Denny's Soapbox

Looking for a Great Christmas Tree?

With a little over 3 weeks till Christmas morning, it’s not too soon to be talking about selecting your living cut Christmas tree. In fact, the sooner you select your tree, the fresher you can keep it. How so? Go and select your tree A.S.A.P. Have the tree lot put a fresh cut on the trunk at the base of the tree. Take your tree home and place it in a 2 gallon bucket or water and lean the tree against the house on the north side. Your tree will start drawing water and stay a lot fresher than the ones still at the tree lot. When you’re ready to decorate, move your tree indoors and place in a tree stand that holds water, away from a working heat source: i.e. heat vent or working fire place. When inside, your cut tree will start taking up water from the stand. Check water level daily for the first week the tree is up. A good investment is a white plastic tree bag. They sell for around $3.00 and will keep all your needles in the bag when you take the tree down after Christmas.

What are my tree choices?

Personally I prefer the Frazier Fir. It has great aroma, holds up well indoors, and can handle the weight of all kinds of lights and ornaments. Other tree types to choose from would be Scotch pine, White pine, Douglas fir, and Colorado blue spruce. Regardless of which type you choose, limit your trees time indoors to two, no more than three weeks. When taking your tree outside afterwards, you might consider leaving the cut tree on its side in the backyard till spring. The tree makes a good shelter for the birds during the cold of winter.

Extra Tree Protection

You can make your tree fire proof by spraying your tree with Wilt-Pruf™, an antidesicant that seals your trees moisture in the needles. Do this before you put your tree up. Leave your tree in the garage for a couple of days to dry off excessive moisture and then go ahead and spray. The Wilt-Pruf™ will dry in a couple of hours.

Living Trees another Option

For those of you who want to plant your Christmas tree after the holidays. A few considerations: The best varieties of living trees are Norway and Colorado Spruce and Frazier fir. All of these trees get quite large as they mature. You need to choose a location with lots of room. Live trees are heavy. A 6 foot live tree can weight up to 400 lbs. They should not be left indoors more than 10 days. While inside, keep your live tree away from any heat source. Place the ball of earth in a water holding container and pack moist peat moss around the ball to keep moist. A galvanized tub is a great container for this purpose and the handles on two sides makes moving the tree around easier. Dig your hole now and store the back fill soil in the garage. Cover the hole with some plywood to keep the sight safe for people and pets. If the weather gets extremely cold before or after placing the tree inside, put the tree in an unheated garage for a few days to acclimate your tree to the warmth of the house and the cold air outside. Then go ahead and plant the tree, regardless of the temperature. Be sure to water the newly planted tree as soon as you backfill your soil. A good decorating tip is to use miniature, cool lights on your live tree. Warm to hot lights can burn the live needles.

One Final ‘Green’ Tip

When using fresh greens inside the home, spray all the needles & leaves with the anti-desiccant Wilt-Pruf™. This application will keep your greens fresher much longer. It’s even a good idea to use it on wreaths, swags, and pine roping displayed outside as well.