first week. As a rule, for each inch of stem diameter the tree will need a quart of water per day.
• Beware of stands that are too small for the tree. Try to find a tree stand with adequate water-holding capacity for your tree, between one and two gallons. The water capacity listed on a stand’s label or box can be misleading. Usually, they list the capacity of the reservoir when the stand is empty, but you also need to allow for water that will be displaced when the tree trunk is put in the stand.
• Keep the tree away from dry, blowing heat. Position the tree away from direct sunlight, fireplaces, heaters, and other heat sources to prevent it from drying out.
• Use LED lights. LED lights are cooler to the touch and less likely to dry out the needles.
• Turn off the lights when you’re not there. Unplug the lights before you leave the house or go to bed.
• Check your tree stand daily to make sure the container has enough water. Refill it often to make sure the water does not fall below the level of the trunk bottom.
• What about additives to the water to make the Christmas tree last longer? Based on university studies in Washington and North Carolina, plain water is best. Some home concoctions such as bleach and aspirin cause heavy needle loss and should be avoided. Clean water and plenty of it is the only essential ingredient for success.
Tips for a Living Christmas Tree
If chosen wisely and treated correctly, a living Christmas tree can thrive in your yard for generations. The main thing to remember when choosing a living Christmas tree: pick a variety that will flourish in your area.
As with everything to do with gardening, all Christmas conifers are localized. Choose one from a reputable local nursery or home center. They will have the best selections for your area. Usually.
Among the conifers available at nurseries that will do well outdoors in most areas of USDA Zone 9 after their indoor holiday use:
• Italian Stone Pine. A good choice for the interior valleys of USDA Zone 9. Can take heat and drought when established. Has a moderate rate of growth to 60 feet.
• Aleppo, Mondell or Afghan Pine. Also called Pinus eldarica or Pinus halepensis. These evergreens can take sun and wind. As an added bonus for those who own acreage, these pines are good for windbreaks and erosion control. Rapid growers, these pines with gray-green needles can get to 30 to 60 feet tall with a 20 to 30 foot spread. They aren’t that thirsty, either; a deep, twice a month watering is all they require during the summer.
• Colorado Blue Spruce. Can take sun, shade and cold, but is susceptible to spider mites. Likes most soils, as long as they’re well-drained. This tree with the bluish needles is a slow grower that will eventually get 60 to 80 feet tall with a 40 to 50 foot spread.
• Deodar Cedar. A tree that actually prefers clay soil, as long as there’s no standing water. This evergreen can take sun, wind and heat. It’s a rapid grower that will reach 50-80 feet with a 40-foot spread. Aptly known as, “The California Christmas Tree”.
• Incense Cedar. Not a true cedar (Calocedrus decurrens), but this California native tree will truly perform well in many USDA 9 yards. Although a slow grower at first, the incense cedar can get 80 feet tall, with a 15 foot spread at the base. It can take hot summers and poor soil, and doesn’t require a lot of water. It’‘s best characteristic: the wonderful aroma on a hot summer day.
• Coast Redwood. Give this tree plenty of room in the yard, if you dare. The coast redwood can get 70 feet tall with a spread at the base of 30 feet. It can take our sun, but to thrive needs frequent, deep watering. Better suited to the cooler areas of USDA Zone 9 where there’s more coastal influence (fog, low clouds).
Some tips for caring for a living Christmas tree:
• Don’t keep it in the house for more than a week.
• Keep it away from heating vents, wood stoves and fireplaces.
• Water the tree every day while it’s in the house. A good way to insure a slow, thorough watering is to dump a tray or two of ice cubes into its container.
• Decorate it with the smaller, cooler, flashing bulbs.
• The tree can remain in a large container for a number of years, but you may need a furniture dolly to move it in and out of the house.
• Marginal Living Christmas Trees:
Given a little care, the dwarf Alberta Spruce can survive as an outdoor living Christmas tree in USDA Zone 9. Give it afternoon shade for best results.
Limber Pines (Pinus flexilis), native to mountainous areas, tend to revert to rounded tops as they age. The exception is the “Vanderwolf Pyramid” variety, which keeps its Christmas tree shape.
Another one to be wary of is the Grand Fir (Abies grandis). This tree could soon overwhelm a small yard, reaching heights of 200 feet.
Other borderline trees that may have trouble here in USDA Zone 9 include the Tempelhof cypress (Chamaecyparis obtusa) and the Blue Point Juniper (doesn’t like too much water or slow draining soil).
At the top of Santa’s horticulturally naughty list is the Monterey Pine, which is better for coastal environments; even in its native environment, Monterey pines are in decline due to pine pitch canker. Here in California’s Central valley, the Monterey pine is susceptible to pests and diseases, and sulks in our summer heat.
Another Christmas-tree type plant that is widely available is the Norfolk Island Pine. Known as the Hawaiian Christmas Tree, this is best planted outdoors...in Hawaii. In most of the continental U.S., it makes a good house plant year round.
When is a Christmas tree not really a tree? When it is a Rosemary plant, an evergreen shrub that’s been pruned into a pyramidal shape. This herb is a great addition to your outdoor garden for its culinary and bee attracting qualities (blooms in the winter and spring), but would require constant shearing to keep it looking like a Christmas tree...uh, bush.
Transcript of today’s Podcast
CHRISTMAS TREE CARE TIPS
Farmer Fred
So are you moving the new Christmas tree around? Or do you have one tied to your car right now, while you’re listening? Are you going to put it indoors? Where are you going to put that Christmas tree? And how do you keep a basically dead tree looking green? It just so happens that in a recent article in the Sacramento Digs Gardening newsletter, Debbie Arrington and Kathy Morrison, came up with some ideas on how to keep your Christmas tree looking green. Debbie Arrington is with us. And Debbie, how do you keep your Christmas tree looking healthy, merry and green?
Debbie Arrington
Think of your Christmas tree like you would any cut flower: it needs water. And the way to get water is to put it in a sturdy stand that can can hold about a quart of water, at least. The taller the tree, the more water it needs. According to the National Christmas Tree Association, you need one quart of water for every inch of trunk diameter. And so make sure that the stand can hold that much. And then check it every day. Because if the trunk dries out, resin starts forming and it blocks the uptake of more water. And the tree will just dry out like a flower would dry out if the vase ran out of water.
Farmer Fred
What about additives? Do they do any good?
Debbie Arrington
Apparently, research that the National Christmas Tree Association shared shows that clean water works best. Home remedies, like adding aspirin or bleach or corn syrup or sugar or a can of 7-Up or whatever didn’t make any difference. And in fact, the corn syrup and other stuff attracted bugs.
Farmer Fred
If you are driving home from the Christmas tree lot right now, with that tree tied to the roof of your car, one thing you need to do before you bring it in the house is to shake it out and get all the bugs off. But also maybe cut off a half inch or an inch off the bottom of the tree to allow some clean uptake from that water.
Debbie Arrington
Yes, because that resin can block the flow, the uptake of water. It’s already stopping its flow where that tree was sitting in a lot, waiting for somebody to take it home. The National Christmas Tree Association actually says that you should cut off at least one inch to restore the flow and let the water come back up.
Farmer Fred
And that water monitoring isn’t just an occasional check. That’s something that you have to check every day to make sure that the basin is full.
Debbie Arrington
Yes, check it every morning. And you’ll be surprised how much water that tree took up.
Farmer Fred
And that’s one of my big issues with a lot of Christmas tree stands. They aren’t big enough, so they don’t hold enough water. So I would choose a tree stand that could hold probably a gallon (or more) of water.
Debbie Arrington
Yeah, if you have a full size six foot tree, you probably do need a stand that will hold a gallon of water. And a gallon sounds like a lot. But if you’re looking at a gallon of milk, that’s how big of a reservoir you need on that stand.
Farmer Fred
Now you’ve got the tree off the car, you’ve cut off part of the bottom of the trunk, about one inch or so, and you’ve got the stand set up. Where is the best place in the house to put a Christmas tree? What should you avoid?
Debbie Arrington
The best place to put the tree is someplace that will stay cool and away from direct light. Lots of folks like to put their tree in the front window so everybody can see it. But if that window is facing west or south, it’s going to cook the tree. iI prefers having someplace where it is away from direct light and also away from heat. You don’t want it to be anywhere near a heater vent, because that just sucks the moisture right out of the tree. If the tree is in a nice cool corner, it will retain its needles much longer.
Farmer Fred
Yeah, that’s the key to keeping the needles on the tree. They haven’t come up with a cure yet on how to keep cats out of Christmas tree ornaments.
Debbie Arrington
No, that’s why we have a table top tree, and the cat knows that she can’t get up on that table or she’s in a lot of trouble.
Farmer Fred
And again, I guess the really big point is with the Christmas tree, be it a dead tree or even a living tree, make sure that there is water there.
Debbie Arrington
Yes. And that’s the thing with living trees. Evergreens don’t like to be indoors. And here you’ve got a big potted spruce or pine, and you’ve love to have it inside at Christmas. But it is not in its natural habitat. And it is desperate for light. Evergreens are all full sun trees. They are not meant to be inside where a tropical plant might live. And so if you do have a living tree, give it as much light as possible, preferably in a sunny window, and make sure it gets watered every day. And then get it outside as soon as possible, because it will be much happier outdoors. But when you return it outdoors, don’t just plunge it into full sun and freezing temperatures, you’ve got to gradually bring it back outside, probably on a covered patio, where it can readjust to outside temperatures and direct sunlight.
Farmer Fred
And you make a very good point. Here we’re talking about living Christmas trees that you want to perhaps bring back into the house for the following Christmas. You want to choose a tree variety that is going to like your neighborhood. So choose a variety that is adapted to your climate. And there are some interesting little Christmas trees out there, living Christmas trees that are actually Rosemary plants.
Debbie Arrington
Yes, your Christmas tree doesn’t have to be an evergreen. It can be some other kind of evergreen, that doesn’t lose its leaves. A rosemary plant doesn’t lose its leaves. It doesn’t have to necessarily be a conifer, I guess would be the proper term. You could have lots of different plants be your Christmas tree. I’ve seen Christmas tree that are really rosemary. And I’ve seen different herbal ones, topiary ones, where they they took a privet or some other type of hedging plant and then cut it into the shape of a Christmas tree. You know, Christmas trees are a decoration. And they are a way of bringing some of the life from outside to the inside, and make us merry and bright. You can be creative. You don’t have to necessarily have a fir as your Christmas tree.
Farmer Fred
Exactly. Just buy yourself a good pair of pruning shears, because if it is the rosemary or some other sort of hedging plant, it will need consistent pruning to maintain that Christmas tree shape.
Debbie Arrington
Yes.
Farmer Fred
So, put a pair of good pruners on your Christmas list. Debbie Arrington, Sacramentao Digs Gardening is their publication. It comes out every day. And if people want to check out Sacramento Digs Gardening, we’ll have a link in the show notes to it. But if you want to do an internet search, how do you do it?
Debbie Arrington
Look up Sacramento Digs Gardening. And we were formerly on blogspot, but we’re now on Cal local. So look for Sacramento Digs gardening dot California dot local dot com.
Farmer Fred
There you go. Debbie Arrington. Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.
Debbie Arrington
Thank you very much. Happy Holidays!
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Fred Hoffman is also a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener in Sacramento County. And he likes his bikes.
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